I’m thinking about doing this year’s deer hunt with my .54 caliber Hawken, and I needed one more session of getting it shooting where I want, so I planned a combination shoot and squirrel hunt for yesterday. I didn’t have to spend much time with the .54, so I hit the squirrel woods about 1100. Cool, just a bit windy, mostly clear, a good day for it.
I hadn’t moved into the woods 50 yards when a beautiful doe came walking by 25 yards in front of me, twitching her ears and flipping her tail like crazy because of the bugs. The area was very trashy and grown up, so I couldn’t always see her, but she moseyed along to a spot quite near and bedded down, out of sight. When I moved a few steps she jumped up, stamped her foot, blew loudly and exited stage right in a hurry.
Thirty minutes later, as I was eyeballing a big hickory tree for any activity, a gray squirrel ran down a tree to the ground and disappeared over the edge of a small, deep, wet-weather stream 30 yards out. In five minutes it was back for an instant, then disappeared again, this time headed the other direction. Ten minutes later a squirrel ran down a small tree to the ground on the other side of the stream and disappeared. I eased forward several yards for a better view, but saw nothing. A while later a squirrel ran up a tree on the other side of the stream, this one a fox squirrel, headed through the treetops away from me, so I hurried along behind, being as quiet as I could. In a couple of minutes the squirrel ran out onto a high horizontal limb which crossed the stream, headed back to my side and a small tree with a mess of trash in the top. The squirrel was quite a way out, further than I would normally attempt the shot with my 20 gauge flintlock double, but I had an ace up my sleeve. The left barrel was loaded with the Skychief Special....60 gr. 2F+a 1/8-inch hard card+70 gre. #5 shot+ a thin OS card+a cushion wad saturated with melted beeswax-lard lube”¦. so I tried it. The squirrel was obviously hit, and fell off the limb. But not quite. It hung on with one front foot, swinging back and forth. I waited for it to fall, but it recovered, climbed up and ran about six feet further along the limb and then fell off. But not quite. Dangling again, holding on with one front foot. As it made that last run a second fox squirrel ran out onto the limb behind it, but when it fell the second time that squirrel reversed and left in a hurry. The first recovered one more time, moved forward a little and fell the third time, this time I saw it leave the limb and fall straight down to the ground. But not quite. It landed in that mess of trash in the top of the tree and disappeared. I waited what seemed a long time, trying to decide if I should move closer or wait it out. It was obviously seriously injured but still active, and if it fell into the weeds and trash wood under that tree it might have strength enough to crawl away and hide. Before I could make up my mind it fell again, this time out of the top of the trash, but it only dropped 2-3 feet and caught on one more time, went to dangling and swinging. Just as I finally decided to move, it fell...finally...and I heard a loud, dead squirrel thump as it hit the ground. I don’t trust fox squirrels one bit, so I ran to the base of the tree and saw...nothing. Weeds and down wood everywhere, but not a squirrel in sight. @#)%^&!! I very thoroughly scoured the area around in all directions for 20 yards, poked in or looked in a lot of potential hiding places, including the bed and banks of the dry stream, but saw not a hair. Disgusted, not wanting to, I gave it up as a lost cause. But not quite. In my search I had noticed a tall green, big-leaf weed with a bunch of bright red blood dripped on it while the squirrel was doing that last bit of swinging and hanging. I had the idea that if I could find some blood on the ground it might give me an indication of the direction it had gone. On hands and knees, nose to the ground like a hound dog, I spent several minutes looking for a speck and finally found one about five feet in the direction of the stream. A couple more drops, and there the tough little critter was, on the steam side of a small dead tree with a hollow at the base, tucked in there neat as you please, and I had walked past it 2-3 times in my search of the stream bank. Three pellets in the body and one in the back leg, I don't know what kept it going.
If Paul Valandigham were still with us he would give me a medal, I’m sure. Not many squirrel trackers left in this modern world. :grin:
The day continued unusual. While all that hanging and dangling was going on a pileated woodpecker was flitting around in the nearby trees. A half hour later an opossum strolled within 10 feet of me without a sign of alarm. As I moved deeper into the woods I stumbled on a dead buck, a big-bodied one. I suspect it was a natural death, probably old age, because the antlers were very weird. The left had a thick beam, five points eastern count, but the brow tine was deformed and double. The entire right antler was only about six inches long, flattened onto a thin wedge at the tip with three sharp protuberances.
