Who knows about Barking?

[bnail]

I've just learned about the practice of "Barking" whereby you aim your rifle at the limb upon which your target is perched. is this how those early hunters took small game with their Rifles?

 

[captgary]

My dear old Grandfather, who lived in Kentucky always barked squirls with his 12ga. shot gun. He was real good at it. He always got a lot of squirls and probally managed to kill half the trees in the Danial Boone national forest. :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha:

 

[ke4usl]

A friend of mine and I used to bark squirrels with .22s back in the day. You have to hit the limb beneath the squirrel's head just right in order to splatter wood fragments up into its neck and head. It usually stuns the critter, and when done right saves meat. The fall is often fatal, but not always.

Not too hard to do with large bore, but a bit of a trick with a .22 cal. with open sights.

 

[Mad Irish Jack]

:winking: When I eats a load of any bean type meal, I kin bark fer days. Seriously, I've always felt that if you can shoot well enough, with any caliber, to hit the upper half of a branch of any size, you can hit the head on that thar critter. Can't say's I e'er ate the brains outa no tree rat.:haha: Nough said.

 

[Runner]

My uncle would get mad if you shot them in the head. Lots of folks claim it is the best part of the squirrel. I would not know myself, but lots of folks say so.

 

[Vaino]

"Barking" squirrels is advocated by taxidermists so their mounting jobs are easier seeing there's no holes to patch in the hide. :hmm: ...Fred

 

Yep! That's how I do it. I have taken squirrels with everything from a .40 to a .58 caliber rifle using this method. No blood in the sack or ruined meat and best of all, no shot to pick out. They fall out dead as a door nail and don't scurry off. I have shot squirrels out of trees when all you could see is a tail hanging over that branch. Nick the side of the branch where you think his ribs are and he is a dead rat plomped at your feet. The concussion kills them. It's a shock to their lil' systems. The only way to hunt squirrel in my book.

 

[bnail]

Yep! That's how I do it. I have taken squirrels with everything from a .40 to a .58 caliber rifle using this method. No blood in the sack or ruined meat and best of all, no shot to pick out. They fall out dead as a door nail and don't scurry off. I have shot squirrels out of trees when all you could see is a tail hanging over that branch. Nick the side of the branch where you think his ribs are and he is a dead rat plomped at your feet. The concussion kills them. It's a shock to their lil' systems. The only way to hunt squirrel in my book.

Wow Cooner, I had no idea that was possible. can you do this with any type of rodent?
:hmm: wonder if you could bark a rabbit out of a tree?

 

[paulvallandigham]

I want to see how you get a live rabbit into a tree?

Have you never played " kick the can" with firearms? You shoot at cans of various sizes at approx. 50 yds, ( only so you don't have to walk so far back and forth) and shoot so that your ball or bullet hits in the dirt under the can. This kicks the can into the air, and generally down range. The guy who hits his can the highest, or the furthest is the winner of whatever you bet. The same technique will work shooting rats, 13 stripe ground squirrels, and other rodents, depending on the size of the ball you use to displace dirt and bark. Flat nose bullets do a fine job of kicking up dirt and bark, almost as good as a round ball.

 

[bnail]

I want to see how you get a live rabbit into a tree?

therein lies the challenge :winking:

 

[blacksmithshoppe]

Easy

I want to see how you get a live rabbit into a tree?

therein lies the challenge :winking:

Easy! You just put a carrot in the tree and the rabbit will go for it. :rotf:

 

I have never barked or dirted a rabbit. :rotf: I did load down my .58 rifle to 40 grs. and it poked a hole in the rabbit and he fell over dead. About like throwing a rock real accurately. The ball was still under the skin on the other side of the rabbit. I don't know if enough shock would be transferred to the rabbit through dirt spray like shock is transferred through the tree branch on tree rats. :hmm:
One would have to stick a carrot in the tree to relocate the bunnie as already stated.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Cooner: I have never killed a rabbit shooting into the dirt under him. I would call that a Miss. At most, you might knock him out for a few moments, but rabbits are a lot tougher than any tree rat. Mostly, unless you happened to find a rabbit sitting on something solid, like some tree bark, I can't believe that kicking dirt up is going to kill a rabbit, at least not with small arms balls. I suppose if you wanted to fire an 8 ga. round ball at a rabbit, it might kick up enough dirt to do damage, but not with any reasonable choice of gun or caliber for this kind of hunting. Barking squirrels is just that. I only mentioned the game of kick the can that some shooters have played to remind folks that the technique involved is the same.

 

[Vaino]

For rabbits I position myself so there's a stone in line w/ the rabbit and like playing marbles, I hit the stone which in turn hits the rabbit. I have hunted squirrels for 60 years and "barking" is a last resort on a squirrel that won't show enough for a good shot.....Fred

 

[windwalker_au]

here in west australia we do a fair bit of rabbit shooting, i always aim between the ears so the bullet goes just above the head and between the ears it kills them stone dead cant explain it but it works.i even got hold of some .500 hard foam balls once that killed them dead at close range and 30 grn of fff just a little broosing not much.that might be called foaming rabbits lol.
bernie :grin:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Obviously this thread has turned into a 'taller tale' type so here goes. But this one is for-real. Some years back I made a New Year's Eve 'cannon' that fired welding gas as a noisemaker to compete with local fireworks shooters. I 'loaded' it up after finishing the welding to test-fire it and let-er rip, what an unGodly blast- and as a bonus a large rabbit ran out of nearby weeds/briar patch and fell over dead a-kicking in the open nearly at my feet. Not a mark on him. Heart attack? Stroke? Anuriesym?
Not a clue but he sure was kaput. And made a fine meal fried up.

 

[aloyalistdawg]

Hey Guys
I do it all the time, it's called a close miss... :rotf: :rotf: But seriuosly it also works on grouse as well... even rocking them, when they are on a slab of granit...
My best regards Loyalistdawg

 

There is an unholy amount of circumstances that must be met for barking to be considered a reliable means of putting squirrel in the skillet. Shoot them in the head, it's easier and more productive.

Personally, there's more myth than fact to barking a squirrel.

Vic

 

[davy]

W'all about all I know about "barkin" is that some of my gurly-wimmins dates in the younger days shore shoulda been barkin. :redface: At least they shore looked the part oncet I sobered up ina day or three! :hmm: :shocked2: There were days I could not et a thing, my stomach doncha ya know! :surrender:

Davy

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Davy - love them 'Lone Star' bikini tops - that must have been what lured ye' to your doom!!! :haha: