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

[longcruise]

Do y'all ever see squirrels nipping the ends off of tree limbs out in the wild? They're doing it in my yard right now mainly to the maples. Yard is strewn with them.

Destructive little buggers.

Googled it, and I'm not the only one: LINK1 LINK2 LINK3

View attachment 328900

Oh yeah they do it in my cottonwood trees. I think it has something to do with nesting material or nesting.

 

[yellowhammer]

This is the first year I've noticed it in my yard.

 

[TransYank]

Do y'all ever see squirrels nipping the ends off of tree limbs out in the wild? They're doing it in my yard right now mainly to the maples. Yard is strewn with them.

Destructive little buggers.

Googled it, and I'm not the only one: LINK1 LINK2 LINK3

View attachment 328900

Yep they feed on tulip poplar as well

 

[ETipp]

Well fellas, I went out on another hunt this morning. Light fog and fairly cool at daybreak. Left my friends house as soon as I could see how to navigate and look for some of those copper snakes as I waded through the thick stuff.

I formulated a plan to ease into the same place I was at yesterday. I had seen a couple of squirrels in the far, right corner where it joins a clear cut area for high tension power lines. I figured I would walk in from up high on the right side and sneak my way right to where I saw them yesterday. That plan was solid in theory but failed in reality. With all the dead tree limbs on the ground there, plus the leaves have become very dry, there's simply no way to sneak in there quietly. As you can imagine, I got busted before I got 25 feet into the woods. Bummer.

Being me, I decided I would wait them out, so I stood still next to a tree for about 30 minutes. As soon as I started to move, the barking began. Those two squirrels was up in two different trees and would not move nor come down. They couldn't go back because it is about 100 yards of field right away. They couldn't go to the right where I walked in from because there's a large gap with no trees. So, they could only go to the left, or straight towards me. That's why I formulated this plan.

Long story short, and I kid you not, those squirrels was playing cat and mouse with me. Three different times I would see them move to another tree but not leave it. I would freeze for 20 minutes or so thinking they will go about their business again, or they slipped away, they would jump to another tree as soon as I started moving. In other words, they just held tight up in those trees instead of heading out of Dodge until I moved. Crazy stuff.

After finally deciding that was a waste of time, I admitted defeat and eased my way back the same direction I had come in from. Only this time I walked up higher to a chunk of thick woods I have never hunted before. It was steep and I was getting frustrated. Then, I'll be darn. A squirrel jumped off of a dead leaning tree, hit the ground, then decided to make a left turn onto a downed cedar log. That log was about 3 feet off the ground. I didn't think that squirrel would stop for nothing considering he saw me. However, it did stop about half way across that log. I had already pulled the hammer back and raised the peep then set the set trigger as soon as I saw it. Fortunately for me, there was a small diameter tree (about 2" across) right next to me. When I stepped over to it and went to take aim, there was some overhanging limbs in the way. The squirrel just stood there so the only thing I could do was try something I have never done before...........squat down and hope that I could get a clear shot. After doing so, I could see the squirrel just fine under the overhanging limbs and leaves. I fired from that somewhat difficult stance and the squirrel fell dead. It was about an 18 yard shot. That kind of surprised me actually.

I stood still for a couple of minutes just looking around and didn't see another squirrel. So, I ran a couple patches down the bore and reloaded. Then walked over and picked up my squirrel. This one had a lot of brown on it, much more than I've seen in a long time.

After pinning my squirrel to my side, I eased my way back towards my truck. When doing so, I got busted again by two squirrels. I froze and played the waiting game but those squirrels just would not move much. Every once in a while one would move over and I could see the limbs move, but I never saw either one of them.

No doubt about it, the squirrels here are not wanting to come out of those trees until up in the day right now. Even when they do get on the ground they are so few and far between. I did see one more squirrel on the drive down the narrow road on the way out. It was on the ground.

I reckon one squirrel is better than getting skunked, cuz I don't like to get skunked.

Tomorrow is the last day for spring season in KY. Its hot, humid, with lots of ticks and bugs. Considering tomorrow will be it until August 17th, I reckon I'll go out and try to get at least one more. That will get me to the number I was looking for during spring season. So, its only about 7 /2 weeks until fall season opens.

 

[ETipp]

Thought I’d pass this along to y’all. Some of this goes without saying but it’s also some of my own adopted rules that I have violated and caused problems out in the squirrel woods. Indeed, I have gotten away with violating each one of those while squirrel hunting a few times. However, it has also resulted in many missed squirrels…..too many in fact.

