Like someone said, its Aug. 1 in Illinois, but its hard to work up the enthusiasm with all the heat, humidity, and bugs. of course, it was no problem when I was much younger. I've also had problems in the past with dropping squirrels in early August that had late litters and were still nursing. Nowdays, i use a .17 Marlin, but my best year ever (around 50 squirrels), I was using a single shot 410.