Author: Adam Back

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, hunting season for eastern gray squirrels and foxes begins later this month.

Squirrel hunting season runs from May 28 to February 15, 2023. The daily limit for hunting and trapping squirrels is 10 and the possession limit is 20. Hunters must have a valid small game permit or be exempt.

Hunters may use shotguns, rifles, and other legal firearms, as well as archery equipment, slingshots, or atlatls when hunting squirrels. Squirrels can also be harvested with the use of cage-style traps during the season.

The black bass season also begins on May 28 and runs through February 28, 2023. During this time, anglers can catch and hold black bass, largemouth bass, and speckled/Kentucky bass. The MDC says the daily limit for black bass is six; fish must be at least 12 inches long. Catch and release is allowed throughout the year. Some additional regulations may apply in specific waterways or areas. All anglers must have a valid fishing permit or be exempt.

MDC’s Mo Hunting and Mo Fishing mobile apps allow hunters and anglers to keep their licenses and permits accessible through their smartphones.

The recent horrific mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York have caused Americans to intensify their long-running national debate over so-called “assault weapons.”

In 1994, the federal government enacted a ban on the purchase of these firearms, which the US Department of Justice described at the time as “semi-automatic firearms with a large ammunition magazine that were designed and configured to fire fast and combat use. (Congress allowed the ban to expire in 2004, even though the ban was highly effective.)

Unlike an automatic weapon like a “machine gun,” largely banned in the US since the 1930s, that allows the shooter to simply hold down the trigger once and literally spray bullets, a semi-automatic rifle like the AR -15 and the like. it requires the shooter to repeatedly pull the trigger to fire each round.

That said, it would be inaccurate to imagine that such weapons in any way resemble the traditional image of a “rifle” that a layman might retain from, say, watching an old TV show or Western movie.

In a nutshell, as reflected in the image above, a semi-automatic rifle looks like the kind of weapon one might see in a theater of war or in an emergency involving a law enforcement SWAT team. Also, because the “mags” attached to these guns can hold dozens of rounds (i.e. bullets), a shooter can pull off numerous shots in a short time.

But what really sets these weapons apart from the guns many of us have seen on TV and in the movies is the damage they do. Most Americans grow up with the image of a soldier or criminal being shot, clutching his stomach or chest to cover the point of entry, then raising his hand to reveal a small red speck. We think about the trajectory of the bullet carved into the body that matches its diameter.

However, that is not often the case with assault weapons. As commentator Max McCoy explained last week in a powerful essay for the kansas searchlight:

The AR-15 is the civilian version of the fully automatic M-16, the standard American small arms since Vietnam. But the destructive capacity of the AR-15 is not in its fire mechanism, but in the ammunition that it uses. Both the AR-15 and M-16 use .223-caliber ammunition, with a bullet that is about the diameter of a pencil eraser. It is the same caliber size as a .22 long rifle cartridge, made for gunplay and squirrel shooting. But .223 ammunition has a larger, longer casing behind the bullet, with much more powder, pushing it at high velocity.

Eugene Stoner, the inventor of the AR-15, knew that a small bullet with a lot of power becomes unstable when it meets meat. Instead of making a clean wound, the .223 drops and eats its way through muscle and bone. So AR-15 ammunition is more lethal than a comparatively larger bullet. The smaller caliber also has a lighter recoil, allowing for more accurate shooting and allowing soldiers (or mass shooters) to carry three times as much ammunition for the same weight.”

A recent NPR report put it even more vividly:

Bullets from weapons such as handguns usually go straight through the target, medical experts say. By comparison, weapons like the AR-15s used in many mass shootings can liquefy organs due to their much higher projectile velocities.”

