2023 Fall Squirrel Season...........

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Okay fellas. Finally got all my deer hunting out of the way for the year. I will not be hunting the late ML season as I am tagged out and my freezers will surely be full by the time this one goes in. The good Lord above blessed me with a pretty good buck yesterday to end the season. Not a ML kill but I'll take it nonetheless.

Hopefully, in the morning I will be back out with my Crockett squirrel rifle after those bushy tails that has been pestering me during my deer hunting. Squirrel season closed for a few days and opens back up tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a little bit of information on squirrel hunting from the KY Fish and Game web site.

Also, I am going to post a pick of my final deer for this season. Not a ML kill and not the biggest buck in these hills, but he will make due until the other one offers me a shot. Been playing a game of cat and mouse with several like him since beginning of September in a few different woods. Truth be known, I'm not a big buck fanatic, its all about the meat for this ole boy anyway. I just wished this one would have been with my ML.

Enjoy my friends.

For the squirrel hunting information, scroll down to the "habitat" section. Some pretty good information.

https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Pages/Squirrel-Hunting.aspx
 

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Okay fellas. Got all my deer hunting out of the way for the year. I will not be hunting the late ML season as I am tagged out and my freezers will surely be full. The good Lord above blessed me with a pretty good buck yesterday to end the season. Not a ML kill but I'll take it nonetheless.

Hopefully, in the morning I will be back out with my Crockett squirrel rifle after those bushy tails that has been pestering me during my deer hunting.

In the meantime, here's a little bit of information on squirrel hunting from the KY Fish and Game web site.

Also, I am going to post a pick of my final deer for this season. Not a ML kill and not the biggest buck in these hills, but he will make due until the other one offers me a shot. Been playing a game of cat and mouse with several like him since beginning of September in a few different woods. Truth be known, I'm not a big buck fanatic, its all about the meat for this ole boy anyway. I just wished this one would have been with my ML.

Enjoy my friends.

For the squirrel hunting information, scroll down to the "habitat" section. Some pretty good information.

https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Pages/Squirrel-Hunting.aspx
I'm your neighbor to the north in Indiana. Our gun season opens the 18th. From pics from my sons trail cam I've seen some nice bucks. Bottom line is I just want meat for the freezer. So if its a doe its a go! Congratulations on that antlered squirrel๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜ƒ๐Ÿ˜„๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿ˜†๐Ÿ˜‰๐Ÿ˜‰
 
I'm your neighbor to the north in Indiana. Our gun season opens the 18th. From pics from my sons trail cam I've seen some nice bucks. Bottom line is I just want meat for the freezer. So if its a doe its a go! Congratulations on that antlered squirrel๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜ƒ๐Ÿ˜„๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿ˜†๐Ÿ˜‰๐Ÿ˜‰
Indeed, its all about the meat for this ole boy. Love deer meat.
 
Okay fellas. Finally got all my deer hunting out of the way for the year. I will not be hunting the late ML season as I am tagged out and my freezers will surely be full by the time this one goes in. The good Lord above blessed me with a pretty good buck yesterday to end the season. Not a ML kill but I'll take it nonetheless.

Hopefully, in the morning I will be back out with my Crockett squirrel rifle after those bushy tails that has been pestering me during my deer hunting. Squirrel season closed for a few days and opens back up tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a little bit of information on squirrel hunting from the KY Fish and Game web site.

Also, I am going to post a pick of my final deer for this season. Not a ML kill and not the biggest buck in these hills, but he will make due until the other one offers me a shot. Been playing a game of cat and mouse with several like him since beginning of September in a few different woods. Truth be known, I'm not a big buck fanatic, its all about the meat for this ole boy anyway. I just wished this one would have been with my ML.

Enjoy my friends.

For the squirrel hunting information, scroll down to the "habitat" section. Some pretty good information.

https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Pages/Squirrel-Hunting.aspx
Good going Ed.
Glad ya got some meat in the freezer.
Me not so fortunate, had a good time on a 3 day muzzleloading hunt, and the last two weekends of general gun.
We have antler restrictions here in Florida. I was hunting on a Wildlife Management Area.
I had a couple that might have been legal, but chosen not to roll the dice.
The FWC are cool folks but if it's short you will get a scolding and a fine. The one that was legal, as I leaned my shoulder out past a big Oak I was sitting under a doe blew the warning sound, scared the crap out of me and buck took off.
How ever I enjoyed ever minute out there. And the squirrels taunted me through both of my hunts. They will pay the price, they were all over the place.
Good luck to all.
Take Care Stay Safe..
Fred
 
Glad to hear your season is going well. Here in VA. 1st week of muzzleloader season weather has been warm. But bucks are chasing. I killed 3 doe and 1 buck with muzzleloader have another week to go.
 
