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

ETipp said:

10 spot, I'm shooting the .50 (1/2") tall sights. I had to do a fair amount of filing on the dovetails to get them to fit my Crockett and my GPR. Completely doable. This will give you the additional height needed for your peep.

FWIW, on my last order I got a little larger aperture on my last Tom Hawks peep. Its okay and helped me before due to bad vision. After my next eye surgery on 10-10, I'll revaluate that aperture. If all is well, I will most likely want to go back to a little smaller size again for squirrel hunting. Just have to wait and see..........literally.

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ETipp, thanks for the info, I'm off work all this week, due to the storm
My company, is having supplier issues, due to the storm, it tore up
Jack in western NC, and in SC, where
Thomas built buses gets there bus
Chassis from, and other vendors.
So I've got rear of the week to tinker
Hope you heal up well and your vision returns to(sharp.as.a hawk)
My vision with glasses is nothing to
Brag about, that's why I'm trying new
Things to help me out. Thanks and happy hunting Tin Spot.

Griz 54 said:

Reading this made me want to say, I'm 80 and was having problems seeing my sights. Last winter I decided to try fiber optics. I'm back in the game. Not HC but they work.

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Griz,
you being back in the game is what counts. You do what you have to do to keep shooting muzzleloaders. I appreciate PC and HC. No way would I let anything like that keep me from shooting the guns I love.

Sir, I feel I'm not alone in saying
You Go For It . I'm glad for you.
It's your gun, it's your Life...

Keep Shooting

ETipp said:

10 spot, I'm shooting the .50 (1/2") tall sights. I had to do a fair amount of filing on the dovetails to get them to fit my Crockett and my GPR. Completely doable. This will give you the additional height needed for your peep.

FWIW, on my last order I got a little larger aperture on my last Tom Hawks peep. Its okay and helped me before due to bad vision. After my next eye surgery on 10-10, I'll revaluate that aperture. If all is well, I will most likely want to go back to a little smaller size again for squirrel hunting. Just have to wait and see..........literally.

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ETipp I forgot to ask you, do you have you rear site still on your rifle?
Or did you remove it, when you added your peep?

10 spot said:

ETipp I forgot to ask you, do you have you rear site still on your rifle?
Or did you remove it, when you added your

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My primary Crockett has the factory rear sight on it but I’ve filed it down quite low.

My GPR has the rear sight removed. It was faulty. I have not plugged the dovetail slot as of yet but it’s on my to do list. Still waiting on my vision before making a final determination.

Not sure what I’ll be doing on my back-up Crockett. Waiting until my vision is stabilized. I’m sure I’ll either be removing the inferior rear sight or file it down low as well. It’s either that or order a plug for it, which will still need to be filed on.

For me, I prefer a sight picture that is uncluttered. IMO, this helps tremendously while trying to get a bead on a squirrel that seldom remains stationary for very long. Between that and a peep, it also pays big dividends in the darker squirrel woods. The last thing I want while squirrel hunting is something obscuring part of a small target.

A peep with a proper size aperture, combined with a Marble Arms sight has proven to be a wonderful combination for this ole boy so far. They also sell the same basic sight with fiber optic if one chooses.

Gum Slough Muzzleloader said:

Hammer, how is the assembly going?

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Squirrel Rifle Update:
Approaching completion. Parts are mostly finished, just lack blackening barrel and sights. Hampered by fact that I ran out of Jax Black; waiting for more. That's ok, stock will take a while longer anyway. Tried & True Varnish is notoriously slow to harden.

ETipp said:

Id like to collect some data on this game.

For the traditional ML squirrel hunters out there, what is your preferred method of hunting.

Spot and stalk?

Sit and hunt?

Still hunt?

Hunt with squirrel dogs?

Just walk through the woods?


Also, what is your preferred type of traditional ML for squirrel hunting?

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Walk in the woods and sit for a while

yellowhammer said:

Squirrel Rifle Update:
Approaching completion. Parts are mostly finished, just lack blackening barrel and sights. Hampered by fact that I ran out of Jax Black; waiting for more. That's ok, stock will take a while longer anyway. Tried & True Varnish is notoriously slow to harden.

View attachment 352796

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Looking good so far.

yellowhammer said:

Squirrel Rifle Update:
Approaching completion. Parts are mostly finished, just lack blackening barrel and sights. Hampered by fact that I ran out of Jax Black; waiting for more. That's ok, stock will take a while longer anyway. Tried & True Varnish is notoriously slow to harden.

View attachment 352796

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Looking real good Hammer.

What’s the mixture ratio you all use for permethrin? I’m getting ready to wash my camo then hang it on a line and treat it with permethrin. Need to do this today.

EDIT: Disregard. It’s been figured out.

I got the day off so I headed to the woods to look for some squirrel. I new the wind was going to be bad, and it was 25mph with gusts to 40mph. But after about a hour I spotted a squirrel high up in a cottonwood, while moving around trying to get a angle on him I spotted another one about half way up. He was laying on a branch looking at me. I couldn't get a real good shot but I figured it was worth a try. Got him, a big male. And the second squirrel decided to show me how quick he was, he was pretty quick lost him in the third tree. Never seen any more the wind was to much, and sounds like it going to be like that all weekend.

