To everything a season my friend!
Always amazes me when sitting in a deer stand, how many squirrels I see and I always have the same internal conversation "go get your rifle and get some shooting in."
2024/2025 Squirrel Hunting Thread...........
- Thread starter ETipp
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Always amazes me when sitting in a deer stand, how many squirrels I see and I always have the same internal conversation "go get your rifle and get some shooting in."
It's a trip, but I understand. I told my wife I was thinking about taking my Crockett Rifle on my muzzleloading hunt. She said can you shot a deer with that? I said we'll it leagal, and would have to a perfect well placed shot, but there are so many squirrels where I hunted last.
I don't know about you guys, but the reason I love the small game hunting is it's the closest thing to what we were all doing when we were kids.
I also hunt Deer and Turkey. Not to the extent Jim does and congrats on that grand slam! I will have the time someday...
Those both require planning, stands, decoys, vests, trail cams and/or whatever else you've armed yourself with to get the job done..
Squirrels I will just grab my son on a whim, throw the rifles in the car and go randomly walk in the woods somewhere. No big planning or too much gear involved. Just like hitting the woods after school...
We've actually blown hunts a few times because we'll get to talking about something and it just turns into an evening woods walk with guns and guy talk. Again, just like with my friends years ago, so I don't really mind....
I also hunt Deer and Turkey. Not to the extent Jim does and congrats on that grand slam! I will have the time someday...
Those both require planning, stands, decoys, vests, trail cams and/or whatever else you've armed yourself with to get the job done..
Squirrels I will just grab my son on a whim, throw the rifles in the car and go randomly walk in the woods somewhere. No big planning or too much gear involved. Just like hitting the woods after school...
We've actually blown hunts a few times because we'll get to talking about something and it just turns into an evening woods walk with guns and guy talk. Again, just like with my friends years ago, so I don't really mind....
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I was really hung up on turkey hunting for quite a few years myself. I still look forward to it every year.
To me it's the Kid part.
Feral Kid to top it off.
Thankful for the memories, and the fact that us older guys are still looking forward to getting out and hunt squirrels. Then we can all tell each other about what experienced on our hunts.
Turkey season is relatively short though I do extend it by hunting out of state. But squirrel season here is about 5 months.
If it’s rainy or windy I stay home and work. Don’t need to be in a tree at o dark thirty, don’t have to constantly be washing my clothes and spraying them down and worrying about my stand location and which way the wind is. Now this is bow hunting I’m talking about.
My point is for me it’s just layed back hunting. NO competition at all. If I miss a squirrel it’s not the end of the world. There’ll be another one along.
Some of my friends shake their heads at how much I enjoy squirrels.
Oh well, I’ve rambled on enough. Just some thoughts.
If it’s rainy or windy I stay home and work. Don’t need to be in a tree at o dark thirty, don’t have to constantly be washing my clothes and spraying them down and worrying about my stand location and which way the wind is. Now this is bow hunting I’m talking about.
My point is for me it’s just layed back hunting. NO competition at all. If I miss a squirrel it’s not the end of the world. There’ll be another one along.
Some of my friends shake their heads at how much I enjoy squirrels.
Oh well, I’ve rambled on enough. Just some thoughts.
2 more Saturdays and I get to be feral again for a short while. My Crockett keeps whispering up from the safe the past few mornings around 4:30 "is it time yet??!!". I swear my squirrel rifle is as impatient for the season to start as ol ETipp
2 more Saturdays Jim!
Pretty much anybody I tell about squirrel hunting, laughs a little. They ask why would I do that? Do you eat them? Or, well I did that as a Kid but not anymore.
I tell them, because it enjoyable, yes I eat them, and I like to be that Kid again.
Some folks just don't get it.
I tell them, because it enjoyable, yes I eat them, and I like to be that Kid again.
Some folks just don't get it.
Now, that's Impatient.2 more Saturdays and I get to be feral again for a short while. My Crockett keeps whispering up from the safe the past few mornings around 4:30 "is it time yet??!!". I swear my squirrel rifle is as impatient for the season to start as ol ETipp
"Not yet, soon, very soon, it will come"
To be honest brother Fred, I'm glad the majority of guys "outgrew" squirrel hunting. Less folks I have to see in the woods.
It used to be on WMAs during small game season wild hog was prohibited. Then a few years ago in an attempt to help keep the wild hog population under control they added them to legal to take list. No size limt or bag limit. The number of hunters increased. So for the first 2 or 3 weeks I hunt in areas that are less likely to have a bunch of pigs running around. They can be anywhere though. After that's the woods have less hunters.
I’m still the only ML squirrel hunter that I know in this neck of the woods. I like it that way. There is another guy I know that squirrel hunts but he hunts with dogs during the late season and uses an unmentionable. I do not know of anyone else that squirrel hunts.
Us traditional ML squirrel hunters are a small lot.
Ah ha, that’s it! God only created a few truly unique people. The rest don’t squirrel hunt.
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Let there be those whoeth hunteth the squirrel; Let them go fourth and prosperable.
And he saw that was good.
And he saw that was good.
You got that right, Jim. Much less work to do for squirrel hunting. Much less paying attention to detail, more laid back and it doesn’t cost me $35.00 most of the times I pull the trigger. That’s with me building up my own arrows. Also, so far I haven’t had to climb a tree for squirrel hunting, but I reckon I would if a bear got after me.
Tis a great sport squirrel hunting with a traditional ML indeed. One like no other. I do often work at it harder than most, but not always. I actually enjoyed what few times I’ve done the sit-and-hunt thing and killed squirrels. Find an active tree and it’s on.
2 more Saturdays and I get to be feral again for a short while. My Crockett keeps whispering up from the safe the past few mornings around 4:30 "is it time yet??!!". I swear my squirrel rifle is as impatient for the season to start as ol ETipp
There’s where you mess up. I sleep with my Crockett rifle. I just reach over and smack it a couple of times and tell it to be quiet until it’s time to get up or else it stays home………oh, wait a minute.
That’s the worse. Having to sit there with squirrels all around yet you can’t do a thing about it, other than watch.
Our bow season opened Aug. 31 I still have not even picked up a tag. I'm not sure why, I've spent more time in the woods with my bow then all other hunting put together. Seven days and a wakeup for squirrel opener and I'm more than ready.
Malamute
40 Cal
Years ago near Flagstaff we used to take our squirrel rifles deer hunting, wed swap to the squirrel guns after the deer settled down late morning, hunt squirrels til early afternoon, then back to deer guns. it was glass, stalk and slow walk hunting. It wasnt ML squirrel guns, we used indoor target loads or short hp loads in the squirrel guns so as not to alarm the deer unnecessarily. Not sure if you can get ML squirrel loads light enough to be that quiet.
In good squirrel years we figured we did nearly as well meat wise hunting squirrels as deer, certainly better if we didnt get a deer.
I trained one of my malamute dogs to squirrel hunt. She would look at them in the tree, Id tell her "Go around the tree" and she would, of course the squirrel then came around to my side.....
They also make good grouse dogs with little training. Walk in the woods in the mountains, dogs walking ahead, the grouse were often on the ground, they would flush and fly up and sit in a tree, dog stays to watch it until I get close enough to see where theyre looking and shoot it. I can usually hear them flush but not see them yet or where they landed. The dogs basically point them until i get there.
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