Yellowhammers post got me thinking about how I got started in squirrel hunting. I guess like a lot of guys on here, that was the starting point in the progression, you know small game to bigger game and so on. I actually wanted nothing to with firearms when I was a little $hit. I've got some Indian blood in me from my mother's side, so that, westerns on TV, and a hand-me-down mustard yellow fiberglass bow was where it was at. My older brothers took me a couple times to be the retriever. And they always killed a limit. So I figured I better get with the program. Muzzleloadering (
gotcha Fred), wasn't a reality there at the time. One of my brothers had a savage model 42, 22/410 and I was so stinking jealous. I got a hand me down 22 single shot with a mostly shot out barrel and a washer to elevate the rear sight. It was explained by my old man that they had nicer guns because they had jobs and bought them. My response was I can't drive a car how in the heck am I gonna drive to a job, let alone I was about 6 or 7. His counter, figure it out. Where we lived was semi rural, so I went to every sweet corn farmer, and horseradish patch within 5 miles, and got pretty steady summer employment. Saved my cash and bugged the old man to take me to the gun shop so I could empty their racks of all the finest squirrel killing weaponry available with my 37 bucks I had. He takes me to his brothers house and told me my uncle had some guns he was looking to sell, and maybe we could make a deal. So my uncle trots out an Ithica model 66 20 gauge single shot, and a Winchester 22 semi auto, told me I could have either one for 10 bucks, but if I helped him out and took them both off his hands I could have them for 15. Deal. I had no concept of value or worth. I found out years later that the old man paid him ahead of time minus 15 dollars. He swung me by the hardware store and we got 4 boxes of 6 shot high brass, and a brick of 22 LR Winchester Wildcats. I was equiped and turned loose on the local squirrel population. My dear mother didn't eat squirrel, but if we brought it home, she cooked it. Poor lady went without meat on her plate quite a few nights when the season was in. I still enjoy squirrel hunting, especially with my ML firearms. But if Im being honest not nearly as much as I did when I was a feral kid in southern Illinois.