Duk said:

I got the day off so I headed to the woods to look for some squirrel. I new the wind was going to be bad, and it was 25mph with gusts to 40mph. But after about a hour I spotted a squirrel high up in a cottonwood, while moving around trying to get an angle on him I spotted another one about half way up. He was laying on a branch looking at me. I couldn't get a real good shot but I figured it was worth a try. Got him,View attachment 353116 a big male. And the second squirrel decided to show me how quick he was, he was pretty quick lost him in the third tree. Never seen any more the wind was to much, and sounds like it going to be like that all weekend.

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Congrats on the kill but what the heck kind of squirrels do you all have in ND? Looks like half fox squirrel and half gray squirrel………It’s a Fray Squirrel by golly! Whoda thunk it?

ETipp said:

What’s the mixture ratio you all use for permethrin? I’m getting ready to wash my camo then hang it on a line and treat it with permethrin. Need to do this today.

EDIT: Disregard. It’s been figured out.

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I use 1oz to 23-24 oz distilled water.

snakebit said:

I use 1oz to 23-24 oz distilled water.

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Not sure if it's necessary to use distilled water or not. I have a gallon in the garage I use for the boat batteries, so I just use it.

ETipp said:

Congrats on the kill but what the heck kind of squirrels do you all have in ND? Looks like half fox squirrel and half gray squirrel………It’s a Fray Squirrel by golly! Whoda thunk it?

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I was thinking the same exact thing

Duk said:

I got the day off so I headed to the woods to look for some squirrel. I new the wind was going to be bad, and it was 25mph with gusts to 40mph. But after about a hour I spotted a squirrel high up in a cottonwood, while moving around trying to get a angle on him I spotted another one about half way up. He was laying on a branch looking at me. I couldn't get a real good shot but I figured it was worth a try. Got him,View attachment 353116 a big male. And the second squirrel decided to show me how quick he was, he was pretty quick lost him in the third tree. Never seen any more the wind was to much, and sounds like it going to be like that all weekend.

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Heck yeah Duk I wanted to go this morning, when I got up and went outside it was really thick fog. Bow season opens tomorrow, so any squirrel hunting will be mid morning so's not to interrupt deer hunters.

ETipp said:

Congrats on the kill but what the heck kind of squirrels do you all have in ND? Looks like half fox squirrel and half gray squirrel………It’s a Fray Squirrel by golly! Whoda thunk it?

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They call them fox squirrels and their big like a fox squirrel but in the riverbottoms where i hunt they have a lot of gray fur. We do have grays here but not many and mostly in the eastern part of the state. I don't know if they interbreed, "maybe ". Whitetails and mule deer do on occasion.

snakebit said:

Heck yeah Duk I wanted to go this morning, when I got up and went outside it was really thick fog. Bow season opens tomorrow, so any squirrel hunting will be mid morning so's not to interrupt deer hunters.

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Our bow season is going on now but alot of people wait to go until it gets cold.

Duk said:

Our bow season is going on now but alot of people wait to go until it gets cold.

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We've been getting down into the low 50's overnight. I thought about deer hunting until late morning, switching out weapons and hunting squirrel after. Just don't want someone to accidentally break out my window and my bow or rifle run off on me

Duk said:

I got the day off so I headed to the woods to look for some squirrel. I new the wind was going to be bad, and it was 25mph with gusts to 40mph. He was laying on a branch looking at me. View attachment 353116

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With winds that strong he was probably holding onto that limb with all his might out of fear that if he tried to move, he might end up on a mountain top in Montana.

Gotta hand it to you, Duk. You have my respect for squirrel hunting in such wind.

Well done sir.

Update:

Today was report card day for ETipp and my right eye. Tested first with that weird mirror on the wall chart thing that's changeable. Last week at this time I was at 20/40. Today I'm at 20/25 for distant vision. So, it is coming along.

Next I was checked with the handheld printed chart. Under the usual poor light conditions in those rooms, I tested out to 20/30 at about 2 feet away. Lucky for me, I had brought my small LED flashlight with me. I asked for a retest, which was granted. After reaching into my back pocket and pulling out my light, I shined it on the chart, I tested out to 20/20 near vision. So, as of now, poor light conditions and/or in-room lighting definitely has a negative effect on my vision.

Next, the surgeon came in the room and looked into my eye with one of those goofy looking things. He said everything looks good. Surgery on left eye is still on for this coming Thursday.

This was a huge relief for this ole boy. Yesterday, I had to drive myself over there to do pre-surgery paperwork. For whatever reason, I couldn't see squat. It was a real chore driving home and they had hinted that perhaps left eye surgery would be delayed. It was extremely difficult to drive home. In fact, it was so bad that I made a couple of wrong turns. It was all I could do to see anything at all. This was in both eyes so I knew it had to have been dry eyes, most likely due to lack of sleep.

As it is now, I am down to 5 days remaining to wait. I am certain that if the left eye turns out anything like the right eye, I'll be seeing well by Friday, one week from today. Its pure hell not being able to wear badly needed glasses on the left eye with right eye vision still not up to par. I do not know what my I test out to in my right eye without glasses but its bad, really bad. The two eyes and the brain are fighting each other big time. An eyepatch doesn't work and neither does removing one lens from my glasses work. Makes no sense but it is what it is. I hope I don't have to drive any more until after next Friday. The normal wait between both eyes getting done is one full mouth for this guy. I was able to sweet-talk the gals in the office to get mine changed to 2 weeks. I'd probably wind up in trouble if I had to wait for one full month.

I'm still hoping for the best in the long run.