Glad to hear your season is going well. Here in VA. 1st week of muzzleloader season weather has been warm. But bucks are chasing. I killed 3 doe and 1 buck with muzzleloader have another week to go
Wowser, you're doing very well. Congrats!

It would be so nice if the ML season were longer than two days here. One weekend is it for the early season anyway. By the time the late season arrives (after the gun hunt) most deer have been scared into nocturnal mode.

I try real hard to be tagged out by then, especially now that I have a .32 Crockett squirrel rifle to hunt bushy tails with later in the year.
 
Good going Ed.
Glad ya got some meat in the freezer.
Me not so fortunate, had a good time on a 3 day muzzleloading hunt, and the last two weekends of general gun.
We have antler restrictions here in Florida. I was hunting on a Wildlife Management Area.
I had a couple that might have been legal, but chosen not to roll the dice.
The FWC are cool folks but if it's short you will get a scolding and a fine. The one that was legal, as I leaned my shoulder out past a big Oak I was sitting under a doe blew the warning sound, scared the manure out of me and buck took off.
How ever I enjoyed ever minute out there. And the squirrels taunted me through both of my hunts. They will pay the price, they were all over the place.
Good luck to all.
Take Care Stay Safe..
Fred
Howdy, Fred.

Hang in there, bro. You're bound to score if you stick with it.

And yes, you always have the squirrels to keep you busy as well.

One great thing about deer hunting (and squirrel hunting) is that when I'm out doing either one, I'm also taking mental notes on the other for later on. Saturday morning before I scored I happened to look over and dang if there wasn't a couple of squirrels come out of a nearby tree. It is a den tree that I hope to visit this morning with my Crockett. :)
 
Okay fellas. Finally got all my deer hunting out of the way for the year. I will not be hunting the late ML season as I am tagged out and my freezers will surely be full by the time this one goes in. The good Lord above blessed me with a pretty good buck yesterday to end the season. Not a ML kill but I'll take it nonetheless.

Hopefully, in the morning I will be back out with my Crockett squirrel rifle after those bushy tails that has been pestering me during my deer hunting. Squirrel season closed for a few days and opens back up tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a little bit of information on squirrel hunting from the KY Fish and Game web site.

Also, I am going to post a pick of my final deer for this season. Not a ML kill and not the biggest buck in these hills, but he will make due until the other one offers me a shot. Been playing a game of cat and mouse with several like him since beginning of September in a few different woods. Truth be known, I'm not a big buck fanatic, its all about the meat for this ole boy anyway. I just wished this one would have been with my ML.

Enjoy my friends.

For the squirrel hunting information, scroll down to the "habitat" section. Some pretty good information.

https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Pages/Squirrel-Hunting.aspx
Looks like some meat there. Good job.
 
Went back to that den tree area this morning. Only got one squirrel out of there. But its in a thicket so its not an easy place to hunt. Hopefully I can return there in the morning for a second try. It was really nice to get out and squirrel hunt again with my Crockett rifle. Had a really good time. After checking the area out, I think I have an idea on what be the best way to hunt it in the morning. As usual here, its on a fairly steep hillside.
 
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Okay fellas. Finally got all my deer hunting out of the way for the year. I will not be hunting the late ML season as I am tagged out and my freezers will surely be full by the time this one goes in. The good Lord above blessed me with a pretty good buck yesterday to end the season. Not a ML kill but I'll take it nonetheless.

Hopefully, in the morning I will be back out with my Crockett squirrel rifle after those bushy tails that has been pestering me during my deer hunting. Squirrel season closed for a few days and opens back up tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a little bit of information on squirrel hunting from the KY Fish and Game web site.