Most of my hunts are much more routine than this one, but I like the change, especially the bonus wildlife. No matter what’s going on in the woods, it’s good to be out in ”˜em.
Spence
I hadn’t moved into the woods 50 yards when a beautiful doe came walking by 25 yards in front of me, twitching her ears and flipping her tail like crazy because of the bugs. The area was very trashy and grown up, so I couldn’t always see her, but she moseyed along to a spot quite near and bedded down, out of sight. When I moved a few steps she jumped up, stamped her foot, blew loudly and exited stage right in a hurry.
Thirty minutes later, as I was eyeballing a big hickory tree for any activity, a gray squirrel ran down a tree to the ground and disappeared over the edge of a small, deep, wet-weather stream 30 yards out. In five minutes it was back for an instant, then disappeared again, this time headed the other direction. Ten minutes later a squirrel ran down a small tree to the ground on the other side of the stream and disappeared. I eased forward several yards for a better view, but saw nothing. A while later a squirrel ran up a tree on the other side of the stream, this one a fox squirrel, headed through the treetops away from me, so I hurried along behind, being as quiet as I could. In a couple of minutes the squirrel ran out onto a high horizontal limb which crossed the stream, headed back to my side and a small tree with a mess of trash in the top. The squirrel was quite a way out, further than I would normally attempt the shot with my 20 gauge flintlock double, but I had an ace up my sleeve. The left barrel was loaded with the Skychief Special....60 gr. 2F+a 1/8-inch hard card+70 gre. #5 shot+ a thin OS card+a cushion wad saturated with melted beeswax-lard lube”¦. so I tried it. The squirrel was obviously hit, and fell off the limb. But not quite. It hung on with one front foot, swinging back and forth. I waited for it to fall, but it recovered, climbed up and ran about six feet further along the limb and then fell off. But not quite. Dangling again, holding on with one front foot. As it made that last run a second fox squirrel ran out onto the limb behind it, but when it fell the second time that squirrel reversed and left in a hurry. The first recovered one more time, moved forward a little and fell the third time, this time I saw it leave the limb and fall straight down to the ground. But not quite. It landed in that mess of trash in the top of the tree and disappeared. I waited what seemed a long time, trying to decide if I should move closer or wait it out. It was obviously seriously injured but still active, and if it fell into the weeds and trash wood under that tree it might have strength enough to crawl away and hide. Before I could make up my mind it fell again, this time out of the top of the trash, but it only dropped 2-3 feet and caught on one more time, went to dangling and swinging. Just as I finally decided to move, it fell...finally...and I heard a loud, dead squirrel thump as it hit the ground. I don’t trust fox squirrels one bit, so I ran to the base of the tree and saw...nothing. Weeds and down wood everywhere, but not a squirrel in sight. @#)%^&!! I very thoroughly scoured the area around in all directions for 20 yards, poked in or looked in a lot of potential hiding places, including the bed and banks of the dry stream, but saw not a hair. Disgusted, not wanting to, I gave it up as a lost cause. But not quite. In my search I had noticed a tall green, big-leaf weed with a bunch of bright red blood dripped on it while the squirrel was doing that last bit of swinging and hanging. I had the idea that if I could find some blood on the ground it might give me an indication of the direction it had gone. On hands and knees, nose to the ground like a hound dog, I spent several minutes looking for a speck and finally found one about five feet in the direction of the stream. A couple more drops, and there the tough little critter was, on the steam side of a small dead tree with a hollow at the base, tucked in there neat as you please, and I had walked past it 2-3 times in my search of the stream bank. Three pellets in the body and one in the back leg, I don't know what kept it going.
If Paul Valandigham were still with us he would give me a medal, I’m sure. Not many squirrel trackers left in this modern world. :grin:
The day continued unusual. While all that hanging and dangling was going on a pileated woodpecker was flitting around in the nearby trees. A half hour later an opossum strolled within 10 feet of me without a sign of alarm. As I moved deeper into the woods I stumbled on a dead buck, a big-bodied one. I suspect it was a natural death, probably old age, because the antlers were very weird. The left had a thick beam, five points eastern count, but the brow tine was deformed and double. The entire right antler was only about six inches long, flattened onto a thin wedge at the tip with three sharp protuberances.
Most of my hunts are much more routine than this one, but I like the change, especially the bonus wildlife. No matter what’s going on in the woods, it’s good to be out in ”˜em.
Spence
