doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com wing shooting wood boring CARPENTER bees!!

have had problem over the years with these huge boring Carpenter bees. They look like a bumble bee but they arent. very aggressive Huge fat dody and they eat wood like crazy. Been boring holes in my exterior trim.
Too high on the house to use a badmiton racket or other tools.
So, I figured #9 shot 2 1/2" skeet loads in a 410 would be good sport. And it is. I am 10 for 14 shots. usual range is about 15 feet. whats the spread of a 410 at 15 feet out of a full choke??
Sometimes I vaporized them and sometimes the wad got them. But dead is dead.

Try a pistol and 22 shot shells. However, you may have to change your range to 10 feet, you don't want to cripple any.
Steve

For even more sporting "wing shooting" of the carpenter bees, Brian, go to a single shot .22 and rat shot. Works great.

As an aside, I have a young man who works for me as a tractor driver that will catch them in the air with his hand and put them in his mouth, just for a laugh. But, only try that with the ones that have a white dot on their head. That is the main distinguishing mark they have to differentiate them from a bumblebee. The ones with a white dot cannot sting. He says it really impresses the girls.

SRH

I played with rat shot in a .22 rifle until a couple summers ago when the "Carpenters" were every where. I then discovered Delta Dust and entered into chemical warfare. I won the war!

Mark

I went chemical too, its about time to do my annual spray. Keeps em away.

Winchester Model 61 smoothbore is awesome. I had a sister in law who thought they were fun with a tennis racket, as well. Made an interesting sound when she hit them.

A friend of mine has a Galazan Model 21 22 smooth bore for dragon flys and bees. What a hoot off the back deck.

Carpenter bees can do a ton of damage, but drgaon flies are a very beneficial insect. There are some in Wisconsin that are classified as endangered, besides they eat skeeters.

Carpenter bees and I have an issue. BUT, they're so small, it's hard to hit them. I must admit that I tried to hit dragon flies as well, but was totally unsuccessful.

Ive used a .177 cal Crosman 1077. Its a CO2 powered repeater and the trick is to catch them at that moment they are still -between forward and backward flight. I used a 4x scope. Its not easy -my hit ratio ran about one hit for every 5-10 shots.