Anyone else excited for squirrel season?
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Rock Home Isle
54 Cal.
Just got home and finished a nice dinner with my wife.
I took my dad with me today. He’s getting up in years, and I cherish these times that we have together.
It was such a fun time hunting with friends and my cousins, today. My cousin’s son hunted for the first time today. He’s 9 years old, and I could tell he was very nervous…I put a bottle of ice water in his shooting vest, and some homemade beef jerky in his pocket…and the two of us did a couple hours of the morning hunt together. He was using a bolt action .410 (what is my cousin thinking…he needs to be hunting with a Fusil)…he got 5 doves, was very proud of himself, and had a great time. During the heat of the day, he spent a lot of time hunting with my dad in the shade of a huge elm tree…flight after flight came into them. I don’t know how many more he got, but his excited voice indicated it must have been productive.
He was really tuckered out by 10:30…just done…
I started going out there and hunting with my cousins, after I married my wife, when my cousins were 12 & 6 years old. I’ve hunted with these boys for the last 33 years…and it’s grown to an annual hunt with family and friends. We call it “Combat Dove Hunting”. We drive to a site, get out, everyone gets ready, and we move through the area, taking doves as they flush from their roosts. There were times today that the sky just filled with doves. Then we setup and take stands for about an hour; taking doves as they come back into to their roost. Once we’re finished, we pack up and go to the next site. Rinse & Repeat…all say long. We literally got into thousands of doves today. Very good year…Dove BBQ Monday with my grandkiddos at my dad’s house.
And the best thing? Most of what I shot were Eurasians…invasive species, no limit. Once in a while I’d screw up and bring down a morning dove. So lots & lots of Eurasians and maybe 8 morning doves, amongst 10 shooters, this year.
It’s a pretty physical hunt, we cover lots of ground…and the combination of heat and activity…wears me out. Give me some time to recover and by Mid to Late September I’ll be ready to go back for another dove hunt…then we start looking at how the November pheasant season is shaping up…it’s hard to say right now, with all the crops still in the fields.
October…Rabbit Season…until the snows make it not worth going.
I wonder if I should post this to a different thread….
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My boys and I are super excited about squirrel season! We went out yesterday afternoon. Because they both wanted to cary unmentionables I ended up leaving my muzzleloader at home!:-( My 13 year old bagged his first squirrel!
I suppose we are a bit lucky, Our tree rat season started yesterday and goes on till tomorrow next year..
Nice Loja, getting your son onto his first squirrel.
Yes sir I did! It will only work with all brass shot shells
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I love squirrel hunting! No one really hunts them in MT. But growing up in WV & OH I’ve always hunted them. In MT all we really have are red (not fox) squirrels and there is no season, no limit, & no license required. Locally they are known as “pine” squirrels. We had them in the higher parts of WV where they arr known as fairy-diddles & aren’t hunted. People in MT say they taste like pine, but that’s just BS, they taste just fine. Here’s a pic of me from a year or two back after an outing with my Navy Arms SXS percussion shotgun.
Not about a 'season' but squirrel shooting in general. Here in the Arkansas Ozarks the squirrel population varies year to year. When we get too many they do damage to gardens, electric lines and more. In a couple years I was killing four or five a day near my house (it is safe to shoot where I live). This year I believe the local population is only about two, I have killed none as those two are fun to watch.
Looks like a great hunt!
People here look at you like you have two heads if you mention eating squirrel. I enjoy them though. Here are a couple I took for lunch a few years back using my .32 cal Crockett.
I turned my back for a minute and they collapsed in the fire, leaving the forward portion a little crispy.
Dang Tree Rat. I was looking forward to that mushroom with my breakfast bacon..
Sidney Smith
58 Cal.
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I've been so busy this summer, I haven't had time to take the .32 caliber to the range to sight in. So, for the opener here in Pa, which is tomorrow, I'll be taking one of my unmentionable shotguns out. I will however get to the range soon with the smoke pole. Our season runs until the end of November, then opens again after Xmas. So, I'll have plenty of time to get a few muzzleloader squirrel hunts in.
Ninering62
40 Cal
Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience with me/us. It warms my heart to hear stories like yours, but it also stirs some still hard & hurtful memories of bein a child around the age ( 8 ) that I got to do a lot of hunting with my beloved grandpa ( including my very first squirrel hunt ) & having to hunt with the father we were cursed with until I was old enough to where I could hunt & fish on my own & havent done either with that SOB ever since. I loved hunting & fishing, I hated to have to do any of it with that man. My middle brother never hunted & the youngest brother maybe hunted with the father 3-4 times when he was a kid & no more for him either. We only wish things in our fam were more like what you have.
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Well I was able to make it out into the woods for a while today with my .50 cal! Brought one home! He was laying below the top of a branch down in a gully about 35 yards off. Just his head and tail were visible above the limb. Up came the ole Kentucky and smoke came rolling out! I missed him but not by much! The shock knocked him to the ground! It took him a minute to recover and then off he took running! Through the brush, across a log and disappeared by a tree. I loaded up again and pursued. I spotted him in a 8” wide by 1.5’ long hollow in a tree trunk! Put one right through his head at 20y! Then the trick was getting him out of the hole!
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Ninering62
40 Cal
Nice
Nice! Now thats " livin " right there bud.
Ninering62
40 Cal
Forgive me if I'm wrong here...... but ain't squirrel hunting with a .50 akin to skeeter huntin with a bazooka?
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LOL!! Well you have to use what you have! I load it with 25-30 grains of powder and only take head shots.
Aaron
Ninering62
40 Cal
yessir
Ninering62
40 Cal
When I was a kid I hunted squirrels with a .410 singleshot. I had to learn to hit everything with that gun for 5 yrs. As I got into my teens & could shoot pretty well by then, I wanted more of a challange, so I quit using a shotgun for squirrels & only used a .22 bolt action ( it would appear that - they ARE MENTIONABLE afterall LOL ) or an .177 or .22 air rifle. I've never hunted them with a ML.
Rock Home Isle
54 Cal.
Squirrel & Rabbit seasons start here in Colorado, 1st of October…
Ninering62
40 Cal
Sweet!
