Hoping for some advice on gun, scope, and pellets to hunt iguanas in South Florida. Currently considering the https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/crosman-fire-np-pellet-gun-16csmufrnpwth4x32agu/16csmufrnpwth4x32agu
Whats a good red dot scope for this model and the best pellet for a one and done head shot? Thanks in advice.
The iguana hunting videos I've seen they are not getting that close to the animal. I did a little research on the guided Puerto Rico tours and may book it this fall. That looks like a poor weapon of choice if what I have seen is correct. Mass can also help make up for a poor shot. I agree on the larger caliber suggestion. I was going to take a .25 FX Indy. I had a bad travel experience with the airlines and bottles. You might even post looking for a local forum member that might let you try a gun first. Offer to take them hunting with you.
Red Dot sights get worse with distance. Cover so much area that it's hard to know exactly where you are aiming. Under 20 yards with a good one you might be okay.
I've been shooting iguanas with a Benjamin Titan NP .22. It packs a punch and puts them away at 50 yards with good placement. Pellet selection has not really been a thing, but I now have a Hatsan Flash QE .22 that is a bit more fickle and doesn't shoot as hard. I've go near 200 under my belt, 10 today.
Come on down. I'll put you some in your crosshairs.
I went on a guided Iguana hunt last Friday(9/11/2020) in Ft. Lauderdale. By boat, we covered a brackish water canal system and saw countless hundreds of lizards - they were everywhere and ranged from about a foot long to over three feet long. Shot distance was 5 to 20 yards(mostly 5-10 yards), and they were very difficult to hit due to the offhand shooting and the rocking boat. The water was calm and the boat was barely rocking, but it DID affect your aim - there were no steady shots possible. I took my HW50 at about 700 fps with H&N FTT pellets in .177 cal, and the hits were somewhat effective. Another gun there was a Ruger .22 at about 800 fps and it was more effective than the HW50. But the lizards are very difficult to kill - some were shot 2-3 times in the head and they simply walked away. The ones that fell in the water sunk immediately, others ran into the grass and could not be recovered. I would recommend a powerful .22 or .25 cal gun. Weight and cocking effort is important because you will be shooting hundreds of times. I took over 400 shots with my HW50 and my shoulder was killing me and I have a bruise on my right thigh from cocking it so many times. I posted a video on my YouTube channel and it has the hunt and all the info on the guide(who I recommend highly), name, contact info, etc. He has on board the Ruger .22 and a BB machine gun for your use. We had a great time and boated only 32 Iguanas owing to the difficulty of recovering them. I am already planning another trip, and, like you, am searching for a gun that will do a better job than my HW50. I think the ideal gun would be a .25 cal PCP with a large air tank to refill the gun - because you will be refilling the gun dozens of times.....
The hunt on YouTube:
What do they do with all the dead one's? eat them?
According to the report, the crabs ate some of them.
China: No one can eat weirder shi--
Florida: Hold my beer.
I have GOT to get in on the slaughter.
Gonna message my friend in Pahokee and see if he knows anyone who needs some killin done.
@willy They were cleaned by the guide and brought home. My son already cooked some up and said he didn't care for the meat too much. My other son is coming to get the rest of the meat. None of it will be wasted.
I shot some in Puerto Rico a couple years back. Poly let me use his tuned .20 R-9 with a 12x scope. Head shots are mandatory, but they drop immediately with a well placed shot.
Most shots were 20-40 yards, shooting was offhand. Two of us probably bagged 50 in an hour.
IMHO the R-9 .20 was perfect. Lightweight and no need to have an air bottle nearby in dense foliage. A decent trigger like that found on the HW's helps with standing shooting.
K
My racing buddy, who is going with me on the next Iguana hunt called me today and asked if a laser would work on the hunt. I've never heard of a laser on an air rifle, but saw that Gamo makes an airgun laser in green and red. I'm going to pick a couple up in each color and mount it forward on the gun and back it up with a scope mounted on the scope rail. I'll co-sight them in at about 15 yards and see how it goes. I thought about taking my R1 in .22 or my Kodiak in .25, but both of those guns are very heavy and hard to cock and I know I wouldn't last long. The lasers just might work, and with proper shot placement, my HW 50 in .177 caliber may do the job - it's light and easy to cock and yields about 700 fps with H&N FTT's. Anyway Kingspoint05, let us know how the hunt goes and get some pictures to post.
9/22/2020 UPDATE: I mounted scope AND laser and it works great - scope is looking at laser and sighted in. This is the rig I'll use next Iguana hunt in the 1rst or 2nd week of October.
Just wanted to give a report on how the laser/scope combo worked on my second Iguana hunt: GREAT - PERFECT!!! It made the hunting so much easier. The bright green laser(Pinty, Model GLS-0000-GR from Amazon) really showed up on the lizards, and the scope provided the magnification I needed. I sighted in the scope first and then just moved the laser to the center of the crosshairs. The HW50, .177 cal really did the job using H&N Field Target Trophy pellets averaging 878.6 fps. Also, I did about two hours of offhand shooting practice and it made a big difference in my hitting the lizards. If you're like me - always shooting from a rest, I highly recommend practicing your offhand shooting before hunting these lizards. We went to a different location in Ft. Lauderdale where there wasn't as many lizards, but the ones we saw were MUCH larger than the first trip. We got two that were 5'8" long, only three inches less than the "boat record" kill. One of the big ones was over 20 lbs. We used the same guide as before - he's a great guy - couldn't ask for better. See my YouTube video for his contact information:
