6 Best Guns To Have Around Your Homestead

Firearms have a particularly important place on the homestead. You could be plinking cans, or you could be chasing varmints from your property. No matter the task, the right firearm is always going to make it easier.

While we have never done it, we have friends that tell us you can quiet down an onery rooster with a low powered shot from a pump pellet gun! Seems a little risky. We will stick with our high powered water gun for animal behavior management.

However, there are instances when the ol’ water gun just isn’t going to get it done. When you are managing predators, you need a weapon to protect your animals. Also, when it comes time to process animals on your property, you want to dispatch them quickly and as humanely as possible. The right gun can make that a much better experience.

Let’s look at the 6 best guns to have around the homestead.

Pellet Gun

There are a couple guns that you might not expect to see on this list, and the pellet gun could be one of them. However, a pump style pellet gun is a great tool to have on the homestead.

If you are dealing with little creatures getting into your garden, well, you might decide to dispatch them in order to keep them out. This could be rabbits, squirrels, and the like. With the right pellet gun, you can sit on your back porch and conduct your own kind of pest control.

Its also not a bad weapon to ward off predators that might be after your chickens. Its pretty common for things like fox to get chased off your property and wait at the perimeter for you to go away. It can be very annoying to watch them circling out there. Well, with a little pellet gun you can reach out and touch them!

6 Best Guns To Have Around Your Homestead

Water Gun

A great livestock management system is a high powered water gun! Whether you are dealing with an ornery goat or chickens that just keep pecking each other, you can hit animals with a pressurized stream of water to break them of some bad habits.

This is a great option because you will not wound or kill any animals, but you will get their attention. Don’t discount the efficacy of a super soaker on the homestead!

Handgun

The handgun is about personal safety. It’s a mobile personal safety system. That could be safety from animals on your land or safety from nefarious people who might wander onto your land. Hunters might accidentally wonder onto your homestead or they might sneak onto that property over and over.

Gun fire is almost always going to scare off animals like bears or wolves, particularly if they are just passing through. It’s a great option if you run into a stubborn animal that will not go away from the sound of your voice.

When it comes to the human animal, first impressions are everything. If you happen upon someone on your property, it’s nice for them to see that gun on your hip. This lets them know that you are not just the owner of the property, but you are prepared to defend that property.

Of course, you do not want an armed altercation with trespassers, but guns have a way of deterring people.

12 Gauge Shotgun

A 12 gauge shotgun is an important weapon because it’s the most powerful weapon on the average homestead. Dave Canterbury said it best, “A 12 gauge will kill anything in North America, period.”

The 12 gauge shotgun is what I call ‘the problem solver.’ This gun is great for homestead security, its great for dealing with predators, it’s one of the best weapons for hunting multiple animals and it can also be a good time if you shot skeets or targets.

The 12 gauge is a must have for any homestead.

If you have kids and smaller people on your homestead than a 20 gauge is also something to consider.

Scoped Hunting Rifle

There is always much debate about caliber when it comes to hunting rifles. I use a 30-06. I know plenty of people who use different calibers. I don’t think the caliber is as important has having a bolt action rifle that can take down a deer from a respectable distance.

Harvesting wild game is a great way to offset meat cost and the strain on your own livestock. With a zeroed scope you can consistently kill dear from a distance and that can make a hunter who is less effective at stalking deer or finding deer a little more successful.

Hog Weapon

You might be wondering about carbines. I think I see more homesteaders carrying carbines around on YouTube than any other group. Where one of these weapons can be highly effective is in the battle against the hogs.

If your homestead finds itself in the warpath of wild hogs, then you will want a high powered semiautomatic rifle to deal with them. If you are growing on 5 acres, it is no big deal for pigs to eat all your plants and smaller animals in a very short period of time.

30rd magazines give you some say in how much eating they do on your property.

I hope some of our recommendations caught you off guard. You might have scoffed at the water gun, but I implore you to give it a try. While it is not the uber tactical answer you might have been looking for, it is certainly an effective tool to have around.

Each one of these guns serves a purpose on the homestead. In this modern, gun obsessed, society it is quite enlightening to sit down and ponder the firearm as a tool, and not necessarily a weapon. Many are buying guns to fight fantasy wars, and others are trying to take those guns away; but there are lots of people who buy guns for the purposes listed above.

It’s a shame we so rarely hear their voice on the issues.

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