Therefore, due to my short memory and impatience at times, I wrote this out a few days ago early one morning before a hunt. It was a good reminder/refresher. It certainly can’t hurt to go over this every now and then before a hunt.

I consider violating just one of those rules to be the cause of most of my misses on squirrels. Number 6 is a new one for me as I just figured that one out about 2 weeks ago. I now try to use it even when shooting JimK style…….shooting from a sitting position.

 

[snakebit]

Don't worry Ed, you are NOT the only "sinner" of those guidelines. I have violated them all. More than once. With all sorts of weapons. It is good to see them in print though. Registers a bit better for me anyway.

 

[ETipp]

Don't worry Ed, you are NOT the only "sinner" of those guidelines. I have violated them all. More than once. With all sorts of weapons. It is good to see them in print though. Registers a bit better for me anyway.

No doubt, I tend to get a little overzealous and need a refresher from time to time. It really does help to go over those, for this old boy. I’m going to put those rules in a document protecter and keep it handy come fall season.

 

[snakebit]

No doubt, I tend to get a little overzealous and need a refresher from time to time. It really does help to go over those, for this old boy. I’m going to put those rules in a document protecter and keep it handy come fall season.

Maybe I'll shrink one down and tape it to the stock of my rifle.

 

[ETipp]

Maybe I'll shrink one down and tape it to the stock of my rifle.

I don't know, Tom. Perhaps some of you all have some different self-imposed rules. All I know for sure is those seem to work for me "most" of the time.

 

[Gum Slough Muzzleloader]

Ed, them are some good rules. And I appreciate ya posting them. Yes I'm guilty of, well let's just say breaking some of them rules.

Thanks for the last couple write ups about your hunting trips. I'm glad ya got Mr. "C" back in shape.

9 days plus a wakeup for me, then its year round on, them, Little Gray Tree Dwellers.

 

[ETipp]

Ed, them are some good rules. And I appreciate ya posting them. Yes I'm guilty of, well let's just say breaking some of them rules.

Thanks for the last couple write ups about your hunting trips. I'm glad ya got Mr. "C" back in shape.

9 days plus a wakeup for me, then its year round on, them, Little Gray Tree Dwellers.

I hope you do well this year, Fred.

 

[snakebit]

I don't know, Tom. Perhaps some of you all have some different self-imposed rules. All I know for sure is those seem to work for me "most" of the time.

Not a bad thing to talk yourself through a shot. The focus used just to load the rifle should carry over until after the shot is taken. Or not taken.

 

[ETipp]

Ah yes, you bring up a good point, Grasshopper. Talking to oneself as we go through the shooting process is a good thing for sure.

Also, I agree, it should be used the same as we load our ML’s as well. However, it’s to my belief that the most important of all (for myself anyway) is after taking a shot and need to do a fast reload, say a quick follow up shot. I can absolutely see where one can mess up big time under such conditions. This is especially true when a squirrel is sitting there looking at me. Then there’s that fast second shot under pressure…..

 

[ETipp]

Review of the Kentucky 2024 Spring Squirrel Season.

The "long" 34 day season is over. As with many locations this past spring and early summer, the weather was not kind to squirrel hunters nor turkey hunters. My estimate is that we were running about 3-4 weeks earlier this year than normal. The woods and vegetation really came on fast and early.

The weather conditions the first two weeks was terrible for squirrel hunting here. Frequent rain and storms with lots of wind. During the early part, the temperatures were cooler than normal. Even on some of the more seasonal days the wind was more than acceptable for squirrel hunting after mid-morning. A day with calm winds was rare.

Prior to the opening of spring squirrel season, there were many, many squirrels just about everywhere. More than I can remember ever seeing for that time of year. Many were killed on the roads. Part of me was rejoicing over the number of squirrels seen running around everywhere. Yet, the other part of me was wondering if that condition would last until the opening of spring squirrel season. The answer soon came.

With the less than acceptable weather for at least the first two weeks of season, as well as some responsibilities, I didn't make it out much to hunt. I also ran into some technical difficulties with my only traditional squirrel rifle. After all of the above was no longer a factor, I finally hit the woods pretty hard. I was hoping the lack of squirrel sightings was just a fluke and might change, but it was for real. Never in my life have I hunted so hard, covered so much ground, in so much heat and humidity, yet saw so few squirrels. I know they were there just recently. Where did they go?