Also, I am going to post a pick of my final deer for this season. Not a ML kill and not the biggest buck in these hills, but he will make due until the other one offers me a shot. Been playing a game of cat and mouse with several like him since beginning of September in a few different woods. Truth be known, I'm not a big buck fanatic, its all about the meat for this ole boy anyway. I just wished this one would have been with my ML.

Enjoy my friends.

For the squirrel hunting information, scroll down to the "habitat" section. Some pretty good information.

https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Pages/Squirrel-Hunting.aspx
nice buck. congrats
 
Hey guys, here are some squirrel hunting lessons I learned from mother nature yesterday I would like to share with you all. Hopefully, it might be beneficial to some of you in the future and/or reduce some frustrations at a minimum.

Woke up yesterday morning feeling quite run down. Understandable considering how much I've been out hunting and scouting this year. Due to the steepness of the terrain, it adds additional wear and tear on the body. It is an accumulative thing. Having to hobble around on one very worn out knee doesn't help matters any. Deer hunting has been more challenging this year and taken more out of me than I can ever remember. But that is over for this year. Job complete.

So, between that, as well as being a little lazy (reads worn out old fart), and the fact that I have been seeing lots of squirrels out and about later in the morning, I decided to wait until 10:00 to head out. Thinking they enjoy being out and about in the warmer sunshine, I thought I had this one all figured out. Well, as often times has proven, that was not the case.

By the time I made the ride up there to that thicket on my ATV and started walking, it was 10:24. Walked about 20 yards and there was a squirrel. It had seen me first and wasn't sticking around. Wasn't frightened, just kind of hopped away. Thinking surely this was a good sign, I continued slipping around the thicket. I literally eased around, back and forth, sat down for a while to rest a few times, went up high, down low and off to the edge of some big woods for over 3 hours and only saw one more squirrel. And that one saw me first. I didn't even hear the usual squirrel(s) barking at me from a distance. Everything was too quiet. This puzzled me. I knew there were squirrels in and around that thicket because I had seen them there not only the day before, but during deer hunting.

While working my way back downslope to my ATV that I had parked about half way up in the large thicket, I tried to process this and fall back on my memory banks to figure out what was going on here. The weather was about the same as the day before, with the only difference being a little wind in places and a somewhat thin overcast, but the sun was still shining through. Temps were about the same. As I arrived back at my parked ATV, I pondered this situation as I sat there soaking up the sun, ate some munchies and drank some cold water I had in my cooler. Then two past major scenarios kept playing through my mind.

With a few other squirrel hunting experiences I have found that on some days, even though everything is basically the same, such as location, weather, wind, etc, squirrels just do not come out much. So that was a viable thought indeed.

Second was the time of day **for this hunt** when compared to the previous day when I was out in the early morning only. Both could be possible, therefore, I decided that I was there for the day and there's not a thing I can do about whether or not squirrels decide not to come out. However, there was something I could **maybe do**, in terms of time of day. I said to myself "any nice weather day out in the woods is better than being home". So I decided to stay for the rest of the day and wait it out.

Looking at my watch (which I am a firm believer that every hunter needs to carry) It was then about 1300 hours. Firing up my ATV I rode back downslope to the edges of the open fields to ease around trying to spot squirrel activity. None to be found so I rode back up and parked the ATV in the same location, looked at my watch, and decided to head out anyway at 1340 hours.

At approximately 1355 hours a squirrel and I happened to walk up on each other in the thicket. He wasn't scared, just kind of hopped off through the thick brush. It took about five minutes after that to get to the edge of the thicket where it opened up a little bit where I could see a bit further. So I parked next to a tree and just began observing. As luck would have it, I sat there for maybe 1-2 minutes when a slow and low flying helicopter flew over. By the time the helicopter had flown off, I thought I heard something in the very loud dry leaves, I looked to my right and there was a big squirrel looking at me from maybe 20 feet away. I didn't move any more and there was no way to try to raise my Crockett rifle to get a shot, so Mr. Squirrel just meandered away into the thick stuff.

Here's where everything changed. It was right at 1400 hours and I swear to you all that it was like someone had activated a squirrel activity switch. I saw several squirrels in several directions at the same time, mostly in the big woods that I do not have permission to hunt. I can only hunt a smaller portion of the big woods that belongs to the thicket owner. However, a few squirrels were still coming through, and/or out of that thicket. It took me about 15 minutes to maneuver around a bit and I had my first squirrel for the day.

