Every fall I feel like an orphan when I go in the woods. It seems there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of small game hunters over the last 10 or 20 years. I am often the only person I see in the woods during squirrel season. Have you folks noticed the same thing in your areas? All the best...
Gil

Howdy Gil. ya don't see many anymore. I have one buddy that hunts squirrel with me i use a scoped 22 mag and he will use a 22lr or a contender in 22 it's a lota fun ya gotta head shoot them so they make good eatin. I also rabbit hunt but it's gettin hard to find spots that you can hunt without dogs ( i don't have any rabbit dogs) but i do enjoy small game huntin.

Its true out here too not many people small game hunt anymore. Heck opening day of Grouse season and I see maybe 1 or 2 other hunters... on the entire mountain.

I shudder at the thought of eating a squirrel ... but thats only because ours are ikky, disease ridden things. Tons of them around for plinking year around.

Rabbits... seems people here goto great lengths to find a place to hunt Jackrabbits (just found a new place to hunt them sunday lol) but seems hardly anyone goes after cottontails. Lately I see 10-20x as many cottontails as I do Jacks. I like eating them too. Hopefully I'll get some good use of the .17HMR this fall when the cottontail season reopens.


-DallanC

Probably my most favorite kind of hunting of all time. There is something about being able to hit the wood lots lookin for the little tree rats that makes the time pass. If you want to be a bit loud, so what; want to sit a while, do it; chase the little bugger or not; your choice. Mrmories of past days after bushy tail; PRICELESS!!!

I have been known to loose the "Honey do List" wehn a call comes in asking if I would like to go out squirrel huntin. For a really great day I use my .54 flint and have actually "Barked" quite a few, no mess at all when done correctly and if i do hit one there is a lot less damage than when using Stingers or my .22 Mag.

Darn, how much longer until the season opens again!!!! arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I still like to go squirrel hunting to get in the hunting "feel" before partridge season gets here. I find that after a long winter of no hunting, I need to get back into my "slow down and enjoy" mode. Small game hunting does that for me. I don't usually see anyone else unless I invite them to go with me. I have 100 acres back in the woods that borders on 2 sides to a 10,000 acre (hunting allowed) game management area, so there is a lot of territory to spread out in.

Blaine

I have not heard of anyone hunting squirrel or rabbit excpt my friend and I. There are a few that hunt coons but almost everyone hunts deer and a lot of people hunt pigs (feral (sp?)hogs ).

No, your not an orphan. There are two of us out there. Squirrel hunting is only second to deer and if the little buggers had horns I might reconsider deer hunting.
I bought both a 17HRM and M2 strickly for tree rats, retiring the 541. I haven't had so much fun hunting them since I stopped using the 22 BR year ago. I like to "long range" them ( ah s**t, here we go again!), the longest shot being 126 with the 17 mag last year. Hunting them helps sharpen the old eye for deer season and I do enjoy squirrel pot pie.
So, if you ever get to Perry county in the New Germantown area and see some nut with a HB gun,range finder and 10x50 bios in the big timber, stop and say Hi!

Bill

Squirrel hunting is alive and well in Arkansas..lots of tree rats and lots of folks that chase them...hunting squirrels with a good tree dog and a .22 is great fun...I love it and am blessed to have a friend that owns a good dog and invites me along several times a year...I carry a .22 and he carries a 12guage to make the clean up shots when I miss and the squirrel runs...

I like to use squirrel hunting as an excuse to be in the woods for deer scouting...great way to spend the month before bow season opens....

Zeeriverrat!

Gil, you have a SEASON for tree rats and rabbits? I don't believe it! At last England scores over the US of A! They are both on the "vermin" list over here and can be shot all year round> My maximum range for a tree rat is 60yds and 50 for a rabbit. I can hit either at well over that distance but can't be sure of a clean kill so limit myself to good headshots only. Just a personal thing. I find my air rifle has a better range than my shotgun and you don't spend half of dinnertime spitting out lead shot either! (unless you have a recipe that calls for rabbit head - which I don't, I'm glad to say!)

Here in UK tree squirrels are a pest doing a heck of a lot of damage in young plantatins and barking older trees nevertheless I preferr to hunt alone . One thing it's safer and also quieter, ergo see and get more tree rats.

DallanC wrote:

Its true out here too not many people small game hunt anymore. Tons of them around for plinking year around. -DallanC

Dallan: WHERE in Utah can you hunt squirrels? Even for target practice, that sounds good. I don't believe I have ever seen one when I have been out in the woods. Or are the ones you are talking about the little scrawny kind that live in holes in the ground?

sniper wrote:

Dallan: WHERE in Utah can you hunt squirrels? Even for target practice, that sounds good. I don't believe I have ever seen one when I have been out in the woods. Or are the ones you are talking about the little scrawny kind that live in holes in the ground?

Serious? Geeze they are everywhere. Pick about any pile of wood or rocks and there will be a bunch in it. You can see them sitting on dead limbs in oak brush as well. Find a place where the BML has pushed up juniper trees into piles while clearing areas and it will be thick with squirrels.

And no I'm not talking the ground squirrel "Pot guts" ... although there are billions of those up high in aspen areas.

No seasons on squirrels or jackrabbits here in Utah. There are seasons however on Cottontail rabbits and Mountain Hares... hares of course being really monster sized rabbits.


-DallanC

[quote="DallanC Serious? Geeze they are everywhere. Pick about any pile of wood or rocks and there will be a bunch in it. You can see them sitting on dead limbs in oak brush as well. Find a place where the BML has pushed up juniper trees into piles while clearing areas and it will be thick with squirrels. -DallanC[/quote]

O.K., I think I have it sorted out. I talked to a DWR Habitat Manager, and we are talking about two different flavors of squirrel. What we have in Utah is the little Red Squirrel, which is a lot smaller than the squirrels I grew up with in the South.

These are like quail. They may taste good, if they are edible, but it takes a lot of 'em.

The large, sleek Gray and Fox Squirrels back east are another thing entirely. The DWR guy is from Iowa, and he is thinking about taking his two boys back there, just to show them a proper squirrel, and maybe hunt a few. Those are good plans!

Yea I couldnt believe the size of Reds and Grays when I first visited WVA... couple were in the park there and I couldnt believe how big they were... huge compared to the vermin we have out here. And no, you dont want to dead ones in the west.


-DallanC

You are exactly right....hee in NC it seems that fathers start their children hunting big game nowadays. I'm 42, and when I started it was for squirrels. It proved invaluable in the deer woods later in life. The skills learned to discern the slight movements of squirrels in the early season leaves and overhead cover taught me how to see the deer slipping through the "thicks". I still hunt the squirrels now after getting back to my "roots", especially with the animosity growing stronger around the deer hunting crowds due to limited hunting areas and jealously over "big bucks". I build feeders from PVC and feed corn to gather the squirrels to "stand" locations. Generallly the shots provided are 50-60 yards, which makes it very challenging and somewhat sporting, in my opinion. I do place feeders at 100 to 105 yards at some field edges and use the .22 Hornet to take these shots. It is enjoyable to wait and choose shots. Taking the head shots as was earlier mentioned affords little to no meat damage. I think people seem to transition as they grow older...reverting back to their first "loves" of the sport. Sorry for being SO long winded, but I felt the need to express. Great topic, by the way!