The Lost Art of Hunting

I’ve never been in a hunting situation where my success determined whether or not I got to eat that night, but I’ve been close. When I was in college, I usually had just enough money to buy a burger off the value menu on any given evening. And I was OK with that. The only problem besides being a poor college kid was the fact that I much preferred to put that change toward .22 rimfire cartridges and gas to get to my favorite squirrel hunting woods. Ryan, Bandit, Squeaky and I would pitch in for a group squirrel-gathering effort at least once a week when the fall season was open. This also gave us a good reason to skip class. After hunting, we’d prepare wild game dinners right there in the little dormitory kitchen. We ate squirrel and dumplings, squirrel and cream of mushroom soup, Cajun-fried squirrel, lemon-pepper squirrel and of course, Kentucky Burgoo. Often as not, we ended up feeding a half-dozen other residents who smelled hot grease and gathered around our plate. Most of them knew us well enough to know the frying smell wasn’t from chicken, but you won’t see many picky appetites in a building full of college kids who are stuck with school cafeteria food. We each had our favorite hunting spots, mostly consisting of small woodlots interspersed among cattle pastures and crop fields. We didn’t hunt with shotguns much—too loud in those little wood lots. Rimfires were our game, and there was always a little marksmanship competition taking place among us. The fellow who sailed an errant .22 bullet through an edible part of a squirrel could expect some teasing come skinning time that evening. I hunted with an open-sighted pump-action .22, and I seldom took a shot beyond 15 yards with it. I knew I could hit exactly where I wanted at that range, and the process of sneaking in that close was a lot of fun. In fact, if you need some woodsmanship skill lessons taught in a fashion that’ll serve you well while hunting all types of game, go squirrel hunting and see how close you can get to a squirrel before taking the shot. Better yet, carry a small-bore muzzleloader or even your bow and make getting close a requirement for success. A couple years before college, I frequently squirrel hunted with a .32 caliber muzzleloader that I’d bought with yard-mowing money. I spent several afternoons during the first summer I owned it trying to find a powder-bullet combination that would shoot reasonably well. I didn’t have a chronograph, and my shooting range consisted of a table in my parents’ backyard, but I finally learned that with 12 grains of FFG black powder (I later found that finer FFFG pistol powder worked better) behind a tiny patched 45-grain round ball, the rifle was suitable for squirrels out to 25 yards or so. Closer was better. But as is the case with all muzzleloader hunting, it was a one-shot proposition. It was also erratic accuracy-wise when loaded with just a few grains too much or too little powder, so it required even more time to prepare the charge between shots than a large-caliber gun. I had to ensure absolutely no powder was spilled, which was sometimes difficult with such a tiny hole in the muzzle. To consistently kill numbers of squirrels with that gun required a “plan ahead” strategy for each shot—and very good stalking skills. It was much easier to hit squirrels at 10 yards with it than at 25. Stalking Technique Chances are you’ve had squirrels very close to you while deer hunting and turkey hunting that could see you, but didn’t seem overly concerned about it. It’s likely because you seemed much more “stump-like” than predator like. That’s the same mindset to adapt when stalking squirrels. Limit yourself to covering no more than couple hundred yards in an hour, spending much more time stopping and looking than walking. Picking out a quiet route for your stalk rather than wandering haphazard through the woods helps as well. A squirrel stalker can move more slowly and remain more focused on spotting squirrels by slipping up a dry creek bed or old ATV path than by picking his way around fallen tree limbs. That’s not to say you always have to travel slowly to get within bow range of a squirrel. Once you spot an animal, use your own judgment on the best way to get within range. One of the best times to hunt those small wood lots when I was in college was after a rain in mid-October. By this time, squirrels had shifted from feeding in the trees on green mast to acorns that had fallen on the ground. It was easy to initially approach to within 50 yards or so of a feeding squirrel by just slipping through the woods. Since the animals were after acorns, they were often near the base of a fairly large oak tree. At some point, they’d move behind the tree, and