So, lesson learned. I am now fairly certain that those squirrels came out earlier in the morning, filled their stomachs, and went back to their den trees for a late morning nap. It was not like many days when they are still scattered about during the afternoon. Either way, it began happening all of a sudden. I couldn't believe how much difference a few minutes can make.

Second lesson learned. Hunting squirrels in and/or around a thicket is very challenging. This is especially true with the current, dry conditions this time of year. The leaves on the ground are as thick and deep as I have ever seen, especially in the big woods and/or in close proximity to them. We are in a big time drought. This can be both good and bad for hunting. Good if you remain relatively stationary. Bad if and when you decide to move. It is so dry that a dang chipmunk sounds like a draft horse walking through the woods/brush. Squirrels react to loud noises, as well as rapid movements. However, the good aspect of the thick and dry leaves on the ground is, if you can have the patience and strength to move very, very slowly and put your foot down as quietly as possible, go a few feet and stop for a while and just watch and listen, I have found that to be a great asset. However, the main downfall to that one is, more times than not, I get caught out in the open where there is no trees to take a good rest off of for a shot. It seems that squirrels can be like spirits........they just magically appear to one. Even in the noisy leaves they can still just "appear", and very close to a person IF they are slow and quiet during their walk. I have found that most of those squirrels were up in trees very close to me and neither one saw the other. Either way, this time of year, especially in and/or around a thicket, calls for a long day and can make a man go weak in the head, in terms of displaying patience, as well as maintaining a positive attitude towards the hunt. It can be a true and classic example of just about the time you think there is no hope................"Prang" a squirrel magically appears. And in a thicket, often in close quarters to boot. Its what I call one of those for real "They Lord have mercy" attitude adjustment times.

Lesson three.

This is one that I have already known but it has never been as apparent as it has been the last two days while squirrel hunting in and around a thicket. I am also adamant that this happens more so during this time of year when its what I have termed "stupid season" for squirrels.

I've experienced more squirrels within very close proximity to me during the last two hunts than in a long time. Most every one of those was after I had already shot and was reloading, or was in a bad position to shoot, or couldn't get my rifle up in time before they saw me went a different direction. Again, the extra dry leaves added to the trouble. Even when sitting perfectly still, there's just no way to twist around to try to get a bead on a very close proximity squirrel that just came up from behind, or off to my opposite shooting side without them hearing it. If I tried to twist around, it was loud and sent off sonar waves to the next zip code.

Therefore, it reinforced into this ole boys brain that anytime a squirrel gets really close, but doesn't see me, its absolutely best to freeze and allow the squirrel to move along. For whatever reason, during stupid squirrel time even if they see me and IF I don't move, they do not see me as a threat. I have killed a fair number of squirrels by doing so. Yesterday, on my second squirrel, I had waited for a while to get a shot. There were two of them playing around out there and just kept hanging around the same basic location. Try as I did, and considering their movements, there was no getting any closer. So I parked next to a smaller tree, not my favorite for taking a rest off off. I finally, after what appeared to have been hours, and growing tired of that game of cat and mouse, I did my best and fired at one. It was a miss. While slowly reloading the other one saw me and, went up the side of a nearby tree, and began barking at me. We could clearly see each other. After reloading I stood there as still as possible with him looking at me, the both of us had a good ole fashion stare down. After quite a while, the squirrel lowered his guard and decided I wasn't a threat, or got he got busy thinking about something else, and jumped to another tree just looking around. This time I slowly dropped down to one knee and got a good rest and bead off of the smaller tree and my knee. Score two.

After that I was about worn out. I had been hobbling upslope and back downslope twice, waded though the thicket and briars, sat next to trees, and decided to call it a day. It was, by no other definition, a long day out hunting, but it was worth it to this ole boy. Even with only two squirrels to show for it, this was most certainly much better than sitting at home wishing I was out squirrel hunting.

Almost forgot......... Lesson four.

I ordered a bullet board for my .32 Crockett about a month ago. Due to what I call my deer hunting priority, I had not used it. So for this hunt I thought I'd give it a try. After using it yesterday, all I can say is they are the berries. Wished I had figured that out when I first began my squirrel hunting with my Crockett Squirrel Rifle. Most definitely worth it. So much so that I would like to order another one. Considering how much I miss when I shoot at squirrels, I consider them a must have item. Perhaps I need to carry three of them. :)

So indeed, several valuable lessons learned and/or relearned on this one.
 

