Caliber for Squirrel Hunting

[captaincaveman]

not really seeing how shooting into the GROUND would be dangerous

Josh

 

[Ron LaClair]

Having hunted squirrels all my life with a 22 or a .32 flinter, I once thought shotguns should be outlawed for squirrels. Now goin on 71 winters the old peepers ain't as sharp as they once was :shake: . Last fall season I hunted em with a .54/28ga smooth rifle loaded with #6 shot. I changed my thinkin on shot for squirrels :hmm: .... :haha:

 

[BaronBrian]

not really seeing how shooting into the GROUND would be dangerous

Because you don't know what's under that dirt. It could be just dirt or it could be rock.

Officers have to prove your guilt, you NEVER have to prove your innocence.

An excellent point.

So, for gosh sakes, don't Poach!

No worries there. Poaching isn't anywhere on my agenda.

Last fall season I hunted em with a .54/28ga smooth rifle loaded with #6 shot. I changed my thinkin on shot for squirrels.

NWTF, that is one fine looking weapon you've got there.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Josh: Have you heard of something call rocks? and ricochettes? They are found in " GROUND ". not in trees. Do you know that almost all the accidental shootings of squirrel and rabbit hunters occurs between members of the same hunting party, because the shooter does not know what or who is beyond that squirrel, and doesn't know where his hunting buddy is? And, actually he really doesn't care that he doesn't know. Getting that squirrel on the ground or rabbit, is far more important to him than shooting his buddy by accident.

Obviously, not all shots at the ground are dangerous. I have killed several rabbits on the ground, albeit using a shotgun rather than a rifle. If YOU DO KNOW where your buddy is, and YOU DO HAVE A SAFE background to catch your RB, then by all means fire away. That is what hunting is all about. But, always put safety first and foremost, and insist that anyone who hunts with you does the same.

Shooting up in a tree at a squirrel is safer because the last time I looked up, sure enough, still don't seen any folks up there that could get accidentally shot! :thumbsup:

 

[captaincaveman]

that's all well and good, but the OP is talking about using a .50. That's a pretty big ball to be firing up into the air. It has to come down somewhere. Tree or ground doesn't really matter as much as knowing what's downrange

Josh

 

[paulvallandigham]

A 25 grain powder charge under a .50 cal. ball will kill all the squirrels you want, without posing a long range drop zone problem. Also, if you pick your shots, and don't shoot unless the squirrel is situated with a stout tree limb, or trunk behind him to catch your ball, you don't have the problem.
'
Squirrel hunting is supposed to be about marksmanship, as well as stealthy hunting skills. If you are shooting them to put food on the table, then by all means use a shotgun! But if you are going to use your rifle, then be sure of your background ALWAYS, and don't shoot them on the ground. Use reduced loads, so that the ball is not going very far IF it does ricochette, and change direction. I can't think of a worse way to ruin a hunt than to wound or kill a hunting companion, or even a hunting or retrieval dog. In Illinois, the preferred firearm for shooting hunting companions is the shotgun, and the range is rarely more than 50 yards. The excuse? I didn't see him when I swung on the game. I wonder when it dawns on these guys that they had no business shooting if they didn't know where their hunting companions were???? :hmm: :youcrazy:

 

[captaincaveman]

I agree with most of that. that's why I said this

Tree or ground doesn't really matter as much as knowing what's downrange

Josh

 

[jethro224]

Shooting up in a tree at a squirrel is safer because the last time I looked up, sure enough, still don't seen any folks up there that could get accidentally shot! :thumbsup:

Paul, and everyone else too,
Here in Illinois, the archery deer season runs for almost half of the squirrel season. I imagine lots of other states are the same. There ARE guys up in some of those trees! Mostly well camoflaged guys! :shocked2:

One of the reasons I stopped hunting from tree stands is because of bullets and even slugs flying past uncomfortably close. It's happened on the ground too, but not as often. At least I can get down out of the line of fire on the ground.