Some key relevant numbers about AR-15-style guns, the gun the National Rifle Association once infamously dubbed “America’s rifle”:

3 – number of times faster a bullet fired from an AR-15 style gun travels than one fired from an average 9mm pistol

3 – number of times more damage to a human body than a bullet fired from such a weapon typically inflicts

several inches – the width of the damage around its path caused by the bullet fired from an AR-15 style weapon through a process called “cavitation”

6-10 centimeters (or about the diameter of an orange) – the size of the common exit wound of an AR-15 bullet

only 5 – number of minutes it takes for a person shot with an assault weapon to bleed to death

As little as $400 – retail price of an AR-15 style gun

-37% – decline in US gun massacres during the 1994-2004 assault weapons ban compared to the previous decade

-43% – decrease in the number of people who die from massacres with weapons during that period

183% – amount by which gun massacres increased in the years after the ban expired

239% – amount by which gun massacre deaths increased

-70% – the risk of an American being killed in a mass shooting was 70% lower during the period the assault weapons ban was active compared to the 13-year periods before and after

20 million+ – number of assault-style weapons in the US today

two – number of distinctive green Converse sneakers that the parents of 10-year-old Maite Rodríguez were forced to rely on to identify her body after she was murdered in her Uvalde, Texas classroom; the weapon with which she was shot hurt her so much that she was unrecognizable.

For more information, see:

June 14, 2022
By Payton Miller

The .22 semi-automatic pistol has always had an outsized place on the American shooting scene, one far out of proportion to its caliber size. This applies whether you’re talking about small game hunting, plinking, casual target shooting, or serious competitive endeavors.

In fact, many of America’s most storied gun types, shooters most often associated with the big stuff, used them. Ernest Hemingway was a fan of the Colt Woodsman and owned several, as did the legendary African professional hunter Harry Selby. Jeff Cooper liked the Walther PP in .22 Long Rifle.

These men appreciated the field advantages of a good .22 pistol: a relatively low noise signature; no recoil to speak of; small game capability with minimal meat destruction; and the obvious advantage of a 50-round box of .22 ammo that took up little space and weighed much less than a 20-round box of any centerfire persuasion.

Like any successful concept in firearms, .22 semi-automatic pistols ran the gamut from relatively inexpensive “field models” to serious competitive items capable of staggering groups. Colt had their Woodsman, Smith & Wesson had the Model 41, and Ruger made hay with their Standard. And then, of course, there were the products of the late and lamented High Standard.

high level story

From 1926 to 1984, this company was revered for its .22 pistols, although that was by no means the extent of its product line over the years. Most of High Standard’s top-end shotguns were in the Supermatic series, including the Supermatic, Supermatic Citation and Supermatic Trophy and the short-chambered .22 Supermatic Olympic. All featured removable barrel weights, fully adjustable sights, and match-grade triggers. And they weren’t cheap. In 1982, the suggested retail price for the Trophy was $332, which put it on par, at the time, with the S&W Model 41.

As impressive as these classic paper punches were, what interested me most were the company’s less expensive field models. These were usually fixed-sight guns, although drift-adjusted for the effect of the wind, which were much easier to pack and still accurate enough. Actually, as I found out on the range, they were accurate enough for small game hunting, plinking, and casual target work. I borrowed a couple of old specimens from my shooting partner John Wightman. One was a 4.5-inch Model 103 Sport King, introduced in 1950 and discontinued in 1976. The other was a 6.5-inch Model B, introduced in 1936 and discontinued six years later.

Both fit the definition of a follow-on gun, that is, a useful companion for the small-game hunter, hiker, or angler, as well as the recreational shooter. They are simple, lightweight rimfire rifles designed for casual target practice and small game hunting. Tracking down the build dates of various high-end models and series is no easy task, but Steve Schrott of the High-Standard Collectors Association dug up the following information for this article. The Model B, the company’s seminal hammerless design, was a prewar gun, though some leftovers were sold after 1945. This particular specimen came out just before Pearl Harbor in October 1941. they are simple, skinny and, for lack of a better term, graceful.

The story of the Sport King is a bit more complicated. This is what I learned from the group of collectors. It is a Model 103 or Series 103 and was considered a field pistol rather than a shotgun because it has no trigger adjustment, no rear sight elevation adjustment, and the straps were soft. This particular specimen was shipped on February 16, 1962.

Interestingly, in 1970, the suggested retail price on the High Standard Sport King was $65, still a few dollars below the $72 tag price on a Colt Huntsman and a couple of dollars above the $59 tag on a Colt Huntsman. a Ruger Mark I Target.

