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

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...I know an Eastern Diamond Back Rattlesnake can stike you from 2/3 of it body length, if same is true about Timber Rattlers then that 42" one could hit from 28" away...

(more snake stuff, sorry ETipp LOL I'll try to stop)

Eastern Diamondbacks down where you are get WAY bigger - largest on record 8'/35# - a true horror nightmare come true.

Up here in Appalachian mountains Timber Rattlers 6'/10-12# max.

Rattlers/Copperheads/Moccasins/Corals "Dont' Tread On Me".... like I've said in prior posts "I HATE those guys."
 
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(more snake stuff, sorry ETipp LOL I'll try to stop)

Eastern Diamondbacks down where you are get WAY bigger - largest on record 8'/35# - a true horror nightmare come true.

Up here in Appalachian mountains Timber Rattlers 6'/10-12# max.

Rattlers/Copperheads/Moccasins/Corals "Dont' Tread On Me".... like I've said in prior posts "I HATE those guys."
True.
I'm more concerned with Diamondbacks than Cottonmouths, do to my snakeboots, although they could get me.
As far as Coral Snakes their fangs are towards the rear of their mouths they gotta get ahold of their prey and get a good bite on them, plus the venom is gravity fed rather than glands that pump it into ya. Ya pretty much gotta be messing with them.
 
I hate to interrupt this snake thread😂 but I saw this squirrel a little bit ago. His tail is blondish. I don’t know where he came from. I’ve not seen him before. I thought it looked neat.
IMG_3715.jpeg
 
We're going to jinx ETipp with all this snake talk in his squirrel hunting thread 😆 - he probably wishes we'd shut up.
🤣 Ed's not faint of heart whatsoever. Probably good to be in everyone's mind this time of year. Here in PA, squirrel season used to open in midish October. Few years ago, it switched to September. I pay just as much attention to the ground as I do the nut trees because it's still warm out.
 
How does a snake eat a bat.
I'm guessing very carefully!
We're going to jinx ETipp with all this snake talk in his squirrel hunting thread 😆 - he probably wishes we'd shut up.
Hope he doesn't decide to stay out of the woods. Would be very damaging to our squirrel hunting fix. For me, squirrel hunting is down the road to October 1st.
I hate to interrupt this snake thread😂 but I saw this squirrel a little bit ago. His tail is blondish. I don’t know where he came from. I’ve not seen him before. I thought it looked neat. View attachment 332999
I had one like that in my yard. He lives in The Colony now! :)

They keep coming!:oops: Yesterday was #16. Got a different kind of picture. Was wondering why my bait kept disappearing so I set a trail cam up. Spotted a couple blue jays picking up the easy bait trail stuff and found a racoon wrestling with the trap at night trying to get the bait out.

But, the blue jays didn't get it all and here is #16 volunteering to join The Colony.
 
I'm guessing very carefully!

Hope he doesn't decide to stay out of the woods. Would be very damaging to our squirrel hunting fix. For me, squirrel hunting is down the road to October 1st.

I had one like that in my yard. He lives in The Colony now! :)

They keep coming!:oops: Yesterday was #16. Got a different kind of picture. Was wondering why my bait kept disappearing so I set a trail cam up. Spotted a couple blue jays picking up the easy bait trail stuff and found a racoon wrestling with the trap at night trying to get the bait out.

But, the blue jays didn't get it all and here is #16 volunteering to join The Colony.
View attachment 333023
What are you using for bait? I have a trap set by my bird feeder. Want one for my Cur pup to play with he is 13 weeks old.
 
I'm guessing very carefully!

Hope he doesn't decide to stay out of the woods. Would be very damaging to our squirrel hunting fix. For me, squirrel hunting is down the road to October 1st.

I had one like that in my yard. He lives in The Colony now! :)

They keep coming!:oops: Yesterday was #16. Got a different kind of picture. Was wondering why my bait kept disappearing so I set a trail cam up. Spotted a couple blue jays picking up the easy bait trail stuff and found a racoon wrestling with the trap at night trying to get the bait out.

