Black In The Wind

[Johnch]

It has been WARM to HOT the last few days
Record high temps several days here in NW Ohio , SE Of Toledo Ohio

Not a fan of bow hunting for deer when it is 75 degrees , with a 30 MPH wind

So I took the chance to hunt with a guy I meet online in another forum

He has a spot that has Gray and some Fox Squirrels a little over a hour away
Depending where we hunted , depended what kind of squirrel there was
Even better there are some melanistic Squirrels that are Black there in some areas

He told me I could shoot a limit if I wanted to
But Please only shoot 1 of the Black colored Grey Squirrels as he was hoping to let them expand their range

Well with the wind we hunted in a creek bottom with high ground to the south
The direction the wind was coming from

Well I had the 32 H&R Mag ( used to be 32 S&W ) H&R single shot with a Tasco World Class 3-9x40 scope
95 gr SWC cast bullets
Powder coated and pushed to about 1000 FPS with Unique
Starline cases , CCI SP primers

The hunt was easy
There was a corn field next to the creek bottom where we hunted
About 1 PM we walked along the edge of the corn field and found spots
Where we could see trails coming from the corn field to Maple and White Oak trees
The Maple trees had Squirrel boxes in them , so we knew where the squirrels would come from or to

Not 5 min after sitting down next to a maple tree I saw a young gray squirrel looking at me from a branch
Not 20 yards away , a easy shot

Well about 2 hours later I had 5 gray squirrels and had passed up a number of shots
But had not seen a Grey / Black Squirrel

So we walked a few hundred yards farther along the edge and then dropped down next to the creek

Well moving was a good idea , a lot less wind
10 min later I was watching a Black / Gray squirrel hauling a ear of corn toward me

I waited for it to stop about 25 feet away and go a few feet up a tree trunk looking back the way it had come

Well I pulled the trigger and I had my limit of 6 squirrels

I will admit I don't hunt gray squirrels much
So judging if they are young or older is tougher for me
As 3 of my squirrels will spend some time in the slow cooker as they were not young of the year

John

[ttd444]

it used to be everybody went out the first day of squirrel season. i did. the first year i went was a 20ga shotgun. the second year i went was a Marlin m25 in 22lr with 36gr CCI HP. i loved to shoot them, but after i ate them, well it just wasn't for me. but i gave them to old people and they were grateful for the meat.

i have seen one albino squirrel and two black squirrels in 40some years of hunting. when i was young i seen flying squirrels in the 1889 park, but today its down to red squirrels and chipmunks. fox squirrels just never came here, but if you go about 1/2 hour down the mountain, then you are in fox squirrels range.

[imashooter2]

I saw my first black squirrel at Niagara Falls. A gray squirrel was rare there. I have seen a very few of them here in the Philly suburbs. These days our squirrel population is way down as foxes and hawks have made a resurgence in the area.

[HWooldridge]

Black squirrels are not uncommon hereabouts and into the Hill Country. My uncle called them Rock Squirrels and claimed they were always at war with the grays; he said they would raid each other's nests and kill any babies that were inside - but that may just be normal squirrel behavior, I don't know...

He also told me to shoot them and let them lay because they smelled bad but I can't recall whether I ever did - we would usually just go after the gray ones, which were more numerous.

[elk hunter]

There is a season on grey squirrels here but, they pretty much all live in town. You only see a few a year in the woods. We used to drive an hour and one half north to hunt them. I built a 30 caliber muzzleloader to shoot them but haven't fired a shot in about 30 years as after Vietnam the Asians moved here and the squirrels disappeared as did the rabbits etc.. If we had reasonable numbers I'd love to go again.

[GhostHawk]

My favorites were always fox squirrels. Grays mostly moved into Fargo ND back in the 60's. Not near as many preditors and often much more food available.

2 or 3 fox squirrels braised and put down in brown gravy to simmer till the meat was ready to fall off the bone.
Served over Rice or mashed potatoes. I miss it. Lots of grays here in the city, but I can not shoot them. Can not legally shoot a nerf gun in your backyard.

Enjoy!

[white eagle]

I have a bunch of black squirrels in my woods
but also the grey's and red's but just as many black's
good luck with the squirrels

[ACC]

In Texas we call the black squirrels rock squirrels. But just as tasty.

ACC

[ttd444]

Black squirrels are a color variation in the eastern gray squirrel. They are not uncommon across the northern tier of Pennsylvania, and are often found in and around Milton and Little Pine state parks. Once, black-phase gray squirrels were found throughout Pennsylvania, but today they occur most often in the northcentral counties. “Black squirrels” may be any shade from dark gray to nearly jet black, often with a brownish tinge.

These black squirrels appear as a morph, and genetically speaking, it’s believed to result from a faulty pigment gene. No one is really sure why the black morph evolved, but several theories have been offered. Some scientists think it may be a selective advantage for squirrels that inhabit the northern ranges to help them absorb heat since the color of black conducts heat best.





White squirrels are almost always a white version of the eastern grey squirrel. There are a few types of genetic aberrations that cause the white coats. The first is albinism, caused by a mutation on a gene that codes for pigmentation. Albinos have red eyes. The other is a white morph, caused by a different gene. It is a naturally occurring trait of eastern grey squirrels that is very, very rare.

[Texas by God]

In Texas we call the black squirrels rock squirrels. But just as tasty.

ACC

A friend down in Junction told me that they’re called rock squirrels because when boiling them, you put a rock in the water.
When you can stick the rock with your fork- the squirrel is done!
We don’t have black or grey squirrels but we have enough regular squirrels that season never closes and no bag limit!
I’ve ate squirrel all my life and continue to do so- love it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HWooldridge]

I used to live in Huntsville, Texas back in the 1970's; we were in the heart of the Sam Houston National Forest and squirrels were all over the place. I hunted regularly just off a farm-to-market road between New Waverly and Willis - a large magnolia was about 150 yards from the road, next to an old abandoned orchard. I would sit under it and wait for them to show up - was easy enough to kill 5-10 in an afternoon. Almost every one was a red fox squirrel - grays were not very numerous there.

[dale2242]

We have western grey squirrels here in SW Oregon.
I`ve never seen a black or any color variation of them here.
I learned to hunt by hunting greys.
Oregon does have a season and limit on them in our area.

[Good Cheer]

I used to live in Huntsville, Texas back in the 1970's; we were in the heart of the Sam Houston National Forest and squirrels were all over the place. I hunted regularly just off a farm-to-market road between New Waverly and Willis - a large magnolia was about 150 yards from the road, next to an old abandoned orchard. I would sit under it and wait for them to show up - was easy enough to kill 5-10 in an afternoon. Almost every one was a red fox squirrel - grays were not very numerous there.

We lived on 8th Street in '64 and later out on 190. Can still remember the Amick's home furnishings commercials on KSAM, advertisements beaten into my head by repetition. Our grandparents lived in Trinity County, our hunting and fishing paradise as long as one didn't run afoul of the bad attitude game wardens or the encroaching Boy Scouts coming up from Houston.

[HWooldridge]

We lived on 8th Street in '64 and later out on 190. Can still remember the Amick's home furnishings commercials on KSAM, advertisements beaten into my head by repetition. Our grandparents lived in Trinity County, our hunting and fishing paradise as long as one didn't run afoul of the bad attitude game wardens or the encroaching Boy Scouts coming up from Houston.

My wife and I lived at Avenue S and 19th, in the Claridge Apartments. We were there from 77 to 82 then moved to San Antonio. I used to hunt all over the National Forest, and we fished down 190 and also near Riverside. Our favorite white bass spot was up and down Bedias Creek.