Trying to get a few squirrels.

[44man]

Shoot them off the bird feeder 44man. We have a bumper crop of rabbits and skewerls this year

I can't do it. It would be like killing the deer I almost hand feed. Carol complains about them eating the bird food. I am too soft. I have shot very sick dogs and cats but I still let the grandson do it now. One of my best dogs had a huge open tumor, in pain. I could not look in her eyes.
I can't even have an old, sick dog put away by a vet. Tears come fast.
Sounds funny from a hunter but there is a difference.
Carol hates the squirrels at the feeder but would hate me more for killing them. She does not understand my love for my dog but she has bought over 80 toys for her. Carol buys goodies for my little girl. She does not fool me at all. She says Just a dog.
Us men even though we hunt still love the animals. It gets harder the older we get.
No, I will not shoot them from a bird feeder.
To have a little dog jump on your chest, put her head under your chin and go to sleep you will not understand. My friends love animals. Fair chase.

[Blammer]

use this shoot them at 50yds or more...

yep, 311284 full house loads at about 1850 fps.

[44man]

Going tomorrow with the .22 and a friend. I hope one will hold still.

[Wolfer]

44 man
Most people find this odd but I bet you understand.
Ive Been a hunter all my life. Even though the little woman calls it an obsession and I say it's a passion I have to admit it borders on obsession.

However I've never liked killing things. I can do what needs to be done. I've shot lots of dogs, cats, butchered lots of hogs, wrung a thousand chicken necks, killed lots of game in fair chase and some that wasn't in fair chase.

I tried hunting with a camera. It wasn't real enough for me. I gave it up and went back to packing a gun.

When im hunting I have every intention of killing whatever comes by. However once I know that I can close the deal I often let them walk. If I were to go hunting not planning on shooting something I can't enjoy it.

A a couple years back I was calling predators armed with my 44 spl. I see a coon coming directly towards me. I decide that when he crosses a log about 20 yds in front of me I'll shoot. He crossed the log too fast and got within a few feet of me. There's no challenge in shooting a coon a 6 feet so I just sat there. There was a small sapling right beside him that he climbed once he saw me.

About 10 ft up he would climb out on a limb and try to get in another tree but just couldent make it. He would go back to the main trunk and watch me for awhile. Then he would go back out on the limb and try again. I chuckled at him until it got dark and I left.

For me it's all about the hunt!

[jmorris]

Put out some food. Dried corn on the cob works well. Then they come to you.

[mold maker]

Let carol kill the tree rats with her gun. They make great dumplings.

[c1skout]

Good luck 44man. I've got those same supercharged squirrels around here this time of year. I have better luck in stands of beech it seems...... maybe the food is smaller so they have to look harder? I've been doing most of my squirrel hunting with my Single-six the last few years, but I just built a percussion 32 kit gun so I've been carrying that when I can get out, but haven't even seen a squirrel to shoot at with it yet.

[gwpercle]

When conditions are like that, I like to go to a likely spot, early in the A.M. take a seat on the ground back up against a tree and sit, wait, motionless as can be and look and listen. some times they come to you , sometimes you can slip to where they are feeding/playing and get a shot. Sometimes a little squirrel call will bring one into range. And at this time of year I use a shot gun. Not sporting but it will help the bag number.
44man is right about getting older and killing, a lot of mornings I have passed up shots because I told myself I didn't feel like cleaning them, but the truth is I was just enjoying their antic's and sitting out there in Gods woodland cathedral, you can get real close to God at those times.
Gary

[freebullet]

I love to squirrel hunt. My favorite method is spot and stalk. However here at home the brush is too thick to do it very well. Here I stand hunt just like I would for deer.

Me and a buddy went back home during bow season( Shannon co, south central MO.) He was hunting deer and I was hunting squirrels. He killed a doe and I got 11 squirrels.

I recently had 3 squirrels move into my reloading shed. I've been doing battle with them for going on 3 weeks. Haven't killed the first one yet. I'm catching a lot of flack from the family. They can't believe I've let them beat me.
I reply that they may have won the first few battles but they haven't won the war!Attachment 158048

sorry about the sideways pic. I don't know how to fix it. On this day I took the nest and threw it outside. This really made them mad I guess because the next day everthing on the shelves was on the floor.
I once had a coon take up residence in one of my sheds. I don't believe he was this destructive.