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Hey guys, here are some squirrel hunting lessons I learned from mother nature yesterday I would like to share with you all. Hopefully, it might be beneficial to some of you in the future and/or reduce some frustrations at a minimum.

Woke up yesterday morning feeling quite run down. Understandable considering how much I've been out hunting and scouting this year. Due to the steepness of the terrain, it adds additional wear and tear on the body. It is an accumulative thing. Having to hobble around on one very worn out knee doesn't help matters any. Deer hunting has been more challenging this year and taken more out of me than I can ever remember. But that is over for this year. Job complete.

So, between that, as well as being a little lazy (reads worn out old fart), and the fact that I have been seeing lots of squirrels out and about later in the morning, I decided to wait until 10:00 to head out. Thinking they enjoy being out and about in the warmer sunshine, I thought I had this one all figured out. Well, as often times has proven, that was not the case.

By the time I made the ride up there to that thicket on my ATV and started walking, it was 10:24. Walked about 20 yards and there was a squirrel. It had seen me first and wasn't sticking around. Wasn't frightened, just kind of hopped away. Thinking surely this was a good sign, I continued slipping around the thicket. I literally eased around, back and forth, sat down for a while to rest a few times, went up high, down low and off to the edge of some big woods for over 3 hours and only saw one more squirrel. And that one saw me first. I didn't even hear the usual squirrel(s) barking at me from a distance. Everything was too quiet. This puzzled me. I knew there were squirrels in and around that thicket because I had seen them there not only the day before, but during deer hunting.

While working my way back downslope to my ATV that I had parked about half way up in the large thicket, I tried to process this and fall back on my memory banks to figure out what was going on here. The weather was about the same as the day before, with the only difference being a little wind in places and a somewhat thin overcast, but the sun was still shining through. Temps were about the same. As I arrived back at my parked ATV, I pondered this situation as I sat there soaking up the sun, ate some munchies and drank some cold water I had in my cooler. Then two past major scenarios kept playing through my mind.

With a few other squirrel hunting experiences I have found that on some days, even though everything is basically the same, such as location, weather, wind, etc, squirrels just do not come out much. So that was a viable thought indeed.

Second was the time of day **for this hunt** when compared to the previous day when I was out in the early morning only. Both could be possible, therefore, I decided that I was there for the day and there's not a thing I can do about whether or not squirrels decide not to come out. However, there was something I could **maybe do**, in terms of time of day. I said to myself "any nice weather day out in the woods is better than being home". So I decided to stay for the rest of the day and wait it out.

Looking at my watch (which I am a firm believer that every hunter needs to carry) It was then about 1300 hours. Firing up my ATV I rode back downslope to the edges of the open fields to ease around trying to spot squirrel activity. None to be found so I rode back up and parked the ATV in the same location, looked at my watch, and decided to head out anyway at 1340 hours.

At approximately 1355 hours a squirrel and I happened to walk up on each other in the thicket. He wasn't scared, just kind of hopped off through the thick brush. It took about five minutes after that to get to the edge of the thicket where it opened up a little bit where I could see a bit further. So I parked next to a tree and just began observing. As luck would have it, I sat there for maybe 1-2 minutes when a slow and low flying helicopter flew over. By the time the helicopter had flown off, I thought I heard something in the very loud dry leaves, I looked to my right and there was a big squirrel looking at me from maybe 20 feet away. I didn't move any more and there was no way to try to raise my Crockett rifle to get a shot, so Mr. Squirrel just meandered away into the thick stuff.

Here's where everything changed. It was right at 1400 hours and I swear to you all that it was like someone had activated a squirrel activity switch. I saw several squirrels in several directions at the same time, mostly in the big woods that I do not have permission to hunt. I can only hunt a smaller portion of the big woods that belongs to the thicket owner. However, a few squirrels were still coming through, and/or out of that thicket. It took me about 15 minutes to maneuver around a bit and I had my first squirrel for the day.

So, lesson learned. I am now fairly certain that those squirrels came out earlier in the morning, filled their stomachs, and went back to their den trees for a late morning nap. It was not like many days when they are still scattered about during the afternoon. Either way, it began happening all of a sudden. I couldn't believe how much difference a few minutes can make.