But, the blue jays didn't get it all and here is #16 volunteering to join The Colony.
View attachment 333023
If a not fully healed knee replacement couldn't keep Ed out of the squirrel woods, id be willing to bet whiskey to water, danger noodles won't stop him.
 
I'm glad ya did Jim, I was starting to think like Hammer, I don't want to jinx anyone. Back to squirrels. It got me thinking about hunting this weekend.

Cool looking squirrel.
Hats off to you Fred. It's 100 degrees here today. If I shot a squirrel today, I could bone him out and cook him on the driveway.
 
What are you using for bait? I have a trap set by my bird feeder. Want one for my Cur pup to play with he is 13 weeks old.
Just pieces of bread. Sometimes a hint of PB.

The squirrels in my neighborhood are educated scroungers . Not much natural food. No.nut bearing trees at all. So, they will eat anything. 😀
 
A few of my buddies on here have asked me about my handle. I'll have to take the long way around to get to it. Since the hunting stories have slowed down, and my good buddy Gum Slough Muzzleloader asked just last week, I'll fill you guys in on it, from one feral Illinois kid to another, her ya are Fred:

A key person in this story is my cousin, my Ma's sisters youngest son. We'll just call him Dip $#it (DS). Me and ol' DS are a month apart in age, me July, him August. I'm being kind when I say DS isn't too bright. One fine August day, we were coming out of some woods with a load of squirrels, we had a good morning. DS spotted a hornets nest about the size of a Volkswagen Bug hanging from a branch. I see what he's looking at, and I said "no, don't do it". Well he did. He sent a 22 round through that nest. I had already started running as he was raising his rifle, I still got stung twice, and I was pretty fast back then. He got stung 5 or 6 times. And to ad insult to injury, after we ran the 3/4 of a mile back to my grandma's house, I gave him 2 to the ribs and one to the jaw. I was the one that got in trouble because the adults only saw me giving him my George Foreman impression. When DS told the story, I was vindicated and his dad gave him a good one. And took his rifle from him for being reckless with it. That hurt him more than the beating.

Fast forward to the following summer. We were about to turn 15. We had permission to fish an old farm pond on an inactive home place. There were bluegill in there as big as catchers mits. It was pretty overgrown so we were moving through the cabbage single file, with me in the front. DS was about 5 feet behind me when I heard his Buck 110 open, then I felt a red hot finishing nail sink into the back of my left leg, about 5 inches below my calf. A three ft Copperhead popped me because DS hucked his knife at it instead of just warning me. Best we could figure, I was already passed it when he tried to stick it, but since I was closer, I paid for it.

The Dr. Said it wasn't a dry bite, but I didn't get a full dose of venom either. I sat in the hospital far a week being monitored, and given IV fluids because I couldn't keep any food down. My lower leg swoll up the size of an elephant. The Dr. told my parents that if the fever went past my knee, they would give me the antivenom stuff. Lucky for me, it didn't. A week in the hospital, and a week at home laying there doing nothing. When my parents came to spring me, my old man came in and said "there's ol Snakebit, ready to go"? My ma was pretty mad at him for that one. As for DS, I wish I could tell you guys that was the last outdoors outing we had where he did something stupid and I paid for it, cause it wasn't. But I'll save that one for another time.
^^^That is a great story...^^^
 
I'm guessing very carefully!

Hope he doesn't decide to stay out of the woods. Would be very damaging to our squirrel hunting fix. For me, squirrel hunting is down the road to October 1st.

I had one like that in my yard. He lives in The Colony now! :)

They keep coming!:oops: Yesterday was #16. Got a different kind of picture. Was wondering why my bait kept disappearing so I set a trail cam up. Spotted a couple blue jays picking up the easy bait trail stuff and found a racoon wrestling with the trap at night trying to get the bait out.

But, the blue jays didn't get it all and here is #16 volunteering to join The Colony.
View attachment 333023
That's such a neat video. That squirrel looks bigger than the other ones you posted pics of. Or is that just a tiny live trap?
 
Between the squirrels and “Back Strap Benny”, most all my apples are already gone. They are not even ripe yet. Bow season opens Labor Day weekend but my guess is something will happen to ole “Back Strap Benny” before then. Now they have started in on my pear trees.
 

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