My thoughts immediately turned to food source. However, due to the early season, tulip maples had already done their thing. A few squirrels were on the ground here and there, but most remained up in the trees. No more squirrel sightings in the roads eating buds nor seeing chunks of pine cones in the roads. Very few dead squirrels to be found in the roads. With this in mind, I began to notice some of the squirrels eating old acorns from last fall. A couple were packing big ole walnuts with them. With such a high population of squirrels, at least pre season, there was no doubts about it, the squirrels were hungry.

During the last two weeks of season, I noticed that squirrels just did not want to come down out of the trees, at least up until late morning or noon time. It was possible to run into one just about anywhere or anytime in the afternoon hopping around on the ground, but again, they were scarce. With the super thick woods this year (due to the early spring weather conditions) it proved to make squirrel hunting under those condition very difficult. The trees are thick and lush and with what I call the "secondary canopy" of the smaller trees growing under the tall trees, it made it very difficult to see up into the tree tops. Most of the time when I finally found a squirrel high up in the trees, I was looking at them through a small opening in the secondary canopy. Also, the squirrels did not want to sit still up there for more than a few seconds at at time. They were running everywhere back and forth, up and down in the thick treetops. With this situation, and as some of you might recall, I termed them "ghost squirrels" due to one of those "now you see them, now you don't" scenarios. They would simply vanish. Even if I was lucky enough to find one on the ground, with the thick vegetation on the ground and the thick brushy conditions, it was darn tough to put a successful sneak on one, much less score.

Terrain: Due to the lack of squirrel activity, this ole boy hunted down in lower terrain, medium elevation and up at the mountain tops searching for squirrels. It became obvious there were none to be found up high. Not the first squirrel. Not even in my honey hole that has many den trees and had a high population of squirrels last fall and early winter.

There were very few squirrels to be found in the medium elevation range, but there were a few scattered around. I think I might have killed one or two in that range at most. Again, what few I did see or score were up in trees for the most part.

Lower elevation provided the most squirrel sightings. Most of this was down near roads or house places. The bulk of those squirrels were seen crossing the roads.

Considering all the above, I found it necessary to formulate some rather different plans on my last few times in search of our furry little friends. One of which I figured out from simply driving too and from my happy hunting grounds. I noticed that in one small stretch of land I am allowed to hunt, I saw squirrels crossing the road just about every time I drove by. It is private land on the other side of the road and I doubt farmer nasty would allow his own mother to hunt it. So, what's a determined squirrel hunter to do? Road hunting is out of the equation.

Believe it or not, I came up with a solution to this conundrum while laying in bed. I would simply sneak in there on my side of the road, at barely daylight, walk uphill a ways through the thicket, then circle back around and slip down and walk parallel to the roadway up in the woods about 20-30 yards or so. This actually paid off with several squirrels.

Another old time tactic I used to score some squirrels was to sneak in next to a den tree (or several den tree areas) before daylight and wait. That paid off with a few more squirrels. A couple were on the ground but most were up on the sides of trees.

The last couple of hunts I went on, I saw two different squirrels making drays way up in near the tops of trees. Due to their rapid movement while making their drays, even the couple of squirrels I could clearly see, there was no way to get a shot at them. At first I was not sure if I even wanted to shoot a squirrel making a dray even if I was presented a good shot at one, however, I remembered that research shows that both male and female squirrels build drays.

In summary, it was very difficult hunting conditions during the spring squirrel season in KY. I absolutely attribute most of it to the unseasonal early summer and winds. During the last two weeks of season with temperature indexes over 100 degrees, it didn't help matters any. In fact, it was so difficult finding squirrels to shoot at, combined with fighting the elements and insects, yesterday when I came in from my last hunt, I told my friend that if squirrel hunting was this difficult all the time, I would not be doing it.

Also, and of special note: I did not encounter the first mating chase this spring season. Considering I missed most of the first two weeks, I suppose it could have happened during that time. However, I still have my doubts about that. It is to my belief that for the most part, mating season was earlier than spring squirrel season. This was backed up by the fact that sadly, one of the female squirrels I scored last week had large teats and was lightly lactating. Two days ago I killed a bore that only had a nub for a tail. It was obvious that it had recently been bitten off due to the lack of scab and it being still somewhat bloody. He was also well endowed still. However, I think that was more of a straggler situation than anything else.

None to my liking nor to my credit, I'm ashamed to say that my grand total for spring season was a whole, whopping 14 squirrels. I reckon sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes you don't even make it into the ballpark.