Second lesson learned. Hunting squirrels in and/or around a thicket is very challenging. This is especially true with the current, dry conditions this time of year. The leaves on the ground are as thick and deep as I have ever seen, especially in the big woods and/or in close proximity to them. We are in a big time drought. This can be both good and bad for hunting. Good if you remain relatively stationary. Bad if and when you decide to move. It is so dry that a dang chipmunk sounds like a draft horse walking through the woods/brush. Squirrels react to loud noises, as well as rapid movements. However, the good aspect of the thick and dry leaves on the ground is, if you can have the patience and strength to move very, very slowly and put your foot down as quietly as possible, go a few feet and stop for a while and just watch and listen, I have found that to be a great asset. However, the main downfall to that one is, more times than not, I get caught out in the open where there is no trees to take a good rest off of for a shot. It seems that squirrels can be like spirits........they just magically appear to one. Even in the noisy leaves they can still just "appear", and very close to a person IF they are slow and quiet during their walk. I have found that most of those squirrels were up in trees very close to me and neither one saw the other. Either way, this time of year, especially in and/or around a thicket, calls for a long day and can make a man go weak in the head, in terms of displaying patience, as well as maintaining a positive attitude towards the hunt. It can be a true and classic example of just about the time you think there is no hope................"Prang" a squirrel magically appears. And in a thicket, often in close quarters to boot. Its what I call one of those for real "They Lord have mercy" attitude adjustment times.

Lesson three.

This is one that I have already known but it has never been as apparent as it has been the last two days while squirrel hunting in and around a thicket. I am also adamant that this happens more so during this time of year when its what I have termed "stupid season" for squirrels.

I've experienced more squirrels within very close proximity to me during the last two hunts than in a long time. Most every one of those was after I had already shot and was reloading, or was in a bad position to shoot, or couldn't get my rifle up in time before they saw me went a different direction. Again, the extra dry leaves added to the trouble. Even when sitting perfectly still, there's just no way to twist around to try to get a bead on a very close proximity squirrel that just came up from behind, or off to my opposite shooting side without them hearing it. If I tried to twist around, it was loud and sent off sonar waves to the next zip code.

Therefore, it reinforced into this ole boys brain that anytime a squirrel gets really close, but doesn't see me, its absolutely best to freeze and allow the squirrel to move along. For whatever reason, during stupid squirrel time even if they see me and IF I don't move, they do not see me as a threat. I have killed a fair number of squirrels by doing so. Yesterday, on my second squirrel, I had waited for a while to get a shot. There were two of them playing around out there and just kept hanging around the same basic location. Try as I did, and considering their movements, there was no getting any closer. So I parked next to a smaller tree, not my favorite for taking a rest off off. I finally, after what appeared to have been hours, and growing tired of that game of cat and mouse, I did my best and fired at one. It was a miss. While slowly reloading the other one saw me and, went up the side of a nearby tree, and began barking at me. We could clearly see each other. After reloading I stood there as still as possible with him looking at me, the both of us had a good ole fashion stare down. After quite a while, the squirrel lowered his guard and decided I wasn't a threat, or got he got busy thinking about something else, and jumped to another tree just looking around. This time I slowly dropped down to one knee and got a good rest and bead off of the smaller tree and my knee. Score two.

After that I was about worn out. I had been hobbling upslope and back downslope twice, waded though the thicket and briars, sat next to trees, and decided to call it a day. It was, by no other definition, a long day out hunting, but it was worth it to this ole boy. Even with only two squirrels to show for it, this was most certainly much better than sitting at home wishing I was out squirrel hunting.

Almost forgot......... Lesson four.

I ordered a bullet board for my .32 Crockett about a month ago. Due to what I call my deer hunting priority, I had not used it. So for this hunt I thought I'd give it a try. After using it yesterday, all I can say is they are the berries. Wished I had figured that out when I first began my squirrel hunting with my Crockett Squirrel Rifle. Most definitely worth it. So much so that I would like to order another one. Considering how much I miss when I shoot at squirrels, I consider them a must have item. Perhaps I need to carry three of them. :)

So indeed, several valuable lessons learned and/or relearned on this one.
That was interesting indeed. Last week I had a really nice buck follow a doe into me while squirrel hunting. Iโ€™ve taken 6 out of that patch of woods so Iโ€™m not hunting it anymore.

