Wondering what animals you can shoot with a .22 long rifle?

[Daniel V]

Hi I was wondering what animals you can shoot with a .22 long rifle.
I’m on a farm in Dullstroom Mpumalanga.

 

[Nkawu]

Pest control (comorants, rats, Egyptian geese) with a .22lr will help develop your shooting skills as well as the hunting of small ‘game’ like doves, guineafowl, and francolin for the pot. If you are wanting to hunt larger stuff like duiker then I suggest you find an appropriate rifle like a 223 or 243 (basically what ever is legal for the animal being hunted).

 

[Daniel V]

Thanks. Do you think you can use a .22 to hunt bigger game

 

[Ridgewalker]

IME only poachers use .22LR on big game.
Should work and be legal for vervet monkeys and porcupine (as it appears you have done!) I’m envious of your porcupine. I only see them when stalking another animal.

 

[Nkawu]

A 22lr bullet will kill with the right bullet and shot placement but it won’t be legal. As previously mentioned it’s the poachers choice

 

[Daniel V]

Oh

 

[Daniel V]

Thanks guys so so much for letting me know

 

[Ryan]

Shoot? Anything. Kill? Small game as mentioned. I've hunted and killed wild pigs with one. But we were using dogs and I was able to put it in exactly the right place on its head from a foot away. I saw a guy put a 22 into the neck of a pig to spine one and all it did was stun it for a few seconds. The muscles and bone stopped that little bullet from getting more than an inch or so in. It was finished with a centerfire rifle.

 

[Opposite Pole]

In Poland poachers use it to kill (or wound) Roe deer and small boar. I think it’s effective for head shots on Roe at short range but it is illegal.

 

[375Fox]

Instead of only using the word legal, it should also be said it’s very unethical to use a 22 on anything other than small game, no energy to the bullet. Poachers use a 22 because it’s quiet. I find deer occasionally that have been spotlighted by poachers from road and shot with a 22 that missed the brain, they run off to rot and die.

 

[Longwalker]

I find the .22 LR hollow point effective on animals up to the size of hares, hyrax, feral cats, perhaps jackal at close range. If an animal is much over 5 kg. in weight or more than 50 meters away the effectiveness of a .22 LR becomes a problem, and too many shots result in wounds and not quick death. For my own small game hunting I have mostly switched to .22 Magnum rimfire or .22 Hornet. But for most birds, smaller animals like rats and squirrels the .22 LR remains a fine choice.

 

[DieJager]

Poachers use them on roe deer here. It is legal to shoot foxes with it,but I would not shoot further than 50 meters with it on a fox.

 

[Major Khan]

Without talking legality in to account ....
It is a marvel as to what a .22 Long Rifle calibre rifle is capable of occasionally accomplishing . At the same time ... it is also quite disconcerting as to the amount of ( even relatively small ) game which escapes wounded after getting shot by a .22 Long Rifle calibre weapon .
The .22 Long Rifle calibre is quite a widely used calibre here, in Bangladesh ...
especially for hunting on the private property of other land owners.
Most land owners will allow you to engage in some casual hunting on their property. However , a few do not take too kindly to loud 12 Bore shot gun discharges . This is where .22 Long Rifle calibre weapons come in to the picture.

Here is mine . It is an Austrian Voere brand semi automatic rifle.

And my preferred cartridges for it . They are Eley Rifle Club solid 40 grain cartridges.

I routinely use mine to shoot doves , hares and pigeons on baits .
I also secure a small pencil torch light to the fore end with masking tape , in order to aid in my night time shooting .

I have also used it to shoot a few cranes in the past .... my point of aim , being their head . However , I ceased to continue this practice ... because I noticed that there were times when the birds were escaping wounded , only to die a lingering death .

On 1 occasion in 2002 , I used this .22 Long Rifle calibre rifle to even take down a 300 pound Wild Boar in the Sri Mangal tea gardens ; my point of ear being just behind the brute's ear . This allowed me to score a side brain shot . However , I never repeated this practice... ever again .
I only did it at the time , because I did not have any of my hand loaded spherical ball cartridges for my double barreled Belgian shot gun on hand , at the time .
Fellow forum member , @Captain Nwz 's son even used my .22 Long Rifle calibre rifle to dispatch a Kakar deer at a distance of 40 metres.

 

[Spooksar]

Growing up in Central British Columbia, I used to once in a while hunt with a old native that was a friend of my dads. He used a 22 LR for deer, a 30-30 for moose and a 270 for Grizzly Bear. In the 12 years I lived there he never lost a animal. He would spend hours stalking a deer to get the shot he wanted.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Thanks. Do you think you can use a .22 to hunt bigger game

I have used a .22 lr to take coyotes. It works and doesn't leave an exit hole to sew up. But my friend and I were using calls and the shots were close and precisely placed. In the 1930's my grandfather sometimes used one to take blacktail deer with what he called a "heart shot." But that was by necessity when his family was hungry and he had no money. One time I spooked out a nice buck, and my buddy killed it with his .300 Savage. When we went to clean it we found a large squishy sack on the deer's shoulder. When we cut it open the rotting odor and puss nearly made us vomit. He had been shot with a .22 and we had to leave him. If I lived in Africa I wouldn't take on anything larger than a jackal with a .22.

 

[CBH Australia]

It’s taken Millions of Rabbits in Australia. Foxes and Feral Cats have fallen to it when they come to close, no doubt people have shot ducks, pigeons and other small game. People, have probably shot lots of Kangaroos with them but our natives are protected so technically shooting Kangaroos without permits would be illegal. I like the use of the word unethical, yes as hunters , shooters and pest controllers we have a responsibility to execute clean kills.
The .22 has been used a lot in humane destruction of injured animal and slaughtering where people may want Tom shoot trapped animals like pigs or kill an animal before bleeding it out if exsanguination is not possible before it is killed.

 

[Opposite Pole]

When we went to clean it we found a large squishy sack on the deer's shoulder. When we cut it open the rotting odor and puss nearly made us vomit. He had been shot with a .22 and we had to leave him.

I shot a boar once that had a visibly underdeveloped front limb. The animal was in perfectly fine condition otherwise. When I started the butchering it was the same as you describe, the stench was absolutely awful. Found a lead 22 projectile inside the leg.