Squirrels at my feeder?

Lately i've been seeing many squirrels at my bird feeders. After trying various techniques of trying to be rid of them and failing. I went and bought a pellet gun (i don't have a weapon permit so i bought one with a fps of 495) would that be enough power to ethicaly do away with thos buggers?Squirrels at my feeder?
no, it is recommended you use a .177 at over 900 fps or a .22 at over 750 fps for airrifles for dispatching small game.





Squirrels are rugged buggers.





Also, this won't change your problem. Unless you hunt the entire neighborhood and kill enough squirrles to put a serious dent in the population (say 200 individuals) you kill a squirrel today, a different squirrel will move into his territory and be eating at the feeder again in a day or three.





Heck, even if you killed enough squirrels to drop the population to half of what it was in a 5 mile radius, more food for the survivors would mean more baby squirrels living to adulthood, and you'd be right back where you started next spring.Squirrels at my feeder?
I've blasted a few squirrels back in the day with a pellet gun. I took one out with a very lucky shot at about 40 feet, running across a branch. Not sure of the fps of my air rifle, its an old one, at least 30 years old, the kind where you break the barrel in half once to load the pellet and that also fills it with air, but it is powerful enough to kill the things.





Now, I try to do the more humane thing and trap them with a Havahart trap. I drop them off a few miles away in a large park.
There are 2 ways of avoiding squirrels, the more common way, get feeders that they can't get in, or some people just put corn cobs and such in accessable locations, so they can just eat there instead.





as for an air rifle, that 495 fps would probably just scare them at a distance, and close enough to kill, you probably would scare them away.





You might want to consider a slingshot. you can get the ammo for free (stones) and you can kill small game fairly easily if you practice a little.
You'll have to hit them in the head. I've got the same problem. I have a 600fps pellet gun. I should have purchased the 580fps gun with a rifled barrel. If your pellet gun doesn't have a rifled barrel, its really tough to hit them in the head.





The gun I have has a 4x scope. I've zeroed the scope (as best I can) in my basement at 25 yards. Groupings are 2 inches. But even at 600 fps, a pellet is VERY suceptable to wind. I don't have ballistics charts on the rifle, but bullet drop and energy loss is significant as well if you shoot beyond 25 yards.





I took the screens out of a couple windows so I can shoot the varmits from inside the house. It provides good cover and contains the noise.





I have considered a crossbow instead. Less noise than an air rifle and less intimidating if the neighbors see you.
just put up some corn cobs around your place they should leave the bird food alone that's the only way if you don't want to kill them.
No you need at least 600 fps to kill a squirrel.
a few shots will convince them