A buddy and I hung a stand in there Saturday and heโ€™s been bow hunting it this week while Iโ€™ve been hunting about 700 yards from him. Monday he texted me and said there were still a bunch of squirrels of squirrels in there. Yesterday was a little windy. I donโ€™t squirrel hunt windy days. He didnโ€™t see a squirrel. I told him thatโ€™s why I donโ€™t hunt in wind. This morning was calm and about 30 degrees. The squirrels waited awhile to get busy. He and I both saw it.

Sometimes itโ€™s hard to figure out.
 
That was interesting indeed. Last week I had a really nice buck follow a doe into me while squirrel hunting. Iโ€™ve taken 6 out of that patch of woods so Iโ€™m not hunting it anymore.

A buddy and I hung a stand in there Saturday and heโ€™s been bow hunting it this week while Iโ€™ve been hunting about 700 yards from him. Monday he texted me and said there were still a bunch of squirrels of squirrels in there. Yesterday was a little windy. I donโ€™t squirrel hunt windy days. He didnโ€™t see a squirrel. I told him thatโ€™s why I donโ€™t hunt in wind. This morning was calm and about 30 degrees. The squirrels waited awhile to get busy. He and I both saw it.

Sometimes itโ€™s hard to figure out.
That has been my experience as well. Often the squirrels wait until it warms up a bit before they get out and about. Thus my rational of waiting to go out. However, it appears as if I was too late.

Also, I too, try to avoid squirrel hunting in the wind. Yesterday there was some light wind at times, depending on what side of the hills I was on. It was also variable in direction. There's still some dry leaves hanging up in trees that was lightly falling. They were noisy, drowned out the sound of squirrels trotting through the woods, and increased the difficulty of hunting overall.
 
Ya know, I've never really been one to believe in reincarnation. But after seeing this, I'm almost changing my mind and wondering if this one isn't Mr. John Holmes reincarnated.

This just ain't right.
 

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I notice at least in NE Indiana, when it is above freezing, the squirrels come out about sunrise and settle down around 10 or 11 and then come back out around 3 until sunset.
That makes sense and is consistent to what I saw yesterday, for this time of year anyway. However, it is weather dependent.
 
That has been my experience as well. Often the squirrels wait until it warms up a bit before they get out and about. Thus my rational of waiting to go out. However, it appears as if I was too late.

Also, I too, try to avoid squirrel hunting in the wind. Yesterday there was some light wind at times, depending on what side of the hills I was on. It was also variable in direction. There's still some dry leaves hanging up in trees that was lightly falling. They were noisy, drowned out the sound of squirrels trotting through the woods, and increased the difficulty of hunting overall.
I watch the weather forecast. Light and variable I hunt. 5-10 mph I will go. 10-15 mph Iโ€™m not going.
 
I watch the weather forecast. Light and variable I hunt. 5-10 mph I will go. 10-15 mph Iโ€™m not going.
Understood.

After the leaves have mostly fallen from the trees I will squirrel hunt during a little stronger winds. I find that squirrels simply spend little time up in the tops of the trees late in the year like they do earlier. Considering squirrels spend most of their time on the ground looking and digging for nuts later season, if the leaves are wet and fairly quiet to walk in, then its all about who sees who first.

When I was younger, during the winter months I would put on a camo rain suit and hunt squirrels in the rain. Killed many that way while they were digging in the leaves. If memory serves me correctly, winds were light to none.
 
I havenโ€™t been posting much on this thread lately. Iโ€™ve been squirrel hunting several times a week but I take my .22โ€™s a lot and sometimes a pellet gun.

This morning I took my flintlock out and it was an absolutely beautiful morning. Dead calm, low thirtyโ€™s and clear. On top of that, the squirrels were active right off the bat. Now I canโ€™t see my sights good enough at first light to shoot so have to wait awhile.

I wound up getting two shots and one squirrel. I donโ€™t remember a hunt this year I enjoyed as much. I was so content to just sit there and thank the Lord for a morning like that.

Iโ€™m going in there again tomorrow but no report as the pellet gun is going with me. I enjoy using all my rifles.
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