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ghostsniper1
Posts: 2,645 Senior Member
Uneventful squirrel hunt.
ghostsniper1
Posts: 2,645 Senior Member
Okay, so as I stated in another post, I went squirrel hunting yesterday from sun up to sun down and the same today with zero luck. I'm guessing that the conditions just weren't ideal because it rained yesterday morning and was windy all day yesterday and today. I sat in areas that were dense with walnut, oak and hickory trees. Didn't see or hear a single one. All locations were filled with nests too, so again I'm guessing the weather was to blame. A bit frustrating but a good time in the woods nonetheless. So what is ideal conditions in you guys opinion?
Replies
Go near the tree line and sit still.
1) Go deer hunting. Every time I do, I have some jackass squirrel going crazy and making tons of noise. It never fails.
2) Bait them. You do that by acting like a nut.
The saying should've been, "curiosity killed the squirrel".
After you shoot one, get him and sit back down. Again.....give 'em 10 minutes. They really are dumb.
After about an hour, start walking around if the activity has stopped. Now you are looking for them laying around or trying to startle them into running. This is a better time for shotguns, as it's hard to hit then running with a .22.
I haven't seen one since I was a lad, but my best friend had a call that sounded like a red hawk scream. That always got them to barking.
Jerry
Life member of the American Legion, the VFW, the NRA and the Masonic Lodge, retired LEO
Unfriendly sort....
Moderators: Please don't delete my post like last year when I talked about this subject. Here is a photo that I got today in Detroit, a black squirrel...
There is a huge population of them down there. That, and there are pockets of them on the west side of the state. It would be kind of neat to get one mounted.
We have some pockets of fox squirrels that are mostly black, with white faces and chests. The white markings are varied from face mask to just the tip of the nose is white.
Beautiful animals.
They are literally only in Detroit city limits. That is not going to go over too well. It might be worth it to make the 2 hour trek to the west side of the state (where they live in rural settings) and go on a bit of a trophy hunt. I guess I have to add that to my everlong list of stuff that I would like to do. Tjsvet50 and Kevin Thomas have been bugging me to kill squirrels out that way too. The black squirrel area is a bit north of them, but it would be kind of fun.
The environs in and around Battle Creek are crawling with black squirrels (melanistic gray squirrels actually) Doc Kellogg introduced them to the area back in the day as a novelty. Nowadays you can't throw a rock without hitting one. The in-town squirrels can get pretty ratty looking, but the further you gt out in the country, the better they look.
I'm just happy you went hunting! Good deal. FWIW, no point in spending all day squirrel hunting. They usually don't do much during the mid part of the day. The first and last few hours of the day are the best.
If you sit for a half hour or so, and don't see anything, move a couple hundred yards, quietly. Like Buffy said, their memory seems to last about 10 minutes. Most of the acorns are probably gone, concentrate on shagbark, walnut, and beech trees
If you find a den tree and shoot several squirrel around it. Go back next year, more will usually move in...
first day of a cold snap will do the same.
I do not believe you posted if that woods had mast and that you found
where the squirrels had been eating.
Or the holes where they had been digging up buried nuts.
Life member of the American Legion, the VFW, the NRA and the Masonic Lodge, retired LEO
They get well prepared gathering beforehand
cold calm days are best.As said location is major having trees is one thing having trees with the nut they want is another.
I've often limited out of just a single tree....usually a shag bark hickory
Oh another thing any corn fields around? they are great squirrel spots too
Took this picture from second story window of my house in North Dakota about a week ago.
I have to be honest here. When I would hunt squirrels in the city, I would just stand still in the woods and look for the branches that start to shake and BOOM, dead squirrel. This was with an air rifle of course. The squirrels in the state parks I'm hunting now are much more skittish. Guess I gotta brush up.
Next year? Heck, just give it two weeks in MY backyard! Squirrels are highly territorial and Nature abhors a vacuum. I've cleared out a grip of 6-7 within a week's time around the Russian Olive den tree they seem to love. Only to have a few move into the "empty house" a couple of weeks later.
As for the picture of that fox squirrel laying on the branch......IMHO, standing in your backyard with a pellet rifle is a great way to sharpen your still-hunting/eye-sighting skills in preparation to a big game hunt. The patience it takes to stand there and scan every branch, looking for an abnormal shape and color (their movement is a dead give away). It's still "hunting". Then I have to practice the patience waiting for it to get on my side of the property so it drops into my yard for recovery.....waiting for a clear shot amongst the branches and twigs....no missing allowed and sometimes had to pass up many a shot 'cause it wasn't a clear shoot, or too far across the property line.
Black (gray) squirrels in Detroit? I can see where one wouldn't want to touch that one with a ten foot pole....too open to inneundos....however I find it biologically interesting that hair pigmentation was adapted for the urban environment maybe?