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The styling of the Sport King is more “modern” than that of the Model B and is more in keeping with current iterations of the Ruger Standard Auto. It is stamped “Hamden, Connecticut” and is a blued steel model (there were also alloy versions) with a 10-round magazine. The sights are large and easy to get, and the grips are brown plastic.

Shooting

It’s a bit heavy but reasonably compact, certainly more than any .22 rifle I can mention, and it handles very well. The aim is second to none. When it comes to vintage classics, you’re bound to have favorites. Me? I kind of liked the Model B. It’s old, slim, and sleek. Just handling it makes you want to go squirrel hunting or pop cans.

The other two guys who fired the pistols, John Wightman and Thomas Mackie, preferred the more compact and, for lack of a better term, more up-to-date Sport King. Of course, there’s no question that the Sport King’s shorter barrel would give it a thumbs up from a loading capacity standpoint.

On the firing range, both guns proved their sights to be pretty on the money with everything we could find, 36-grain hollow points and 40-grain standard velocity ammo in this case. In terms of 25-yard rested groups, the longer-barreled Model B took top honors using 40-grain Federal Gold Medal Match ammunition. The trigger pulls on both the Sport King and Model B were fabulously “unlawful” and nearly identical on a hair under two pounds. It is worth mentioning that magazine interchangeability between models was not a strong point of High Standard’s product line. Original magazines can be expensive and hard to find. So before you spend your cash on getting a good used specimen, it would be a good idea to check the situation of the spare magazine.

Why would you think Mr. Busheytail is the perfect game animal? The reasons are many; squirrels are very difficult to hunt and chasing them greatly increases one’s hunting knowledge; They will teach you how to become a better hunter! Squirrels are also abundant in much of the state and finding a place to hunt them is usually easy. Finding a farmer or rancher willing to let you hunt deer can be a challenge, but the same people will often open their doors to squirrel hunters.

The fact that squirrels are great in a pot of meatballs or served with cream sauce and crackers adds a lot to squirrel hunting, though fewer and fewer people today are aware of just how tasty squirrel meat can be.

First off, you’ll need a stud gun with enough power to cleanly dispatch a squirrel from a 40-foot-high branch in a tree. When he was young, he had a .22 caliber air rifle that was very accurate out to about 25 yards. I killed a lot of squirrels with this little rifle, shooting at the head, but I remember not having enough “uumph” to cleanly dispatch the squirrels with “vital point” shots, especially if my aim was a bit off. .

There are many excellent .22 and .25 caliber air rifles on the market today that do a great job with squirrels. A rifle used for squirrel hunting, whether it’s air or .22 rimfire, should consistently shoot very tight groups out to about 30 yards, which is about the maximum distance at which most squirrels are killed. Just as a white-tailed deer can “jump rope” on a bowhunter, a squirrel is known to be “active,” especially the ‘cat’ or gray squirrels in East Texas. For this reason, many hunters in East Texas pursue their prey with shotguns.

Even if a rifle has the punch and accuracy to kill cleanly at long ranges, keep in mind that squirrels don’t sit still for long, especially gray squirrels. The further you shoot, the greater the margin of error! My goal when hunting squirrels is a headshot that results in very little meat loss.

The technique involved in hunting squirrels depends a lot on where you hunt them. I have a good friend who owns a hunting ranch in East Texas. Throughout the year he maintains various corn feeders by dropping corn twice a day. My enlightened friend knows that if left unchecked and not harvested, busheytails will run rampant instead and eat a large percentage of the corn intended to attract deer and hogs. A couple of years ago I went downstairs and used my .25 caliber BB gun to take out several of their potential pests/food! After a tasty dinner of fried squirrel and gravy, my friend vowed to take the time to clean up every squirrel he shot at.

Squirrels are smart and prolific, just like wild pigs, and try as you might, you’ll always have them nibbling on your corn, but now you’re keeping the numbers in check and having a lot of fun doing it. Obviously this is a specialized way of hunting squirrels, but I have used it on many occasions. Almost every hunting ground in the state of Texas has multiple corn feeders and whether the ranch is in the Texas Hill Country or East Texas, there always seems to be a lot of bushy queuing around the golden kernels. of corn that are distributed freely on a daily basis.

