Upping the challange for squirrels
 

Some of my fondest memories from my youth in Michigan are about squirrel hunting. I used to come home from school and put on my hunting vest with the game tag and grab my old bolt action shotgun and walk through the corn field across the street to the middle of the section which had a hill too steep to plow that covered about 60 acres and had been left as a woodlot. Being surrounded on all sides by fields of corn, sorghum, beans, etc. the woods had a healthy population of squirrels. I would usually bring home a limit to clean and have for supper the next day. That woodlot provided a lot of meals to my family but it was inside city limits so I was limited to using a shotgun.

When I got my driver’s license I would go to the nearest State Game Area where I could use my 22 rifle and focus on head shots that didn’t tear up any edible meat. In my early 20’s I joined the USAF and moved away and didn’t hunt squirrels again until two years ago. A friend invited me to go after the slightly larger tufted-ear squirrel that we have in some areas here in New Mexico. By then I had a custom built Ruger 10-22 with a variable power rifle scope and brought home a limit of 8 squirrels with 9 shots. More important than the number of animals taken was the experience. What a great time we had that day. The mountains, the towering Ponderosa pines, and the beautiful blue sky all contributed to the fun we had.

I thought a lot about that day over the next few months and finally decided I would like to go again but would like to make the hunting even more of a challenge then that provided by the shots to the tops of the tall pine trees. This last year I returned with a Ruger MkIII mounted with a long eye relief pistol scope. We again shot limits of 8 squirrels but this time I used way more than 9 rounds but if you can believe it the day was even more fun than the year before.

Remember, very few of us in this day and age will go hungry if we come home empty handed. We should remember that having a good time is the first and primary goal of our hunting trips.

I only use 22's for squirrels. I mainly use a Mossberg Target 144 LSB with Lapua 22 Subsonics and topped off with a Leupold 4x12x40mm scope. I then love to take a Magnum Research Ind. Lone Eagle Single shot 22 target with a Burris LER scope also with Lapua SubSonics.
I have sat at one tree and shot my limit of 5 with 5 shots and never had to move for they were cutting in the tree of pignuts. As you have said, it makes for some great memories.
Took my son on a hunt like that and I took my limit so fast that when we were leaving he said that his bed was still going to be warm and his milk cold!!!!!

ditto !

I've only ever used a .22, started off with ironsights, then switched to a cheap but very good tasco 3-9 zoom intended for deer. I have actually hit a fox squirrel in the head with that thing at about 150-200 yards. Couldn't believe I hit it! I use a marlin .22 with a tube magazine. I have done the same about sitting in one spot and getting my limit of six in about a half hour on good years by a productive hickory tree. I hunt both gray, fox, and red squirrels in the same area. Gray's make the most noise, but are the most wary in my opinion. Fox squirrels are slow and somewhat clumsy, and definitely aren't as wary as grays. However, they make much less noise. Reds are just very bold. Everyone should start out hunting squirrels, it teaches good marksmanship, shot placement, as well as how to be quiet and perfect hunting. I aim for the head or the spine, if you hit a squirrel in the spine there is no blood on the outside. The few chest shots I have taken the squirrels don't run more than a few yards, and never have I not been able to recover them. They just seem to run in circles if they run at all. However, I learned painfully when I first started hunting that gutshots are not only extremely cruel but you are lucky if you can get a second shot off. Most squirrels shot in this way are unrecoverable. To me the fun is not in the shooting or killing, but the actual stalk and just being in the woods, and seeing things so many people never see.

You want a challenge for skirrels? Try one of these 32 Crocketts... Gotta wait for a good shot...

[quote=sewoodruff;3957125]
This last year I returned with a Ruger MkIII mounted with a long eye relief pistol scope. We again shot limits of 8 squirrels but this time I used way more than 9 rounds but if you can believe it the day was even more fun than the year before.

quote]

If you want a real challange.
Take the scope off.

That is how I hunt squirrels with a handgun.
I have/use the Ruger Mark II govt target model.
Or a Taurus Tracker .22 revolver.
I only shoot open sights.
That is more of a challange to me, but thats just me.

Easy = Boreing. JMHO

that's great! I tried with a slingshot when I was younger, ended up getting two out of about 25 I saw.

in the early part of the season its just too thick where i hunt to use anything other than a shotgun (you can hunt squirrel or you can eat squirrel). Once the leaves start dropping ill switch over to a rimfire or even a pellet rifle.

[QUOTE=jrbsr;3957901]I originally hunted with ironsights, still do occasionally, it's just a pain having to resight in your scope every time you take it off. That said, I have a .22 colt woodsman that I use for squirrels occasionally. I've shot a few turkeys with it as well.