Squirrels

[richhodg66]

I went deer hunting last night with the muzzle loader, no deer, but had some rather interesting interaction with a very small squirrel, much smaller than I'd expect one to be by now even one born this Spring. He hovered around my stand for a couple of hours, often lying on a branch and seeming almost to go to sleep (do squirrels ever sleep?). He gradually came closer to me as his curiosity got the better of him, eventually ending up on the secondary trunk of the tree I was in maybe two and a half feet in front of my face staring me in the eye trying to figure me out. I clicked my toungue at him and it made him perk up. Funny little guy, once it got dark, he crawled into a nest that was nearby and was down for the night I guess.

I had some really good times squirrel hunting last Winter and am almost looking forward to getting the deer hunting finished this year so I can do some of that.

[Dale53]

I consider squirrel hunting with either a rifle or a handgun to be some of the most sporting activity anyone can do. The meat is excellent, too!

My rifle of choice for many years, after some failures with the .22 long rifle, was a modern Marlin lever action 25/20 with the Lyman 257420 (a flat nosed, gas check cast bullet). I had three loads for that rifle. My squirrel load was 4.0 grs. of Unique. Even very large Fox Squirrels hit the deck with a behind the shoulder shot. Of course, my primary target was a head shot, but sometimes Mr. Squirrel wouldn't show his head. Then, a behind the shoulder shot would bring them out of the tree EVERY time with no meat loss.

My "medium" load for the range was the same bullet ahead of 11.0 grs. of RL-7. My "High Speed" load was 14.0 grs. of RL-7, a compressed load. This load was only for a modern, strong action. It was just under 2200 fps, and copied the old high speed factory load in performance. All of the three loads would shoot tens on the smallbore target at fifty yards. Not many "X's" but reliable tens (after all this is NOT a match rifle). However, that is a very useful level of accuracy in the hunting fields. My local club ran lever action rifle matches for a couple of years. I was VERY competitive with that little Marlin.

My choice of load for squirrel hunting with a revolver, was either a .32 S&W long with a wadcutter or .38 Special with a wadcutter. The wadcutter would shoot extremely well to fifty yards but somewhere past fifty yards it would start tumbling greatly reducing it's danger range if a shot was missed. I was always very careful to have a squirrel backed up by a tree but accidents do happen and that was my plan to reduce the possible danger to anything I didn't want to shoot. Most squirrels are taken within 25 yards, so limited range was not a problem. One thing for certain, I did NOT have to shoot those squirrels twice! Either the .32 or the .38 did the job in fine fashion and gave MUCH personal satisfaction as well a great table fare.

Just to clarify, only the light load was used for squirrels.

FWIW
Dale53

[toallmy]

The joy of hunting , my favorite day afield I just sat in the stand and watched a couple young red fox play like puppies in some tall dry grass .

[Bookworm]

I was deer hunting one fall, sitting on the ground backed up to a tree, in an open hardwood forest. I heard a noise beside me, turned my head to find a current-year fawn standing just a few feet from me, curiously checking me out. Probably the first human it had ever seen. I never heard it walk up.
That fawn walked around me several times during its half-hour visit. I talked to it, including asking it were its daddy was.
It never answered.....

[Mk42gunner]

Maybe he was from a late litter? Do squirrels have multiple litters per year?

Funny thing is I just got cussed out by a smallish fox squirrel. I came home from Mom's early and he was sitting on top of my light pole giving me heck. Undoubtedly he had been checking the early walnuts on the tree that is about eight feet from the pole.

Robert

[richhodg66]

I wondered if they had multiple litters as well. This little guy was tiny. He really was cute, and seeming to be sleepy made him cuter. It was fun watching him.

I've observed some neat things while sitting on a stand. Had a hawk miss a squirrel that was maybe 10 feet above my head in the tree I was in once. I also watched a mama bobcat with two mostly grown kittens while bowhunting. Most muzzle loader seasons when I have the time to spend in the woods, I'll usually run across a fawn or two and see how close I can get, usually end up talking to them. Had one follow me almost to my stand once, curious about me. A good day sitting quietly in the woods is about the most entertaining thing there is.

I've been hunting squirrels lately with a couple of .22 Hornets using cast, but I have a Savage 219 with a ruined barrel I want to have relined. I was thinking .32 S&W, but lately have been thinking .25-20, it's always seemed like the ultimate small game round to me.

[res45]

The Eastern Gray squirrel can have up to two litters a year. Usually the older females will have two while the younger females only have one an in general female squirrels are usually a year old or older before they start reproducing. The Gray squirrel young usually leave the nest at about 12 weeks but the ones born in the Autumn will stay in the nest with their mother all Winter.

[richhodg66]

All of them here are fox squirrels, but we must be right on the edge because when I was stationed in Leavenworth, we had some grays around. That's only 100 miles or so east. This little guy sure looked like a fox squirrel. Maybe fox squirrels have 2nd litters too.

[Blackwater]

Squirrel hunting is indeed a sport for everyone. It's ideal for teaching kids to hunt, and great preparation for teaching them to hunt deer. Those sharp-eyed little critters DO notice EVERY movement in their surroundings, so keeping VERY still is important. Thankfully, they don't have long memories, and after taking one, give the woods about 20 min. to "settle down," and they'll usually come back out again from wherever they went to at the shot. And young (or old) hunters get many, many more chances to "do it right" in a single day's hunt for them than they'll ever get hunting deer. This is what makes it such great training for the young, or anyone who's not experienced in hunting. It also teaches young and old alike the wonder that surrounds us in the woods too, which is always a good and helpful and edifying thing for life in general. If I ever lose my appreciation for the awe and wonder of the woods, I'll quit hunting, but that's not likely to ever happen. It keeps us mindful of the importance of "the little things," too, like being still and quiet. I try to imagine myself as a stump or an extension of the tree I'm in. Those don't even blink an eye, but I'm not quite THAT good at it. I keep trying, though.

And what a great meal! Great flavor, when prepared right. Squirrel stew is something anyone who eats simply HAS to be awed by! Potatoes, onions, carrots, garlic, and stewed a long time so it's falling apart! Wow! I just made myself HONGRY!!!

[flyingrhino]

I've taken to hunting them with a 22 cal pellet rifle. Doesn't scare everything else in the woods away. AND....can hunt them in my yard. Got a mess of them running around. They've gotten real skittish lately. A large red tail hawk has figured out my house is a good place to hang out. Keeps the squirrels on their toes.

[fiberoptik]

5mm Sheridan to the head works for me.


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[Iowa Fox]

We're so over run with them its impossible to shoot & trap them out try as hard as I can. They are here by the thousands. And I'm not exaggerating!

[richhodg66]

Wish I had that problem. We have an 18 acre place that was an old rock quarry sixty years ago that has been allowed to get overgrown since it was no good for farming. Long story short, it's dense woods now with a lot of rocky knolls that had been pushed up. Last year, first Winter in this place, I spent evenings sitting on top of a few of these knolls sniping squirrels in the evening. One spot I shot half a dozen or so and it made a difference in how many I saw (maybe they got smart or maybe a guy with a rifle really can make an impact). I only did it one or two evenings a week for maybe an hour each time. I think I could do that seven days a week and not get tired of it for a very long time.