I’ll set up in a likely area and usually lean against a tree wide enough to break the outline of my body. There is usually a “calm” to the squirrels’ movement when an approaching hunter disturbs the forest. Give them some time to calm down and get active again.

Usually, if I’m in a good spot, I see squirrels moving around or hear their claws on the bark. Patience is the name of the game when hunting squirrels. Just like when hunting turkeys, it’s best to bring the rifle close to the shooting position so you’re ready to shoot without much movement. I often rest the rifle between my knees so I can move it a few inches and be in shooting position. Once you shoot a squirrel, reload and keep quiet, within 15 minutes or so you’ll probably see movement in the trees or on the ground again. If it doesn’t, it’s time to move on to the next likely spot with plenty of squirrel signals.

Still hunting is another very effective method of hunting squirrels and is best suited for hunters who have trouble staying still and staying still. There has been a resurgence in small game hunting in recent years and I expect the trend to continue. Regardless of the game animal one hunts during his career, squirrel hunting is absolutely the best teacher. If you take just a little information from this article, remember that a stud rifle is an absolute must! Your target is about the size of a half dollar. Keep your shots close and within your effective range.

Many squirrel hunters pursue their prey with a shotgun loaded with #4 or #5 buckshot. I have hunted many squirrels with a shotgun, but these days I much prefer a stud rifle. Squirrel season runs through the end of May in East Texas and in the rest of the state, the season never ends.

Get in touch with outdoor writer Luke Clayton through his website www.catfishradio.org

Modern .22 semi-automatic pistols may be more sought after than vintage revolvers, especially if you’re a competitive shooter, but rimfire pistols still serve a purpose. They can be incredibly accurate at making accurate shots in small games and have clear advantages on the field. For example, they are safer. Once you fire a revolver, the action stops. Which means there’s only empty brass in the chamber, something to keep in mind when you’re re-holstering or retrieving a head-bashed rabbit or squirrel.

Many revolvers have longer barrels, which helps with accuracy (which is why most rimfire and centerfire hunting pistols are revolvers). Semi-autos are typically smaller, lighter, and have more ammo capacity, making them excel in areas a pistol can’t. But if you’re strictly looking for better shot placement, a revolver is the way to go.

There are three rimfire revolvers that I classify as must-haves: the Smith & Wesson Model 63, the Ruger Single-Six Convertible, and Harrington & Richardson’s Model 999 Sportsman. These firearms run the gamut from single-action, double-action, swing-out, and top-break weapons, but all three deserve a spot on any shooter’s short list of go-to models.

1. Smith & Wesson Model 63

S&W’s J-Frame Model 63 is a direct descendant of the company’s revered six-shot Model 34 Kit Gun (1958-1991). But its virtues as a “tackle box pinker” aside, in the current ammunition drought, which affects .38 Special availability to a much greater extent than 9mm, this little 3-inch eight-shot stainless steel is a perfect stand-in for my Model 36 .38. They are dimensionally similar in terms of overall length (7.3 inches). The M63 rimfire weighs in at 24.8 ounces, only slightly heavier than the 22-ounce, 3-inch M36.

You can buy the considerably lighter alloy version, the Model 317, but at a meager 11.7 ounces, it just doesn’t feel right to me, and it’s much harder to be accurate with if you don’t have much experience with pistols.

Aside from the obvious differences in cost, blast, and recoil fatigue, the Model 63 has a lot to offer on its own merits. Once I found the best brands of ammo to shoot for my 63, I quickly discovered that it shot better than I could hold (which is true of most firearms I’ve owned).

In its role as a stand-in for the .38, the Model 63’s adjustable sights allow me to practice effectively with any brand of bulk .22 Long Rifle ammo I can find. Cosmetically, I could live without the red fiber optic front sight, but I don’t feel strong enough to change it for another. The trigger pull on my 63 weighs just under 2 pounds, impressive for a single action.

To assess the little revolver’s targeting potential, I shot several groups from sandbags at 25 yards. Using 40-grain Aguila Super Extra .22 LR HV solids, I was able to consistently produce eight-shot 2-inch groups. My best effort was a six-shot group that measured just under an inch, a testament to the smooth single-action trigger pull and quality ammo.