A live trap with day old donuts will catch them. I had something chew a hole through our garbage can. Put the trap out thinking I may get a coon. Nope next morning the biggest squirrel I've ever seen was in it. He wasn't happy. I pinned him with the 22 barrel & tanned his hide to make a fuzzy bow grip for my wife.

[csatrustburg]

Wow blammer 06 for tree rats sounds fun 44man you need to get a Kruger with ten inch barrel I missed one the other day for 250 heard they shot just as good as a rifle and everyone knows how you are with a pistol!

[richhodg66]

use this shoot them at 50yds or more...

yep, 311284 full house loads at about 1850 fps.

You sure you're using enough gun?

That 311284 is a great shooter, but it's a freight train. Did you just get bored sitting on a tree stand?

[44man]

Yeah we get to love animals because we are hunters. A kinship far removed from just killing. Liberals do not understand us. They think we must kill but not so. We do more to protect then anyone ever. Carol and I look out the window at the tree rats and she is angry while I am amazed at what they can do. Hang by one foot and a tail. The wonder of nature. We learn to take failures when we see nothing and if we don't get a shot, so be it. Mamma comes to eat sunflower seeds, I know she has young. I can see her belly.

[richhodg66]

I got a chance to sit out on my property for a little while this evening, didn't know I had so many squirrels. Once the leaves fell and I saw all the nests, I figured I'd hunt some when deer season was over. The place is 18 acres or so of an old rock quarry that was abandoned 60 years ago, so it's rolling and wooded more than most Kansas farm land would be, lots of cottonwood and hackberry trees.

Nice evening, I saw five, shot at three and killed this one. Rifle is a Stevens 322 in .22 Hornet using cast. I need to get off the bench and practice with this rifle more. The lighter loads with teh WFN bullet I used last season in the Savage 219 are less destructive and seem to kill just as fast. I may just stadardize on that eventually.

[44man]

it has gone dead cold here and we expect bad snow so I might not get fried squirrel. dang it.

[white eagle]

haven't hunted squirrel's since i was a kid so,so many years ago
funny thing that love for animals when I was 6-7 years into my deer hunting
journey I had my father say if he saw a trophy buck deer he probably would
look at it and not shoot it he knew then what we are discussing now and I
am beginning to see it as well
funny thing life ain't it

[dagger dog]

I've had them walk across my feet not even knowing I was there.

You need to find what they are eating and where, then go in before daylight and set your ambush, they are generally on the move at daybreak headed for breakfast, this time of year they'll be scrounging for left over acorns that they bury but they still den in trees and each den could hold more than one especially if they were weaned together, so you can catch them in the branches when they are on the way to the food, they like the morning sun this time of year and you will find more on the eastern slopes where the sun hits early, and on the south facing slopes during the late afternoon. If you have the time and don't mind a little cold you can catch them in the branches on the way back to their dens as the sun goes down below the tops of the trees and it will sillouette them against the sky line.

Get one of those bellows type squirrel calls or learn to bark, either one works well to stop them running or give away their location thinking it's another squirrel trying to move in on their territory.

[Vern Humphrey]

I found that I saw lots of squirrels deer hunting from stands and deer while still hunting squirrels. I finaly cought on.

I have a Hammond Game Getter for just that purpose.

The Hammond Game Getter looks like a cartridge case, with an off-center primer pocket. The "primer pocket" is actually a .22 RF chamber. In use, you load it with a nail-setting blank and a buckshot in the mouth of the case. Mine is for a .30-06 and shoots about a 1" group at the top of the thick part of the crosshairs at 25 yards.

http://www3.telus.net/gamegetter/

[jmoore]

i always wanted to try a 36 cal flintlock muzzleloader.

Not a flinter, but it's about 0.355" bore (That's where it cleaned up reasonably well when I recut the rifling.)





Last thing got with it was a groundhog. A bit greasy, but not bad!

[Les Staley]

Is your hog dipping kettle cracked? There was one on the home place in Michigan where I was raised but had been left upright and rain/snow had filled it up and it cracked when it froze. How do you freshin' up the bore in your rifle? Got a rifling machine?

[Markbo]

Its funny. I love watching squirrels around my house and wont (cant) shoot them but Lynda swears they are aggressive towards her. I always scoffed at her stories until one day I stepped into the doorway of the garage and saw a big male hanging on the brick not 8 feet from staring her down and barking. She squealed and ran inside so it worked.

Ive had squirrels throw stuff at me from up in trees but I have never had one square up on me like that