Please be careful of your background even when shooting into the trees! The lump on that tree just might be a bowhunter. :v

 

[paulvallandigham]

Jim: All you need to do is put a strip of blaze orange surveyor's tape around the tree under your stand, and another above your head, and you can be seen from hundred's of yard, but not disturb deer. I have done this even hunting from a stand during shotgun season. It works. It was recommended years ago by a man who had worked for years teaching Hunter Safety in Arkansas after he lost his eyesight when he was shot by another hunter who " thought he was a turkey ". He was wearing camo from head to toe, on his knees next to his tree, on the ground, when this other hunter saw some movement and fired at it. The blind instructor recommended putting a ring of plastic surveyor's tape around your tree where you choose to sit, so that you can be seen on any angle of approach.

I concur. I also have a personal friend and fellow instructor who was barely missed by aome pheasant hunters who shot in his direction on a rising bird when he was up in a tree fully camoed. He saw it coming, and swung around on his harness behind the tree just before the pellets hit the tree all around him. He was not injured, but it was very close. Unfortunately, he will not ring his trees with tape, believing that stationary tape will still spook deer, even though I have shown him it does not do so.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

That squack will be good eating floating in a pot of dumplings with some fried squash in attendance! :thumbsup:

 

[Runner]

Season starts here in a couple of days! As far as caliber, well that is a hard choice. The leaves are thick and the squirrels small. The 12 guage loaded with a light load of 6's works best! The 36 is sighted in and ready for the task of trying to head shoot little running critters that never stand still for long! I also use pellet rifles and pistols for squirrel. I have hunted them with a scoped fifty as a way of testing and getting to know the gun. I used the trees or the ground as a backstop. It works fine, but requires precise aiming. If you goof the shot, half of the squirrel can be pretty much wasted. A treeing dog and a small caliber muzzleloader were made for each other.

Everyone plants things for the deer and the turkeys. When was the last time you heard of someone planting for the squirrels? Mulberries work very well for a short time. My 36 works great when I can set up and wait for targets. The squirrels also hold still more in mulberries when they are feeding. Leave the big squirrels alone unless you can visually confirm sex that time if year.

As you can figure, if I had to choose between squirrels and deer for hunting, squirrels win in a landslide. We can hunt them from this weekend till mid winter. No crowds and the woods are glorious this time of year.

Around here, all of the public land close by is limited to shotgun only. Having a good smoothbore that you know is job one for hunting close to home. Getting a small caliber rifle is the second step! A 36 is better in areas where you might get a shot at a target of opportunity that is larger than a groundhog. It is a little more forgiving in the loading department. The 32 is a pure small game rifle. It will kill anything a modern 22 will, but that coyote that stops to look back at 75 yards is not a good target for it.

I am considering taking a 7 month old Chewwy wha wha pup with me this year to see if I can get him to tree a squirrel. Because of that, I am starting this year out with a pretty quiet gun that doesn't scare the pup. If he trees, once I roll a couple out of the tree for him, then I will take the 36 with me.

 

[fho]

Went squirrel hunting and my friend shot at a squirrel in a tree. There was a bow hunter in another tree ( not close by) that let out a holler. We didn't know that he was in a tree as he didn't wear blase orange. Deer bow hunting and squirrel hunting are on at the same time in Ohio.

Olie

 

[paulvallandigham]

Ollie: I carry my blaze orange surveyor's tape in my day pack, and have offered to ring the tree of more than one archer. Only about half of them have the good sense to do it, however. You can pay 7 or 8 dollars for a roll of it through the mail order catelogues, or a little less at sporting goods stores. But if you want to save real money, buy it at a builder's supply, or hardware store that caters to builders and contractors. I paid less than half the cost of what a catalogue would have charged me. It comes in a 100 yd. (300 ft.) roll, so you are set for many years. That archer was right to holler and make his presense known. That is his job if he's all dress in Camo, and hasn't marked the tree.