2. Ruger Single-Six Convertible

Bill Ruger noted the lack of single-action revolvers in the firearms market when he introduced the Single-Six in 1953. Thirteen years after its debut, my father paid $40 for a used one on my birthday. By this time, it had been transformed into a two-barrel .22 LR/.22 WMR convertible: it could fire both cartridges from the gun.

Mine is a fixed sight model with a 6.5-inch barrel. It can still be had with fixed sights in a 5.5-inch setting. Adjustable sights became available in 1964 with the debut of the Super Single-Six Convertible because there are too many point-of-impact variables with rimfires (magnum or not) to stay with fixed sights. Also, higher profile adjustable sights are easier on aging eyes.

There are so many Single-Six variants (and Single-7, Single-9 and Single-10) that you don’t have to opt for a Convertible. There are also currently 11 .22 LR/.22 WMR convertible models listed in the Ruger catalog.

The most interesting to me is the Model 0662, a 7.5-inch stainless steel revolver with integral scope mounts on its fluted barrel and black laminated stock. And with an MSRP of $1,089, even accounting for inflation, it’s a bit higher than my old model’s used price.

I have timed the .22 WMR with bullet weights ranging from 30 to 45 grains. Naturally, the lighter 30-grain cartridges took top velocity honors with Hornady’s V-Max averaging 1,727 fps. By contrast, the top LR entry was the 30-grain Aguila Super Maximum, which clocked in at 1,365 fps. That’s a difference of 362 fps with shells of the same weight.

Accuracy-wise, the best .22 WMR results I could get were with the 45-grain Hornady FTX Critical Defense, which averaged 1,326 fps from my 6.5-inch barrel. Not the fastest, but he produced sub-2-inch clumps at 25 yards. The best shot entry .22 LR was a good-aged Winchester Wildcat, which produced a pool of just under an inch.

Of course, the tactile pleasure of placing the hammer halfway up to rotate the cylinder has been lost to single-action traditionalists since the new Single-Six model was introduced in 1973. The defining feature of the new model is the system. transfer bar. Now all you have to do to freely rotate the cylinder is open the loading door.

The old model is considered by many to have a superior trigger pull. I can’t argue with that. Mine breaks at a clean 2.5 pound weight. As good as it is, you still have to deal with that long lock time of a single action, so a good follow up technique is a must.

Read next: The best pistols of 2022

3. H&R Model 999 Sportsman

If any .22 revolver qualifies as a sleeper, it would have to be the Harrington & Richardson Model 999 Sportsman, a nine-shot double-action top-break revolver manufactured between 1932 and 1986. It lacks the frontier-era grace of the Single -Six or the pocket cool S&W M63, but the H&R, while clunky in comparison, handles and shoots amazingly well. Even towards the end of its production run (which coincided with the closing of the H&R plant in 1986) it cost less than $200.

This M999 is a 1954 vintage 2^{North Dakota} Model, with a 6-inch barrel and two-piece walnut grip panels. It is in good condition and has an unloaded weight of 34 ounces. In 1974 the M999 was redesigned with a transfer bar. But this old one has the traditional aesthetic pleasure of a hammer-mounted firing pin set in a jeweled hammer spur. Top break action allows for quick cylinder removal for cleaning. And the simultaneous ejection of spent voids is helpful, but may occasionally require a bit of wrist action to eject the spent brass.

Wide adjustable sights are easy to acquire and windage adjustment can be done with the rear sight. Elevation can be changed with a small screw under the front sight, just above the muzzle.

To test the accuracy of the M999, I used three brands of .22 LR: 40-grain Federal Gold Medal Match, 40-grain Sellier & Bellot Club, and 42-grain Contact Subsonic. At 25 yards, Eley’s nine-shot groups averaged a hair under 2 inches and beat the competition, but narrowly. And all of the groups contained sub-inch groups of at least four shots.

The single-action trigger pull on the H&R is a crisp 3 pounds, which adds a great deal to the M999’s shooting ability. The double-action pull, however, was considerably less manageable, breaking at a heavy 11.5-pounder. Considering the uses to which the M999 would be put, there seems little reason to resort to trigger cocking.