With fall squirrel season 55 days away, its going to be a bit uncertain as to the condition of the squirrel population. The nut crops are certainly up in the trees at this time, albeit they are small and still forming. So, the food should be there for the squirrels this coming fall. By all rights and going off of the size of some of the hickory nuts I have found on the ground that has been knocked down by squirrels, those nuts should be ripe well before fall season opens.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Thought I’d pass this along to y’all. Some of this goes without saying but it’s also some of my own adopted rules that I have violated and caused problems out in the squirrel woods. Indeed, I have gotten away with violating each one of those while squirrel hunting a few times. However, it has also resulted in many missed squirrels…..too many in fact.

Therefore, due to my short memory and impatience at times, I wrote this out a few days ago early one morning before a hunt. It was a good reminder/refresher. It certainly can’t hurt to go over this every now and then before a hunt.

I consider violating just one of those rules to be the cause of most of my misses on squirrels. Number 6 is a new one for me as I just figured that one out about 2 weeks ago. I now try to use it even when shooting JimK style…….shooting from a sitting position.View attachment 329116

Shot lists are a good idea, olympic shooters use them, they seem to be pretty good shooters. An extra at # 6.5 would be Natural Point of Aim.

 

[Christophero]

Review of the Kentucky 2024 Spring Squirrel Season.

The "long" 34 day season is over. As with many locations this past spring and early summer, the weather was not kind to squirrel hunters nor turkey hunters. My estimate is that we were running about 3-4 weeks earlier this year than normal. The woods and vegetation really came on fast and early.

The weather conditions the first two weeks was terrible for squirrel hunting here. Frequent rain and storms with lots of wind. During the early part, the temperatures were cooler than normal. Even on some of the more seasonal days the wind was more than acceptable for squirrel hunting after mid-morning. A day with calm winds was rare.

Prior to the opening of spring squirrel season, there were many, many squirrels just about everywhere. More than I can remember ever seeing for that time of year. Many were killed on the roads. Part of me was rejoicing over the number of squirrels seen running around everywhere. Yet, the other part of me was wondering if that condition would last until the opening of spring squirrel season. The answer soon came.

With the less than acceptable weather for at least the first two weeks of season, as well as some responsibilities, I didn't make it out much to hunt. I also ran into some technical difficulties with my only traditional squirrel rifle. After all of the above was no longer a factor, I finally hit the woods pretty hard. I was hoping the lack of squirrel sightings was just a fluke and might change, but it was for real. Never in my life have I hunted so hard, covered so much ground, in so much heat and humidity, yet saw so few squirrels. I know they were there just recently. Where did they go?

My thoughts immediately turned to food source. However, due to the early season, tulip maples had already done their thing. A few squirrels were on the ground here and there, but most remained up in the trees. No more squirrel sightings in the roads eating buds nor seeing chunks of pine cones in the roads. Very few dead squirrels to be found in the roads. With this in mind, I began to notice some of the squirrels eating old acorns from last fall. A couple were packing big ole walnuts with them. With such a high population of squirrels, at least pre season, there was no doubts about it, the squirrels were hungry.

During the last two weeks of season, I noticed that squirrels just did not want to come down out of the trees, at least up until late morning or noon time. It was possible to run into one just about anywhere or anytime in the afternoon hopping around on the ground, but again, they were scarce. With the super thick woods this year (due to the early spring weather conditions) it proved to make squirrel hunting under those condition very difficult. The trees are thick and lush and with what I call the "secondary canopy" of the smaller trees growing under the tall trees, it made it very difficult to see up into the tree tops. Most of the time when I finally found a squirrel high up in the trees, I was looking at them through a small opening in the secondary canopy. Also, the squirrels did not want to sit still up there for more than a few seconds at at time. They were running everywhere back and forth, up and down in the thick treetops. With this situation, and as some of you might recall, I termed them "ghost squirrels" due to one of those "now you see them, now you don't" scenarios. They would simply vanish. Even if I was lucky enough to find one on the ground, with the thick vegetation on the ground and the thick brushy conditions, it was darn tough to put a successful sneak on one, much less score.

Terrain: Due to the lack of squirrel activity, this ole boy hunted down in lower terrain, medium elevation and up at the mountain tops searching for squirrels. It became obvious there were none to be found up high. Not the first squirrel. Not even in my honey hole that has many den trees and had a high population of squirrels last fall and early winter.

There were very few squirrels to be found in the medium elevation range, but there were a few scattered around. I think I might have killed one or two in that range at most. Again, what few I did see or score were up in trees for the most part.

