For want of a Red Squirrel...

[doverdog]

Twarted by the common red squirrel! I took delivery of my Isaac Haines .40 flinter last February and could hardly wait until squirrel season opened this fall. As luck would have it, the hard mast crop in this area was a total failure with an almost total absence of acorns, hickories, and walnuts. The local squirrel population has pretty much moved on to greener pastures. My goal for the year had been to take a Squirrel Grand Slam, killing all 4 kinds found locally, in the same day. I was out yesterday and killed a gray, a fox, and a black within the first hour and figured I had it in the bag, only needing the very common red squirrel. I hunted a total of 3 hours in 3 different spots and never laid eyes on one of the little rodents. The .40 has been doing a wonderful job on the ones I have been able to find, the total being 7 with 8 shots. The really hard part about getting the Slam is being able to get a black and a fox on the same day. The gray and the red are usually gimmes. Probably not many areas in the country where you can shoot 4 different kinds of squirrels in the same day. As you can see from what's left of the head of the gray, the little .40 is nothing to sneeze at when it comes to whacking a squirrel. I doubt a .22 mag would have done any more damage.

 

COOL!- the little .36 Rook Rifle does the same thing to a Snowshoe Hare's head as in the second squirrel. We use a .350RB with .018 patch and 25gr. 3F. Terrific load for hare potting.
: Squirrel skin is much stronger and thicker than the hare's hide and tends to hold the squirrel together, better.

 

On hares or cottontail rabbits, the .40 is overkill - but fun - a head shot would be like hitting them in the neck with a cleaver.

 

[Slowpoke]

Please ugh ....... Shotoshop those things or something.... I just had dinner....

 

[Stumpkiller]

For you, Slowpoke.

The whiskers on the middle one . . . I don't know whether to laugh or cry. ::

 

[Slowpoke]

Oh that is funny.... oh my sides hurt.... I'm not worthy

 

yikes! I would show you guys what a .790 round ball does to a woodchuck, but there just isn't much to show...it's kinda like hitting a paint can.

Death to Dirt Beavers!!!

 

[musketman]

Almost got your squirrel grand slam, eh?

Keep at it Superflint, your big 4 squirrel safari is coming...

 

[KyFlintlock]

For you, Slowpoke.

The whiskers on the middle one . . . I don't know whether to laugh or cry. ::

Yep, I can see this is a fun place to be!

CONGRATS on your squirrel kill! That is fantastic.

 

[jeremytl]

StumblinBufller:
Whoa! Now I hear talk of whistle pig slaying! I love those critters! They're innocent little varmints! Love them in my sights, that is! I grew up on a small farm in Penna where, when growing up, I got a quarter for every pig head I brought to the "hello the house". And, dagnabbit, those things are hard to cut off! Have never shot one with a muzzleloader though, being new to the sport. But I've shot a many with ahemmm, other weapons. Cool that you hunt them with a flintlock, that'd be awesome. My favorite hunting memories are hunting whistle pigs. Happy I am, they are migrating to the piedmont of NC and I have taken a few here on the game lands. Its not quite the same though, shooting them on unfarmed land, as it was shooting them on farms where a farmer would curse his last curse to a groundhog...

 

[jeremytl]

To my knowledge, all we have around the piedmont of NC is a few scarce fox squirrels and a GRACIOUS PLENTY of gray. Where 'bouts in the country would one find the "Squirrel Grand Slam"? If you care not to respond, I take no offense.
Cheers on a triple!
Jeremy

 

[doverdog]

These were killed in Venango Co. in NW Penna. Grays are by far the most common of the big squirrels, locally, but fox squirrels get quite common toward the Ohio border. Black squirrels can be born in a litter of grays and it depends on the local gene pool, I guess, as to how common they are. I usually get no more that 2 a year in this area. In the right areas, red squirrels can be very numerous. A daily Grand Slam is not something that is easily accomplished since luck has to be on your side to do it.

 

[KyFlintlock]

I think skill has to be on your side too!

GOOD LUCK

 

[Stumpkiller]

Black squirrels can be born in a litter of grays and it depends on the local gene pool, I guess, as to how common they are.

Not all that far away from you on the PA/NY border, I have seen, I believe, only two black variants of the grey squirrel in 25 years. Not at all common. A friend killed (and has mounted) a black woodchuck. We glassed him for 10 minutes before deciding it really was a woodchuck.

We get loads of red squirrels. C'mon up and take all you want. Stinkin little loudmouth tattle tales.

My wife and I were hiking in Maryland and walked up on the sasquatch of the squirrel world. The Del/Mar/Va fox squirrel. I took a couple pictures from 20 ft, but they really don't show the scale. More than twice the body mass of a big grey. A little lighter in color than a grey, but they get to be over 30" long & 3 lbs! No wonder they're endangered.