I’d be obscured from their view. I could quickly move toward them at a near jog without making much noise on the wet leaves and stop only a few yards the other side of the tree. Squirrels would sometimes see me after scampering back into sight, but they almost always froze for several seconds, often after jumping onto the tree’s trunk to try and decipher what I was. They’d rarely bolt immediately away. This bushytail character flaw resulted in a lot of really easy shots. The Seasonal Squirrel Shift One of the beauties of hunting squirrels is they aren’t as difficult to locate as whitetails or turkeys, but you still have to hunt where they live. In temperate hardwood forests during the fall, squirrels have predictable food preferences that coincide with ripening mast trees. Some of this stuff overlaps, but in general, I always found squirrels in pine trees during the earliest part of the season, usually around mid-August. Fortunately, they don’t stay there long, as pinecones can give the animals a turpentine-like flavor. Hickory nuts ripen soon afterward, from the end of August till mid-September or so. Between dropping the large nuts to the ground and scraping their teeth against the hard shells, squirrels make a ton of racket in hickories. Hunting them in these trees, although a lot of fun, can be a test of patience. It can sometimes take a squirrel half an hour to finish one hickory nut, and if he’s obscured from your view by leaves, you can’t do much other than wait for a shot. Around mid-September through the first of October, squirrels often move to smooth-barked beechnut trees where they’re available. These trees often grow near creek banks, have small leaves that make spotting squirrels easy, and produce very small nuts that squirrels can quickly finish eating. Squirrels don’t make much noise when cutting in beech trees, however, so knowledge of where these trees grow in your hunting area is important. The golden days for riflemen and primitive weapons hunters occur in mid- to late October. If you can pull yourself away from the deer stand for a day or two, squirrels will be actively feeding on the ground near any oaks, especially white oaks, that have produced acorns. As any deer hunter will tell you, they make a lot of noise when the leaves are dry. When the leaves are wet, you can slip right up on them. Like many hunters, as the years have gone by, I’ve found myself going squirrel hunting much less often than I once did. My attention has increasingly shifted to whitetails, waterfowl and turkeys. I don’t have a squirrel lease or hang squirrel stands. I don’t plant squirrel food plots, or do much practicing with my squirrel calls. I sold that .32 caliber muzzleloader several years ago, and last year’s season was the first opening morning of squirrel season that I’ve missed since I was 7 years old. But it seems every time I figure out something else to do besides go squirrel hunting, I end up regretting the decision. When I do drag myself away from the “more serious” hunting pursuits, I’m reminded just how much I enjoy creeping to within easy range of a busy grey squirrel. Once I’m out there, I’m not thinking of it as practice or simply a way to pass time until deer or turkey season—I’m thinking of putting that critter in the bag and eating it for supper. I’m thinking of squirrel hunting—it may be one of the purest hunting experiences out there. Archery Squirrels Squirrels are great bowhunting targets, particularly when they’re foraging on the forest floor. Bowhunters in particular must be patient when stalking to within range for a shot, but bagging a few squirrels nearly every trip out isn’t as difficult as it may seem. The small size of your targets combined with the high number of shots you’re likely to be taking requires a little change in the way of gear. Your carbon arrows and broadheads will certainly kill squirrels, but you’ll quickly find yourself pulling more than your own weight in bringing us out of the economic recession (i.e., a carbon arrow and broadhead is expensive and you’ll lose a bunch of them). A broadhead destroys more meat than necessary on a squirrel as well. A better option is to invest in a dozen arrows tipped with small game points of some type, such as the Muzzy SG-X, G5 Small Game Head and others. These points are designed to immobilize squirrels and small game on impact without inflicting excessive cutting damage. They’re also equipped with forward-facing barbs to minimize arrow loss. If you’re shooting at squirrels in the trees, using Flu-Flu-fletched arrows of some type is a good idea to keep arrow loss at a minimum, although you’ll need to shoot off the shelf or with a rest that allows enough clearance to keep from damaging the large feathers.