whats the difference between a ground squirrel (non-game), and the other 4 types of (game squirrels)? just curious since i like to shoot things with 1000+fps .177 pellets and .22 bullets, and having a moving target like rats/mice/rabbits gets rare sometimes... if you guys live out in the boonies where you have cats roaming around, they love to take your kills, my cousin has bunch of cats that have a family awaiting him once and a while.

A ground squirrel lives in the ground. It is smaller than the average tree squirrel and is closely related to the prairie dog. They live in colonies. They do not have a long bushy tail. They can provide a very active day of shooting. I too am an avid .22 rifleman. I also have a 1000 fps .177 pellet rifle. Its a gamo hunter 890 topped with a 12 power

Hi Kujo,

Ground squirrels, rock squirrels, flying squirrels, and prairie dogs are all considered non-game species in Texas.
They are differenciated by TPWD from game animals such as the gray (cat) or red (fox) squirrel because under state law, a hunting season cannot be set for a game animal unless scientific data is available to show the hunting season and the regulations governing it will not damage the species' overall health.
Non-game animals may be hunted at any time by any means or method on private property. Public hunting lands may have restrictions. A hunting license is still required even to hunt them.
With non-game animals, the law says they can be taken without limits, collected and sold until scientific data showing such acts are damaging to the species.
So they either don't have the scientific data to show degraded numbers, or they DO have the scientific data showing that the numbers have NOT been degraded and likely will not be by lack of regulation.

As far as letting the cats have the kill, make sure your not letting them have one of the game animals.
"It is a violation to fail to keep all edible portions of a game bird, game animal, or fish in an edible condition."
It's a class A misdemeanor.

RW

if its game, dont we eat it or something?
i think that pheasant hunting is crazy in bright sun, trying not to hit a female... i going to buy a beeman gs950 and outfit it with prolly a 12x40 or 3-12x44 scope. i use a gamo also, 220, has a cheap scope on it (only 50 dollars i think, 3-9x32) but works really well. sized enough for me.

"young hunter" have you tried the shadow series from gamo?

no i havent tried the shadow series. But my 890 is a tack driver. the scope is a 3-12 and i really like it. My furthest kill was 65 yds.