Has anyone here successfully barked a squirrel?

[necchi]

Looking for information on barking squirrels from those that has actually done it. I don't mean put on a collar, go out in the back yard, get down on all fours, lean up against a tree, then look up and bark.

Where did you aim for?

Where do you think the ball hit?

What caliber ML?

How many attempts did it take before you were successful?

Q1; the branch under the head
Q2; where I aimed
Q3; 54
Q4; Once. and repeated many times since.
Bottom line, near impact concussion, does kill squirrel. It's not myth or difficult.

p.s. I take that part back about "kill". I may have run up to the physically stunned squirrel and used other methods to assure dispatch and harvest a time or two.
(welcome to hunting)

 

[BillRob]

Not much squirrel hunting in SE Idaho (not much bark either as far as that goes), but in my younger years we hunted rock-chucks. Over the years I went from a .22LR to a .243Win, then a .54 ML and finally a bow and arrow. (A poor hit and a wounded rock-chuck ended that endeavor for me.) Anyway.. we didn't "bark" rock chucks, but it was fairly common to aim right below them and have the explosion of a .54 cal Maxi and lava rock do the job. I guess you could say we "rocked" em!

 

[ETipp]

Easier to shoot them in the head than to bark them.

Most of the time true IF you can get a clear shot at the head.

 

[ETipp]

Q1; the branch under the head
Q2; where I aimed
Q3; 54
Q4; Once. and repeated many times since.
Bottom line, near impact concussion, does kill squirrel. It's not myth or difficult.

p.s. I take that part back about "kill". I may have run up to the physically stunned squirrel and used other methods to assure dispatch and harvest a time or two.
(welcome to hunting)

No doubt. Most important to ascertain they are all the way dead when picking them up.

 

[ETipp]

Not much squirrel hunting in SE Idaho (not much bark either as far as that goes), but in my younger years we hunted rock-chucks. Over the years I went from a .22LR to a .243Win, then a .54 ML and finally a bow and arrow. (A poor hit and a wounded rock-chuck ended that endeavor for me.) Anyway.. we didn't "bark" rock chucks, but it was fairly common to aim right below them and have the explosion of a .54 cal Maxi and lava rock do the job. I guess you could say we "rocked" em!

Cool. So now we have barking squirrels, to splashing frogs, to rocking rock chucks.

 

[necchi]

Cool. So now we have barking squirrels, to splashing frogs, to rocking rock chucks.

So have you found out that it is not necessarily an absolute need for there to be physical contact of a guns projectile with small game to harvest?
Or does somehow the myth prevail.?
It's a reality of the human sport of firearms hunting and harvest, there isn't a simple answer. It's about the knowledge of the sportsmen as an individual, his/her skill set and ethics.
I'll put it too ya like this; I shoot better than 80% of the 2,000 members of a local club.
But that means of that 2,000, 400 shoot better than me.
Which of those 2.000, "bark a squirrel"? And how many want too? And why?
Pandora's Box?

p.s. i can bark a squirrel.

 

[45man]

Never again will I try it. The poor thing had to be shot directly after a few tries at barking. It had almost no hair left from those attempts. It is a cruel sndever.

 

[Billy Boy]

Looking for information on barking squirrels from those that has actually done it. I don't mean put on a collar, go out in the back yard, get down on all fours, lean up against a tree, then look up and bark.

Where did you aim for?

Where do you think the ball hit?

What caliber ML?

How many attempts did it take before you were successful?

No, but I dated one for a while..

 

[tenngun]

I made jokes that smooth bores are great. If you hit you get to give a ‘really takes time and practice to get a smoothbore hit, you have to know your gun inside and out’ speech
If you miss you get to say,’ sheesh, it’s a smooth bore, just like throwing rocks with your eyes shut’
Maybe two hunters were after the bushy tails and one fell out of the tree after a near miss.
WOW there is not a mark on him
Yup says the other, shoot the wood right behind them, kills ‘em with out ruining the meat, been ‘barking’ them for years.
Eyes moving side to side in hope the other guy swallows the story

 

[ETipp]

So have you found out that it is not necessarily an absolute need for there to be physical contact of a guns projectile with small game to harvest?
Or does somehow the myth prevail.?
It's a reality of the human sport of firearms hunting and harvest, there isn't a simple answer. It's about the knowledge of the sportsmen as an individual, his/her skill set and ethics.
I'll put it too ya like this; I shoot better than 80% of the 2,000 members of a local club.
But that means of that 2,000, 400 shoot better than me.
Which of those 2.000, "bark a squirrel"? And how many want too? And why?
Pandora's Box?

p.s. i can bark a squirrel.

