2024/2025 Squirrel Hunting Thread...........

Gum Slough Muzzleloader said:

Well, boys I got one. It was this morning a little after 8am. Although I've had a few days off of work, it's been very little time in the woods.
I've been out early mornings and late afternoons. Very little time in the woods with either.
I saw one very small squirrel, too small to shoot. He made his way, tree to tree went off to my right. About 15 minutes later I noticed movement in the same area I lost sight of the little one. I figured same squirrel, but as he got closer I realized it was a mature squirrel. He basically followed the sane path as the little one. After making his way across some vines about 8 feet up, he climbed into a bigger tree, consistently moving. He reach a crook in the tree and stopped. He was up about 10 or 12 feet above the ground, and a bit over 15 yards away. I had raised the Crockett Rifle to my shoulder, little bit before he stopped, pulled back the hammer and sighted him in a Bang. He stiffed up curled his tail and fell to the ground.
He fell on the east side of the tree. I looked where he fell and he wasn't there... what the heck I know he didn't run off. So I looked all the way around the tree. Mostly favoring the eastside.
I spent a few minutes and was getting, well,ya know!!!! I thought by God I'm going in and get Ole Henry. Hooked him up to the leash, getting all pumped up by telling him, Get'em Boy, and Where's he at over and over, he was very excited by the time I took him to the tree. Got to the base of the tree pointing and telling him Find him boy , mind him. He sniffed around, leaned up on the tree sniffing and looking up and down and all around. Then his nose hit the ground and he picked up the scent, he stated to pull me and he was quivering. He was taking me to the west side of the tree. He sniffed he is way the root base of good size vines, and stated flinching and twitching back and forth at the vines. I looked down in amongst them and there was the squirrel dead as a door knobb. He pawed him out grabbed him, turn towards look all proud, it was great. That little was very happy with finding that squirrel, and so was I. I coaxed it away from him. Praised him and got him a treat.
I finally got one. And I will be going again before returning to work on Monday. Although I've shoot a plenty of squirrel with my muzzleloading shotgun, this is my first with a PRB. Thanks to all of the folks on the forum, that the main reason I wanted to pursue hunting with a PRB. Also a special thanks to ETipp for taking the time to share some real good advice when I reached out to him with a PM asking questions about hunting with a PRB and the Crockett Rifle....

The pictures are after Slough Dog drug him out of the vines.

To all
Take Care Stay Safe...

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Kansas Jake said:

I’m not an eye doctor but before I had my cataract surgery done my eyes could only be corrected so much. I like you was kind of stuck with it for a year or two before my eye doc could get the surgery approved by insurance.

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snakebit said:

The Crockett curse is NO MORE! Well done amigo. Knew you still had some feral Illinois kid left in you!

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ETipp said:

For anyone else out there that might be subjected to this.

Insurance requirements are 20/40 vision WITH correct lenses before they will pay for cataract removal. I’m testing out to 20/20. That’s under a control environment and is not taking into account different light conditions, especially bright days or bright lights. Also, and to complicate things more, I have some huge floaters in both eyes due to damage from detachments that tore the eye(s).

From my limited amount of research on this thus far, astigmatism throws a monkey wrench into the equation, and I also have plenty of that as well. For whatever reason, insurance companies frown upon that in their decision to cover cataract removal.

My wife and I are in the process of digging into this conundrum. Our plans are to research this more and make some phone calls. Something must be done because this has now turned into a safety issue. As it is now, depending on the situation, it’s often as if I’m looking through a plastic zip lock lunch baggy. Things are milky looking especially when I walk into a store. Last month I was in a Walmart store at the self checkout. Things were so distorted that I could not read the screen properly. Distorted vision happens in many stores. Night driving is now dangerous for me as bright lights blind me. Yet, according to insurance companies, it’s not bad enough. Even the eye doctor stated that my vision will be much better if it were not for cataract in both eyes.

The worst part is, this is, and has been, a very slow development and according to the eye doctors, may take several more years before insurance will cover it.