BTW, the closest deer I have ever killed( 2 yds.) walked up to me as I stood on the ground next to a crabapple tree, one branch crossing my body, while I was dress in an insulated BLAZE ORANGE coverall and a blaze orange hat!!! When archers try to tell me that a strip of blaze orange marking tape is going to be spotted and spook a deer when they are sitting up in a tree, I almost don't know how to respond to such ignorance. But I do. :cursing:

 

[jethro224]

Paul,
I know from personal experience that blaze orange will not spook deer. Your suggestion for taping around the tree is a good one and would help... sometimes. However, I've had close calls even during shotgun deer season while hunting in treestands wearing the blaze orange hat and vest required by law. Once from a squirrel hunter. Shot past me 3 times within 20 feet, even tho squirrel season is closed during the shotgun deer season. :shake: (some kid. I educated him after) I feel safer (and more comfortable :thumbsup: ) on the ground.

Blaze orange doesn't hurt, but it is no substitute for being aware of your surroundings and especially what lies behind your target! Be safe.

 

[paulvallandigham]

This fellow in Arkansas who was blinded by another hunter supervised their Game Department for many years. When turkey were again hunted, there was a hue and cry by Turkey hunters not to be required to wear Blaze orange clothing of any kind. The state did a test, asking 100 hunters to participate. 50 wore traditional camo, and 50 wore Blaze orange cam. The hunting success rate for both groups was the same. Everyone was surprised. I still recommend to students who are hunting turkey in a ground blind, or merely sitting at the base of a large tree to run a strip of blaze orange tape around the tree so that another hunter approaching you from behind, mistaking your calls for that of a real turkey will not interrupt your hunt, either by walking up on you, or by shooting you! :surrender:

 

[asabai]

One more story for squirrel hunters and bow hunters. In WI a kid saw a tuft of hair on the side of a tree that he thought was a squirrel. Unfortunately he was a good shot and put a .22 bullet in the head of a bow hunter. Blaze Orange Tape is a good idea

 

[Wehrmacht]

Hey Runner:

I manage for squirrels! At least on the dirt that I own! never have for any client,though,because like you say they all want deer and turkeys!

The limiting factor in squirrel populations is the lack of hollow trees providing suitable nesting cavities. Squirrels are a prey species, and are especially vunerable to birds of prey.Great Horned Owls by night and the female Coopers Hawk by day probably lead the list of squirrel predation!

I am in the process right now of making nesting boxes and hanging these in maturing hardwood stands on my place. Two per acre is the recommended density unless an abundance of natural cavities already exists, and this isn't probable unless the timberstand exceeds a hundred years in age! The leaf nests that you see in hardwood stands are bedding nests only, and usually of males and not females. Young may very rarely be born in leaf nests, but it's just that....very rarely!

As a rule in hardwood timber and mixed pine/hardwood stands, ample food material is usually there in abundance for squirrels. These animals do scoff up on mulberries,blackberries,gooseberries and all other soft mast species in season growing in the woods, but the bulk of the diet is leaf buds, tender young herbaceous buds and stems,and Protein items like big insects,small bird nestlings,bird's eges, small lizzards,frogs and even little snakes :shocked2: . About 15%-20% of a squirrels diet is protein.

Now this Thread is about squirrel hunting calibers, and I don't want to get strung out on turkeys,but I am forced to mention this: If you have any question or doubt about turkeys and their reactions to various colors, I urge you to read the available literature on wild turkey biological characteristics. In fact I beg,plead, and challange you to read a detailed study of young turkeys by a good friend of mine. The book is "Illumination In The Flatwoods-A season with the wild turkey" by Joe Hutto, ISBN-13: 978-1-59921-197-8. You will be a better (fully camoflouged) turkey hunter for your troubles :v .

 

[wildeagle]

Your post got me to thinking,I hunt on about 6 acres of mixed hard woods and some large mature pines.There is an abundance of hollow trees to nest in and they are used.While archery hunting last year I watched a pair of grey squirrels moving in and out of my backstop for my 100yrd range.I made it with used tires stacked and filled with dirt.I got the impression they were living amongst the cavities in the tires.Now I've also seen a pair red fox investigating the same backstop,makes me think it would'nt be the best place to set up homemaking.We have a large population of squirrels, could it be that this particular pair used what was left to nest in?

 

[Don B]

Der Forster,

Can you tell us more about the nesting boxes you're building?

Don B

 

[fw707]

I'd be interested too.
Maybe even some pictures?