Actually, I have known this for over 40 years. Per my previous post on killing frogs without putting a scratch on them conveyed such.

I also know that barking squirrels was used back in the early frontiersman days, as you have proven with information on your success.

There's also been a few other posters that stated they have barked squirrels, and some with how it was done. LD was kind enough to provide some excellent information complete with a diagram of one way it could be done.

Also, and no disrespect to anyone, despite how well some folks state they can shoot at a range, I would wager that few can do quite as well during a real hunting situation, up in the steep, dark, thick, unlevel ground in the Appalachian mountains.

It is an interesting tactic for sure.

 

[necchi]

I also have meant no disrespect. My analogy of 2,000 shooters was just an example of numbers.
Shooters desires, shooters expectations, experience levels are all over the place on this forum.
If ya say it's good to hit an X on paper at 50yrds, ya got someone else saying they never needed to shoot an X in 50yrs.

I never considered "barking a squirrel" a tactic with my 54 until actually using it to hunt squirrel. I like to harvest edible game, that's why I bought the license in the first place.
You ever shoot a squirrel in the head with a 54? Basically you loose everything from the shoulders-up! And a 54 throws a lot of bark off a 3" branch at 20yrds.

It's really become hard to share here on this forum,, it's so much like the JR High-school I remember.

 

[ETipp]

I also have meant no disrespect. My analogy of 2,000 shooters was just an example of numbers.
Shooters desires, shooters expectations, experience levels are all over the place on this forum.
If ya say it's good to hit an X on paper at 50yrds, ya got someone else saying they never needed to shoot an X in 50yrs.

I never considered "barking a squirrel" a tactic with my 54 until actually using it to hunt squirrel. I like to harvest edible game, that's why I bought the license in the first place.
You ever shoot a squirrel in the head with a 54? Basically you loose everything from the shoulders-up! And a 54 throws a lot of bark off a 3" branch at 20yrds.

It's really become hard to share here on this forum,, it's so much like the JR High-school I remember.

Good post, necchi.

Indeed, its often times more difficult to convey ones thoughts when typing a short post on a forum rather than when speaking in person.

My comment was from direct correlation with others that contend they shoot tight groups on paper but have had a difficult time hitting squirrels. I happen to be in that same boat at times myself.

It simply just ain't the same. I call it getting a dose of reality or eating some humble pie.

 

[sheriff john]

Memory's fading as the creases in my brain smooth out, but either Daniel Boone with "Tick Licker" or Davy Crockett with "Ol' Betsy" acquired a tale concerning "barking of squirrels". Scene from a movie/TV series portrayed the story in my youth. Both the scene and my memory re-play it in black & white.

During a squirrel hunt in Callaway County, one of my buddies attempted to fire upon a squirrel a second time, perhaps a 'barking attempt'? In his haste, he failed to remove his ramrod from the bore of his rifle. Missed squirrel. Ramrod may still be on orbit, don't know. Gun kicked like a mule.

 

[Urban Coyote]

Never barked a squirrel, or anything else for that matter. I have been "barked" at by squirrels, quite a few of them. You see my wife feeds them, we've got some of the fattest squirrels on the planet, and when I step out onto the patio those fat little buggers make all kinds of racket, grunts mostly. If they get any bigger I might have to load up my Lyman Plains Pistol .50 to defend myself.

 

[Jim in Wisconsin]

I don't know if Davy Crockett could bark squirrels, but he could grin a coon out of a tree. That way you don't use up any powder.

 

[springfield art]

Looking for information on barking squirrels from those that has actually done it. I don't mean put on a collar, go out in the back yard, get down on all fours, lean up against a tree, then look up and bark.

Where did you aim for?

Where do you think the ball hit?

What caliber ML?

How many attempts did it take before you were successful?

You're supposed to place the ball so close to the little guy's head that the impact stuns him. And, you're not gonna get too many re-tries! I hope you hear from some guys who've actually done it; I don't hunt, and kinda like the clever little devils!