Lower elevation provided the most squirrel sightings. Most of this was down near roads or house places. The bulk of those squirrels were seen crossing the roads.

Considering all the above, I found it necessary to formulate some rather different plans on my last few times in search of our furry little friends. One of which I figured out from simply driving too and from my happy hunting grounds. I noticed that in one small stretch of land I am allowed to hunt, I saw squirrels crossing the road just about every time I drove by. It is private land on the other side of the road and I doubt farmer nasty would allow his own mother to hunt it. So, what's a determined squirrel hunter to do? Road hunting is out of the equation.

Believe it or not, I came up with a solution to this conundrum while laying in bed. I would simply sneak in there on my side of the road, at barely daylight, walk uphill a ways through the thicket, then circle back around and slip down and walk parallel to the roadway up in the woods about 20-30 yards or so. This actually paid off with several squirrels.

Another old time tactic I used to score some squirrels was to sneak in next to a den tree (or several den tree areas) before daylight and wait. That paid off with a few more squirrels. A couple were on the ground but most were up on the sides of trees.

The last couple of hunts I went on, I saw two different squirrels making drays way up in near the tops of trees. Due to their rapid movement while making their drays, even the couple of squirrels I could clearly see, there was no way to get a shot at them. At first I was not sure if I even wanted to shoot a squirrel making a dray even if I was presented a good shot at one, however, I remembered that research shows that both male and female squirrels build drays.

In summary, it was very difficult hunting conditions during the spring squirrel season in KY. I absolutely attribute most of it to the unseasonal early summer and winds. During the last two weeks of season with temperature indexes over 100 degrees, it didn't help matters any. In fact, it was so difficult finding squirrels to shoot at, combined with fighting the elements and insects, yesterday when I came in from my last hunt, I told my friend that if squirrel hunting was this difficult all the time, I would not be doing it.

Also, and of special note: I did not encounter the first mating chase this spring season. Considering I missed most of the first two weeks, I suppose it could have happened during that time. However, I still have my doubts about that. It is to my belief that for the most part, mating season was earlier than spring squirrel season. This was backed up by the fact that sadly, one of the female squirrels I scored last week had large teats and was lightly lactating. Two days ago I killed a bore that only had a nub for a tail. It was obvious that it had recently been bitten off due to the lack of scab and it being still somewhat bloody. He was also well endowed still. However, I think that was more of a straggler situation than anything else.

None to my liking nor to my credit, I'm ashamed to say that my grand total for spring season was a whole, whopping 14 squirrels. I reckon sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes you don't even make it into the ballpark.

With fall squirrel season 55 days away, its going to be a bit uncertain as to the condition of the squirrel population. The nut crops are certainly up in the trees at this time, albeit they are small and still forming. So, the food should be there for the squirrels this coming fall. By all rights and going off of the size of some of the hickory nuts I have found on the ground that has been knocked down by squirrels, those nuts should be ripe well before fall season opens.

My guess is you maybe disappointed now, but this Fall season will be excellent, you will be pleasantly surprised and your sightings and success rate will climb exponentially. With all you've learnt, and taught us, it will only go up from here.

My son's and my schedule changed this Spring. That, and the ticks were so prolific a year ago May that we both had to spend money on medical visits once we returned home from all the bites that the pull south was too weak to venture that was in 2024.

Who knows, maybe deeper in the year I may meander that way again.

Looking forward to your regular season posts, Ed. I might have one or two as well.

 

[ETipp]

Thank you, Chris.

I’m thinking you are correct about later in the year. You certainly didn’t miss anything this spring season. Not really disappointed. Rather kind of surprised. However, we can’t control the weather so we just have to play the cards that’s dealt to us.

 

[yellowhammer]

...None to my liking nor to my credit, I'm ashamed to say that my grand total for spring season was a whole, whopping 14 squirrels. I reckon sometimes you win, sometimes you lose...

Ed, Nonsense. 14 in 34 days in spite of weather, schedule demands, and such - you did fine! You da' man. Squirrel Slayer Exemplar.

 

[Christophero]

Last frame of the above .gif would make the perfect shot between the eyes, eh?

Someone posted the 'shot between the eye, and now it is gone. Can that be sent to me? Would love to use that as a target.

 

[yellowhammer]

Someone posted the 'shot between the eye, and now it is gone. Can that be sent to me? Would love to use that as a target.

I edited the post for some reason and deleted the target. Sorry; attached here: