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

[snakebit]

Spot on with your suspicions. Sounds like covered alot if ground. Ol Henry has been given the squirrels a run for their money, when the wife let's him out between 8 and 10. Our hickory trees are full. Looks like it will a good year for acorns, last year the oaks were not very productive. To bad about the sow, atleast she wasn't carrying babies.

Glad you were able to get out and get ya couple. I'm waiting for the 1st. I'll be shooting again come Saturday, justcwant to fine tune the Crockett a little bit more.

I brought up squirrel hunting to a couple guys on the job site, they looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears, laughed and asked me was I serious. I just told I gotta go check on the guys. Some folks just don't get.

It is a Squirrel Thing.

Thanks Ed.

Channel your inner feral child Fred. You'll do well.

 

[ETipp]

On another note, once again I tried using my squirrel call yesterday while Squirrel hunting. Let’s just say this ole boy needs a little more practice before taking it to the woods again.

 

[ETipp]

I’ve also come to the conclusion that if squirrels could smell humans or our equipment, I wouldn’t be bringing home many squirrels.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. While squirrel hunting the other day I also thought about how nice it would be to have some .310 tracer round balls. That way I could tell how badly I missed while shooting at a squirrel.

My-O-my what a squirrel hunter can think of when he's not able to find any squirrels to shoot at while out on a hunt.

 

[hanshi]

I've never been accused of having an over-supply of intelligence or even common sense. It takes a while for me to figger things out. Long ago I used old t-shirts for cleaning and for patches. Well, they generally run thin, much thinner than the normal run of patches used in rifles.

But one thing those t-shirt patches did better than any other material is burn. I load fairly tight with canvas patches (.023'-.024") in most of my rifles. I had great success with .018" mattress ticking and using pillow ticking .015" in only one gun that preferred it. My .32 flintlock does well with the .311" ball and .024" patch. Since I no longer hunt live critters I now lube with Hoppes almost exclusively and all but retired my TOW mink oil.

 

[snakebit]

On another note, once again I tried using my squirrel call yesterday while Squirrel hunting. Let’s just say this ole boy needs a little more practice before taking it to the woods again.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall Ed?............ practice

 

[Christophero]

Suspicions confirmed!

Another morning squirrel hunt today. Got to the woods at 0710. I eased around for over two hours. I began down low and worked my way up high. Actually covered a lot of ground. Not the first squirrel to be found.

Deciding I had enough of that silliness but not wanting to give up, I made my way down the mountain to my 4-wheeler and headed down the road to another happy hunting grounds. Was on the go again by 0940 hours easing around through some sapling covered areas. At 0954 I saw my first squirrel of the day, and lo and behold, it was on the ground...........finally! Come to find out, there were two of them together with one heading straight towards me. He stopped by a tree and a big rock about 18 yards away and................"Poof" he gone, never be seen again. Turned my attention to the other one that took me a few minutes to locate it. When I did, it was traveling in the opposite direction, and...........just like that "Poof" he gone too. So two more ghost squirrels.

I have been noticing that, what few squirrels I have been seeing lately are down low and closer to the narrow county road. So my plan when going to this hunting grounds was to circle around uphill a ways and then ease my way back down and parallel the road just up in the woods a little ways then walk back to my 4-wheeler.

After those two ghost squirrels vanished on me, I put the second part of my plan to work. I eased back downhill to where I could see the road. Right off the bat I saw a squirrel on the ground. It was lolly-gagging parallel to the road about 40 yards up and along a limestone out cropping. It went through the fence onto someone else's property. End of that sneak.

Easing my way back I saw some more squirrels but I was not able to connect. By that time it was 1120 hours and getting warm out. One of my suspicions was that the squirrels were coming out later in the day and so far, it was proving to be correct. At 1125 hours a large squirrel was hopping downhill a ways, stopped, and sat up on its hind feet. Lucky for me, I had stopped next to a tree so it was an easy shot. After wiping out the bore and reloading, I retrieved my squirrel and pinned it on my side.

Easing along towards my 4-wheeler more, I saw a few more squirrels but couldn't make it happen. Then, finally, there in front of me was one on the ground. It saw me then jumped up on a dead snag about 4 feet tall and looked at me. Bad mistake for that squirrel. It was about 1215 when I got my last one for the day. I had been out and on the go for just under 6 hours. I had seen 11 squirrels total and only got two of them, but at least they were on the ground again.

Now for my suspicions that were proven.

The first one I got was darn near midday. I had suspicioned that may have been the case.

Second suspicion. Due to the season being every bit of 3 weeks ahead of time this spring, I had thought that perhaps there might be some nuts forming up in the trees already. Well, that too, was proven. I found a few hickory nuts that were much larger than I thought possible for this time of year. Both had been chewed on by squirrels.

Third suspicion. This one saddened me big time. Again, due to being ahead on the season, I had wondered about perhaps if mating season had already come and gone without me knowing it. Well, the first squirrel I got this morning was a large sow. She was very fat and had big teats. I squeeze a couple of them and she was definitely lactating. I thought the worse but I lucked out when cleaning her. She was not pregnant but that leaves suspicion as to whether or not she had little ones in a nest. My guess is, she did but I hope I'm wrong.

Pics on the way.

I once shot a sow fox squirrel pregnant with a full womb of pre-born squirrels. This was in September! I've noticed over the years that not all animals get the memo from the wildlife biologists when to reproduce.

 

[ETipp]

I once shot a sow fox squirrel pregnant with a full womb of pre-born squirrels. This was in September! I've noticed over the years that not all animals get the memo from the wildlife biologists when to reproduce.

Indeed, that’s true, Chris.

Sometimes life is not fair for both the animal kingdom and the human race.

 

[ETipp]

How do you get to Carnegie Hall Ed?............ practice

And by reading the directions on the package. Amazing how fast things started working out after I found the package and read the instructions.

 

[ETipp]

I've never been accused of having an over-supply of intelligence or even common sense. It takes a while for me to figger things out. Long ago I used old t-shirts for cleaning and for patches. Well, they generally run thin, much thinner than the normal run of patches used in rifles.

But one thing those t-shirt patches did better than any other material is burn. I load fairly tight with canvas patches (.023'-.024") in most of my rifles. I had great success with .018" mattress ticking and using pillow ticking .015" in only one gun that preferred it. My .32 flintlock does well with the .311" ball and .024" patch. Since I no longer hunt live critters I now lube with Hoppes almost exclusively and all but retired my TOW mink oil.

Your input is valuable, hanshi.

 

[Christophero]

Hanshi,
Your T shirt patches reminds me of my original PRB load 35 years or so ago. After building the TC Cherokee kit over Spring Break of 1987 I used the TC conical that first Fall to take down those giant tree dwelling behemoth rodents. Upon evaluation, a hundred grains of lead was a bit overkill. Quite accurate and effective, but I surmised the lowly round ball should suffice.
Being unedumakated in these matters, I cut up old white cotton 'Wife Beaters' under shirts, the thin, ribbed type. Smeared on TC bore butter, and slid a wrapped Hornady pure lead rb snug on top of 20 grains of fffg Goex. I don't recall starting any forest fires, but squirrels rained down from the heights of the Beech trees regularly.
I've been fiddling with and fighting pillow ticking and various approved patch lubricants now that the dust was blown off that cute little rifle a few years ago and onlydifferent sized rbs are available. It is much more finicky than when the under shirt patches were employed.
Sometimes being young and stupid works....

 

[hanshi]

Hanshi,
Your T shirt patches reminds me of my original PRB load 35 years or so ago. After building the TC Cherokee kit over Spring Break of 1987 I used the TC conical that first Fall to take down those giant tree dwelling behemoth rodents. Upon evaluation, a hundred grains of lead was a bit overkill. Quite accurate and effective, but I surmised the lowly round ball should suffice.
Being unedumakated in these matters, I cut up old white cotton 'Wife Beaters' under shirts, the thin, ribbed type. Smeared on TC bore butter, and slid a wrapped Hornady pure lead rb snug on top of 20 grains of fffg Goex. I don't recall starting any forest fires, but squirrels rained down from the heights of the Beech trees regularly.
I've been fiddling with and fighting pillow ticking and various approved patch lubricants now that the dust was blown off that cute little rifle a few years ago and onlydifferent sized rbs are available. It is much more finicky than when the under shirt patches were employed.
Sometimes being young and stupid works....

Oh yes! That sounds a lot like me long ago. Funny how ignorance & dumb combinations work out so very well as long as you don't know they can't work out! Then after all your success in the woods you hear that what you're using is wrong, well, it suddenly DOES stop working. Sometimes I think ignorance may be the way to go.

 

[longcruise]

I once shot a sow fox squirrel pregnant with a full womb of pre-born squirrels. This was in September! I've noticed over the years that not all animals get the memo from the wildlife biologists when to reproduce.

Around here the Fox squirrels start showing mating behavior about the end of February and I start seeing young squirrels in May. Have never seen any young ones later than about now in June. At this time the young of the year are pretty good sized and only distinguishable by their less bushy tails. Apparently that is the sum total of their reproduction time over the course of the year.

 

[Ben Meyer]

Forgive me if this question has been answered in the 73 pages of this thread, all of which I admittedly haven't read. I like squirrel hunting, usually use a .22. I like muzzleloaders too, have .50 cal flintlock and percussion. I'm a good enough shot with either to squirrel hunt with them, but .50 caliber? Do any of you squirrel hunt with .50s? If so, do you back way off then powder charge?

 

[Kansas Jake]

I have a 50 and if it was all I had I would use it. I’d try to find a light accurate load good to 25-30 yards. With larger calibers you need to be more careful about where that ball will go if you shoot into trees and over the horizon.

 

[ETipp]

Forgive me if this question has been answered in the 73 pages of this thread, all of which I admittedly haven't read. I like squirrel hunting, usually use a .22. I like muzzleloaders too, have .50 cal flintlock and percussion. I'm a good enough shot with either to squirrel hunt with them, but .50 caliber? Do any of you squirrel hunt with .50s? If so, do you back way off then powder charge?

Yes, a .50 will work with a reduced load. However, it be best if you aim for the front leg area or forward. I shot one squirrel back in 1982 with a .54 RB using a full throttle deer hunting load but got lucky. It only put a .54 hole coming and going.

However, I am very happy with a .32 RB for squirrels. It does less damage to the squirrels and that load will not travel very far after being shot up into the trees, or on the ground. A .32 is also very economical as well as quiet on the shot. The quiet report upon firing makes a big difference for my style of hunting. Quite a few times I have shot once, reloaded, and shot several other times with squirrels right above me.

 

[Christophero]

Ed, interesting you consider the .32 quiet. I have always thought it is pretty loud, about on par with a 12 guage in the woods. Yet, I, like you, have had numerous instances where multiple shots have presented themselves standing in one place in quick succession. Then other times one boom and they all flee.
Still, the thrill of powder, cap, ball & smoke make a fulfilling hunt.

 

[snakebit]

Forgive me if this question has been answered in the 73 pages of this thread, all of which I admittedly haven't read. I like squirrel hunting, usually use a .22. I like muzzleloaders too, have .50 cal flintlock and percussion. I'm a good enough shot with either to squirrel hunt with them, but .50 caliber? Do any of you squirrel hunt with .50s? If so, do you back way off then powder charge?

One thing to make sure of Ben, is to make sure it's legal to hunt squirrel with a 50. A lot of states are caliber specific for small game.

 

[Jim K]

I hunt a lot with 22’s and my muzzleloaders. My muzzleloaders are louder than my 22’s but don’t crack like the 22’s. The ml doesn’t seem to spook squirrels as bad. I too have missed, reloaded and missed again. Lol

 

[snakebit]

I hunt a lot with 22’s and my muzzleloaders. My muzzleloaders are louder than my 22’s but don’t crack like the 22’s. The ml doesn’t seem to spook squirrels as bad. I too have missed, reloaded and missed again. Lol

I think we have the same hunting style Jim couple years ago a was hunting an area where a giant hickory was. There were no less than 5 squirrels in this tree. My fourth shot I finally dropped one. Was fun though!

 

[ETipp]

Ed, interesting you consider the .32 quiet. I have always thought it is pretty loud, about on par with a 12 guage in the woods. Yet, I, like you, have had numerous instances where multiple shots have presented themselves standing in one place in quick succession. Then other times one boom and they all flee.
Still, the thrill of powder, cap, ball & smoke make a fulfilling hunt.

Chris, I’m wondering if this is a perceived thing or a specific loading difference? With my Crocket rifle and the powder charge I use (20 grains) I consider the sound on the shot to be fairly close to a .22LR (perhaps a little more) but a deeper sound. It actually has a little bit of a crack sound to it. The damage to a squirrel appears to be very close to that of a .22LR as well.

Whenever I increased the charge to 30 grains, there was a definite difference in sound. Not only the increased level, but the tone of the sound as well. There is still a slight crack sound there but not all that much. Both in total noise level and damage done to squirrels is somewhat close to that of my .22 WM. However, the sound is deeper.

In the woods while shooting at a squirrel, the level of noise nor the depth of such is nowhere near that of my 12 GA. However, those loads are hotter than a house of ill repute on $5.00 night.

Often times my neighbors do not hear me shoot my Crockett but they definitely hear it whenever I shoot my 12 GA. They have no problems telling me so.