Experiments with a .32 Kentucky rifle

[SDSmlf]

what part of SC do you live? i see no "laws" stating the limit on cal. for squirrels, that is ridiculous! and i will do what i please on my land!

I didn’t read your post before responding to Flint1, but it will be interesting if he comes up with caliber limited on squirrels, though I have never seen or heard of it.

 

[Flint1]

As far as the caliber limit on squirrels, check out the SC hunting regs you can pick up at Walmart in the sporting goods. I can't find my copy from last year right now, probably threw it out when I cleaned out my secretary. I didn't look at the caliber limit on squirrels last year, but a couple years ago it did state the largest legal caliber is .40. That is referring to rifles, not smootbores. I was dismayed to see that and reasoned it was because they were afraid someone with a larger caliber would "bark" a squirrel like the old time longhunters. I don't know if that is the reasoning or not. As far as the part of SC I am in, I spent the first 18 years of my life in the small country town of Kershaw, left after high school to attend The Citadel, then became an Army officer upon graduation and left the state for some years. I have lived in Mt. Pleasant since resigning from the Army in 1987 and have been a member of The Charles Towne Long Rifles continuously since 1991. Although I have not been to the range since my wife passed away more than 3 1/2 years ago, I have continued to keep my membership and pay my dues every year. I am a former president, vice president, and many multi year score keeper of the club, and always did the majority of the scoring at our state shoots, not taking time out to shoot any of the matches myself. If any of you went to those state shoots and remember the guy that spent most of the time under the scoring shed, that was me. As far as doing what you want on your own land, I suppose you can as long as it's not really too far fetched. As a kid in Kershaw in the 60s I heard about game wardens going on private property to check hunters, but I have no first hand experience with that and don't know for sure if they did or if they practice that now. I suppose if anyone is curious enough all they have to do is google the SC hunting regs.

 

[Flint1]

Weapons​

3.1 – On WMA lands hunters may use any shotgun, rifle, bow and arrow, crossbow or hand gun except specific weapons may be prohibited on certain hunts. Small game hunters may possess or use shotguns with shot no larger than No. 2 or .22 or smaller rimfire rifles/handguns or primitive muzzle-loading rifles/muskets of .40 caliber or smaller. Small game hunters may not possess or use buckshot, slugs or shot larger than No. 2. Blow guns, dart guns, drugged arrows or arrows with exploding tips are not permitted. Small game hunters using archery equipment may use small game tips or broadheads on the arrows.

Voila! Just pulled off the internet under 2024-2025 SC hunting regs. Squirrels are small game unless some of you know of some prehistoric sabre toothed species. If I can find this with my limited computer skills in just a couple minutes then anyone can. Granted, I found this under WMA regs, so if you want to know if it applies to private land then you can do your own research. I was aware of this because all my hunting is in the national forest. If I do any squirrel hunting on the land I inherited in Kershaw I will continue to use my .40. Any other private landowners can use what they desire for all I care, from a slingshot to calling up Bruce Crompton in England and asking him to send over a German 88.

 

[SDSmlf]

Weapons​

3.1 – On WMA lands hunters may use any shotgun, rifle, bow and arrow, crossbow or hand gun except specific weapons may be prohibited on certain hunts. Small game hunters may possess or use shotguns with shot no larger than No. 2 or .22 or smaller rimfire rifles/handguns or primitive muzzle-loading rifles/muskets of .40 caliber or smaller. Small game hunters may not possess or use buckshot, slugs or shot larger than No. 2. Blow guns, dart guns, drugged arrows or arrows with exploding tips are not permitted. Small game hunters using archery equipment may use small game tips or broadheads on the arrows.

Voila! Just pulled off the internet under 2024-2025 SC hunting regs. Squirrels are small game unless some of you know of some prehistoric sabre toothed species. If I can find this with my limited computer skills in just a couple minutes then anyone can. Granted, I found this under WMA regs, so if you want to know if it applies to private land then you can do your own research. I was aware of this because all my hunting is in the national forest. If I do any squirrel hunting on the land I inherited in Kershaw I will continue to use my .40. Any other private landowners can use what they desire for all I care, from a slingshot to calling up Bruce Crompton in England and asking him to send over a German 88.

Before my previous post I did a quick search and was directed to regulations.com for South Carolina. https://www.eregulations.com/southcarolina/hunting/general-rules-regulations

While under General Regulations, appears to only be about large game hunting. You can get to the 3.1 regulation you referenced, but that’s a WMA regulation. Quite honestly, in 25 plus years I have only hunted private property in South Carolina, so never did little more than a glance at their WMA regulations. And although the private property is gated, the SCDNR has the key, and we are always up front with them when they visit. Not hunting there this year, but I’ll try and get an opinion from a SCDNR officer if possible. Or maybe someone has a link related to a similar regulation for private land?
https://www.eregulations.com/southcarolina/hunting/wma-regulations

Without more digging, it’s possible everyone is correct.