As humans have spread across the planet, we have killed off larger predators and other species we fear and compete with, confining them to history or to small remnants of their vast ranges. This process was particularly successful in Britain and Ireland, where wolves and lynxes once lived together have long since disappeared.

At the same time, humans have transported species that we value outside of their native ranges. By introducing animals, plants, and microorganisms into ecosystems where they did not evolve, we have inadvertently created invasive species that drive native species to extinction by eating, competing with, and exposing them to new diseases. During the last century, invasive species were the main cause of the extinction of vertebrate species.

Mounting evidence suggests that once-hated native predators are essential to regulating invasive prey. In fact, our new research shows that the eradication of native predators has partially caused the invasive species crisis we face today. But we also find that all is not lost. Examining a series of surveys that included public sightings of gray squirrels and pine martens, a small carnivore and member of the weasel family that was hunted until legal protection took effect in the 1980s, between 2007 and 2019 in Ireland, we show how the return of a native predator can cause the rapid decline of a long-established invasive species (the gray squirrel) across entire landscapes.

We study populations of both species to uncover characteristics that determine a native predator’s ability to control an invasive species after restoration. These include the predator’s ability to switch prey, the invading prey’s failure to recognize or respond to the threat of a newly recovered predator, and the availability of areas in which the prey can hide to escape.

Naive prey and versatile predators

From wolves hunting non-native Corsican mouflons in the Mercantour mountains of southeastern France to red-banded snakes preying on invasive bullfrogs in China, native predators tend to preferentially hunt invasive prey over their native counterparts by a factor of two or even three.

Understanding why this is the case can reveal when and where restoring native predators will help control an invasive species. For example, the sika deer is native to East Asia, but became invasive in Britain, Ireland, and throughout continental Europe after it was introduced in the late 18th century. The Eurasian lynx, a deer predator once widespread throughout Europe, was eradicated from most of its former range in the early 20th century. Like the gray squirrel with the marten, the sika deer evolved in the absence of the lynx and is likely to behave similarly when confronted with a native predator, failing to recognize the threat and therefore not realizing it. that he must flee, for example.

Lynx tend to switch between the deer species it hunts and have a proven ability to suppress deer populations. There are also no areas available for deer that the lynx cannot access either. These factors combined suggest that restoring lynx populations will benefit ecosystems in which sika deer are invasive. The lynx is likely to have a greater effect on these invasive populations where alternative prey (such as roe deer) are scarce or absent, such as in Great Britain and Ireland.

An ecological argument

The natural recovery of some large predators in continental Europe, including lynxes, bears and wolves, is underway, defying long-standing edicts on pristine habitat and space requirements for carnivores. Despite intensive agriculture and urban sprawl, all it took for this species to recolonize its former range was for people to stop killing them. Surrounded by the sea, extinct predators will not naturally recover in Britain. Any effort to reintroduce them would require a social consensus that does not currently exist.

Our research offers an ecological rationale for restoring native predators: to help control and limit the spread of invasive species. But it would be naive to pretend that this is the only important factor. Living alongside large carnivores has consequences, including occasional losses of livestock and pets. This cannot be ignored but can be reduced with proactive management.

If people are going to accept the restoration of any native predator, there must be equal consideration of the benefits, such as alleviating the damage caused by invasive species, and plans to mitigate the costs.

Topics Discussed: Cam’s new book Endure is out!; when an adult acts like a donkey and accostes Steve’s son; the shit you find in turkeys; Jani’s chickens running to the house to nest her eggs on the kitchen counter; Chester catches the largest walleye in history; Sean’s Duck Report on avian influenza sweeping the country and affecting the wild population; the symptoms of sick birds and the importance of informing the public; choker setting; how Cam Hanes still keeps his day job; barely sleeping; when you lose your best friend too soon; go for the most epic experience in the desert; coming within meters of that grizzly bear; live in the world of resistance; how your body gives what you ask for; how much the wind bothers Steve; preferring to be alone and loving to hunt solo; discipline and trust; how difficult it is to read aloud and record your own audiobook; memory words; and more.