I sincerely hope none of you all experience this conundrum. This is really messing with my squirrel hunting. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve been holding off on purchasing anymore possibles. Squirrel hunting with my Crockett squirrel rifle is about the only thing I truly love to do now days, and there’s doubt if I’m able to continue. Under ideal light conditions I am able to see the front sight but it’s fuzzy. During poor light conditions I’m not able to see the front sight at all.

I have a couple of ideas in my head on how to at least temporarily get around this. Not sure if it will work or not but I’m going to give it a try.

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ETipp said:

For anyone else out there that might be subjected to this.

Insurance requirements are 20/40 vision WITH correct lenses before they will pay for cataract removal. I’m testing out to 20/20. That’s under a control environment and is not taking into account different light conditions, especially bright days or bright lights. Also, and to complicate things more, I have some huge floaters in both eyes due to damage from detachments that tore the eye(s).

From my limited amount of research on this thus far, astigmatism throws a monkey wrench into the equation, and I also have plenty of that as well. For whatever reason, insurance companies frown upon that in their decision to cover cataract removal.

My wife and I are in the process of digging into this conundrum. Our plans are to research this more and make some phone calls. Something must be done because this has now turned into a safety issue. As it is now, depending on the situation, it’s often as if I’m looking through a plastic zip lock lunch baggy. Things are milky looking especially when I walk into a store. Last month I was in a Walmart store at the self checkout. Things were so distorted that I could not read the screen properly. Distorted vision happens in many stores. Night driving is now dangerous for me as bright lights blind me. Yet, according to insurance companies, it’s not bad enough. Even the eye doctor stated that my vision will be much better if it were not for cataract in both eyes.

The worst part is, this is, and has been, a very slow development and according to the eye doctors, may take several more years before insurance will cover it.

I sincerely hope none of you all experience this conundrum. This is really messing with my squirrel hunting. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve been holding off on purchasing anymore possibles. Squirrel hunting with my Crockett squirrel rifle is about the only thing I truly love to do now days, and there’s doubt if I’m able to continue. Under ideal light conditions I am able to see the front sight but it’s fuzzy. During poor light conditions I’m not able to see the front sight at all.

I have a couple of ideas in my head on how to at least temporarily get around this. Not sure if it will work or not but I’m going to give it a try.

Click to expand...

Gum Slough Muzzleloader said:

Well, boys I got one. It was this morning a little after 8am. Although I've had a few days off of work, it's been very little time in the woods.
I've been out early mornings and late afternoons. Very little time in the woods with either.
I saw one very small squirrel, too small to shoot. He made his way, tree to tree went off to my right. About 15 minutes later I noticed movement in the same area I lost sight of the little one. I figured same squirrel, but as he got closer I realized it was a mature squirrel. He basically followed the sane path as the little one. After making his way across some vines about 8 feet up, he climbed into a bigger tree, consistently moving. He reach a crook in the tree and stopped. He was up about 10 or 12 feet above the ground, and a bit over 15 yards away. I had raised the Crockett Rifle to my shoulder, little bit before he stopped, pulled back the hammer and sighted him in a Bang. He stiffed up curled his tail and fell to the ground.
He fell on the east side of the tree. I looked where he fell and he wasn't there... what the heck I know he didn't run off. So I looked all the way around the tree. Mostly favoring the eastside.
I spent a few minutes and was getting, well,ya know!!!! I thought by God I'm going in and get Ole Henry. Hooked him up to the leash, getting all pumped up by telling him, Get'em Boy, and Where's he at over and over, he was very excited by the time I took him to the tree. Got to the base of the tree pointing and telling him Find him boy , mind him. He sniffed around, leaned up on the tree sniffing and looking up and down and all around. Then his nose hit the ground and he picked up the scent, he stated to pull me and he was quivering. He was taking me to the west side of the tree. He sniffed he is way the root base of good size vines, and stated flinching and twitching back and forth at the vines. I looked down in amongst them and there was the squirrel dead as a door knobb. He pawed him out grabbed him, turn towards look all proud, it was great. That little was very happy with finding that squirrel, and so was I. I coaxed it away from him. Praised him and got him a treat.
I finally got one. And I will be going again before returning to work on Monday. Although I've shoot a plenty of squirrel with my muzzleloading shotgun, this is my first with a PRB. Thanks to all of the folks on the forum, that the main reason I wanted to pursue hunting with a PRB. Also a special thanks to ETipp for taking the time to share some real good advice when I reached out to him with a PM asking questions about hunting with a PRB and the Crockett Rifle....

The pictures are after Slough Dog drug him out of the vines.

To all
Take Care Stay Safe...

Click to expand...

Jim K said:

Way to go Fred!!

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ETipp said:

Okay guys, here’s the situation. I finally got an updated prescription for my glasses. I ordered two pair. One pair was ready a couple of days ago so I picked them up. I’m sad to report that even though I can actually see better overall, the end bead on both of my Crockett squirrel rifles is blurry. This has been my greatest concern. Depending on the light conditions, I can see the end bead fairly clear, but as of now, in poor light conditions, the end bead is nothing more than a blur.

I’m not sure what to do about this as of now. I do know that it is almost entirely due to cataract that neither insurance companies will pay for until my vision gets worse. This is a real kick in the gut.

I do have another pair of glasses to pick up next week. So, I think I’m going to wait until then before moving to the next option. The other pair might be better, IDK.?

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Gum Slough Muzzleloader said:

I felt the feral kid today that's for sure.

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yellowhammer said:

Ed, I have just the opposite with my doc. I have 20/20 focus, and can read the chart well down to the lower lines, but for some reason he is really pressing me to get the cataracts out. He must be seeing something, and I do have the fuzzy sight syndrome. My biggest issue is night vision, or any low-light condition. If I meet some ahole on the highway with his bright lights on it just blinds me, I mean it totally blanks me out, as in run off the road if I'm not careful. All night lights, not just car lights, to me have the star-light effect around them

Not to keep harping on peeps, but try an experiment and remove the peep thats close to your eye and do some experiments with various sizes of washers temporarily taped to your barrel at various positions down the barrel. Not up close to your eye. I found a 7/64" dia hole down near the standard sight dovetail magically made the front sight come back into focus. It's the "pin-hole camera" , or "camera obscura" [LINK] effect.

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longcruise said:

@ETipp following your vision problems carefully. I'm not far behind you. The loss of focal length and oncoming cataracts is a looming problem.

Earlier in this topic I wondered about using reading glasses and there it was suggested by @flatcreek my wife has a huge collection of readers all over the house so I'm going to try sighting with them.

I have a rifle (not ml, an 85 Win 45-70) that is very similar to a ml that I mounted a homemade peep on at the factory dovetail. It is an improvement but not yet range tested.

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Gum Slough Muzzleloader said:

Went out this morning again. Creeped around a few minutes, found a good spot. Sat there for about half an hour, seen a couple squirrels off in the distance. Had pop up out of no where and kept moving fast. He was gone. Then a couple minutes later one comes in from another direction and sat on a big vine straight in front of me, about 6 feet above the ground and about 12 foot up. I shot and down he came. It was not the best shot, it hit him mid spine. Little fella was crawling away. I didn't like that always what what I shot to die quickly. I knifed him and it was over.
I'll be back out this afternoon if the rain allows me to. They've been moving in late afternoon and early evenings.
I have 2 for frying up tomorrow...
Not the prettiest picture but here he is.

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ETipp said:

Congrats on another kill, Fred.

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ETipp said:

...Makes me wonder about the eye doctor I’ve been going to...

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yellowhammer said:

Ed, Several years ago when i retired, my wife and I stopped going to "20/20 Eyecare" or some such name, I forget, and got set up with a real eye doctor, an opthalmologist. Those doc-in-the-box eye people are just optometrists, who are just pushing glasses and scheduling checkups for profit. Unlike optometrists and opticians, ophthalmologists are doctors of medicine (MD) or doctors of osteopathy (DO) who have specific training and experience diagnosing and treating eye and vision conditions. Made a world of difference with us. YMMV just our case. Worth looking into.

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