Stalking prey

Hey guys i'm kinda new here and didnt know exactly where to place this thread and sorry if i placed it in the wrong place. Any ways i have this little problem with a possum that keeps getting into my yard and making my dogs go wild and it keeps trying to eat my birds. i bought a pellet rifle not too long ago (g1 extreme)  and stumbled upon this site looking for tips, i have been able to zero it and i have bought some nice pellets that are accurate. I wanted to know how long i can have my rifle cocked and ready to shot without worrying about damaging the spring. Im planning on setting up a food plate and sitting outside all night to try and hunt that fur ball down. Thanks in advance. : )

i know bb pelletier  said that if you leave it cocked for a month than it will lose 93% of it power so a day wont do anything

[Froghunter]

Dan,

Welcome! I have not had to control any possums, but one of the other members has. Not sure if you have read the post further down, it's a good one on how these fellows deal with them pest.


Good luck and if you get it,these fellows need the full story with pictures!

[longislandhunter]

Hey Dan,

Welcome to the forum, nice to have you on board.  This really is a great place to hang out, very friendly and knowledgeable members who are always willing to help out with any questions.  

If you do a search you can find quite a few posts having to do with the effects of leaving a springer cocked for extended periods of time.  I think there's actually a very informative article about that very subject in the "Library" section.  

All my air rifles serve one purpose, hunting.  There are plenty of times while hunting where I will have my rifle cocked and ready to go for perhaps 30 minutes to an hour, although I try not to go beyond that time period, and I haven't had any problems yet.  If the rifle I'm hunting with is easy to cock what I will do is open the breach just enough to load a pellet and then close it up again.  As soon as I see a squirrel, rabbit, or whatever, I'll quickly cock the rifle and I'm ready.  A couple of my magnum rifles are really a bear for me to cock so with those I'll walk around with it cocked, simply because they take 2 hands for me to cock and by the time I'm done with the cocking action the squirrel or rabbit has moved out of my target picture.  I'm just relating information from my personal experiences, I'm sure some of the other members who are much more knowledgeable than me about this topic will chime in and offer advice also.

As for the G-1 EXtreme of yours,,,, I just picked one of those up and I absolutely love it.  I just ordered a GRT III trigger from Bob aka: charliedatuna, his website is listed on the forum pages, if you find your stock G-1 trigger to be rather crude then Bobs triggers are the best $32 bucks you can spend.  I have his trigger in quite a few other rifles and the trigger literally transforms the gun.  Can't wait to get the trigger in my new G-1.

Anyway, welcome to the forums, and I'll be looking forward to your future posts..

JEff

[shadow]

First, WELCOME TO GTA Dan. Now as for leaving your springer cocked for a length of time I think you'll be ok. All of my babies are hunter's and on some of my hunting expedition's they are cocked for a couple hour's if not more. Over time though the spring will weaken but by that time it's ready for retune . Just remember to fire the round before storing her if you didn't bag your game for the day. I hope you will post your hunt in our Hunting Gate with a story and or pic of your harvest, good luck. Ed

[Big_Bill]

Hello Dan,

WELCOME TO THE GTA FORUMS !!!! I'm glad that you found us here.

I offertwo comment on hunting Possums, They have a very good sense of smell, and may or may not come to your bait if you are outside. And as Jeff and Ed have pointed out often, Possums have very hard heads in the frontal area, place your shot on the side of the head, between the eye and the ear.

I look forward to your account and photos of your hunt !

[USNCop]

Welcome to GTA Dan!
You didn't mention specifically what pellets you have but a Dome in this case would hurt.
You may want to try Predator Poly Tips for a few groups.  But I also have good take down and accuracy with RWS Super-H Points.
Like Big Bill said, go for a side on shot between the eye and ear or angled slightly from the front toward the rear.  These shots will travel thru the "temple" right into the thin brain casing inside.
You may even want to do a search for possum skull and print off a couple practice bullseyes to practice on.  The rest of the skull is quite thick and designed to chew a variety of foods as possums are omnivores.  They are actually a prehistoric remnant as well.
I would just use a simple bait station with a small bowl of dry cat food dribbled with a little honey
and an old piece of meat, preferrably bone- in so it can be wired down.
These items should give you time to draw a bead.
I also wouldn't be surprised if the arrival time is somewhat regular.  Just make sure you offer something since they tend to move on soon if nothing is on the menu.
As a teen, we had a variety of vermin eat our cat food and one winter night my old man had enough.
He just hopped out of bed, birthday suit and all, grabbed the empty Hamm's beer bottle off the counter.  In one big motion he threw open the porch door with left arm,  simultaneously cocking German 88mm right arm and blasted that prehistoric rat in the side of his punkin'.  The End