Squirrel Hunting Tips

[hunter1254]

anyone got some squirrel hunting tips? thanks in advance

[str8shooter]

Originally Posted by hunter1254

anyone got some squirrel hunting tips? thanks in advance

I hunted them with a 16 gauge shotgun from when I was about 10 until I was old enough to hunt big game. It was kinda like shooting fish in a barrel. There's really not much to it, just walk into almost any wooded area and your bound to see a bunch of them in a short time.

I think they're the easiest edible small game to hunt. They're not afraid to let you get well within shotgun range, and they're not particularly fast. If they're up a tree they'll just sit there and look at you, or maybe run around to the other side. I had a dog that would tree them, and then follow them around so they'd pop back out on my side. That's why I used a shotgun, I wasn't keen on firing a .22 up in the air not knowing how many miles it would travel if I missed.

I used the cheapest ammo made, 7 1/2 shot, 6 shot, whatever dad and I bought to shoot skeet with. I'd skin them and mom would cook them. If you do use a shotgun and plan to eat them, watch out for the BBs. I tried to pick out as many as I could find, which was kind of easy after they were skinned, but every now and then someone would get a bite with one. We learned to chew slowly and inspect each bite, so no one in the family broke any teeth.

[27hand]

My brother in law id a big time squirrel hunter.

He told me how he does it. He uses a .22 with shorts. He looks for a likely spot and sits till he sees a squirrel. He then gets up and chases after it till he sees it in a tree,waits for it to stick its little head around the tree to spot him and he shoots it.

He told me he goes for head shots to not deal with the lead shot when eating them.

27hiswordshand

[str8shooter]

Originally Posted by hunter1254

anyone got some squirrel hunting tips? thanks in advance

I can't believe I forgot to mention the most important tip.

If you want to attract a lot of squirrels. You just go into the woods and act like a nut!

[4XLT]

peanutbutter

they love that stuff

[soup]

This is the first year I will be getting my hunting license. Squirrel is one of the animals I'd like to hunt for but I don't know much about the process of cleaning, skinning etc. I've checked online for vids but the quality isn't the best. Are there dvd's or anything, books etc anyone would recommend for a beginner?

Thanks,

Tj

[Pukindog]

Best method is to "bark" 'em. You need an accurate rifle and a good scope. Camo yourself as an oak tree. Wait for the critter to climb onto a limb. Take a good steady rest and aim right below the squirrel. Trick here is to hit right under it and stun it. When it falls out of the tree go git it.
No damage to the meat.

Good luck,

Jeff

Anyone want any advise on snipe hunting?

[JoeWilliams]

Originally Posted by soup

This is the first year I will be getting my hunting license. Squirrel is one of the animals I'd like to hunt for but I don't know much about the process of cleaning, skinning etc. I've checked online for vids but the quality isn't the best. Are there dvd's or anything, books etc anyone would recommend for a beginner?

Thanks,

Tj

I was going to post a link or two, but Googling "squirrel cleaning" produced so many decent looking hits I think I'll just commend that approach to you.

And this past year, in the SGLs at least, squirrel hunting was far from "find a likely looking spot and start shooting." We had a heck of a time finding crap to shoot, though my boy and wife were able to bag their first during the year.

Lake Nockamixon (sp?) produced excellent results, though. Sometime, when my wife isn't looking over my shoulder, I'm going to have to tell ya'll about my wife experiencing "buck fever" when she saw a big ole squirrel there. Suffice to say, I say my wife, shotgun in her left hand, on her hip and pointing at the sky, while she pointed a finger at a squirrel yelling "BUNNY BUNNY SQUIRREL SQUIRREL!!!" She kept pointing her finger at the thing, shaking it at it, even after she quit yelling. If she'd remembered to take the safety off her damn finger, it wouldn't have had a chance!! That ended up being a wasted hunting day, because every time Sean or I would hear or see something, we'd stand there blazing away with our fingers, yelling "BUNNY BUNNY SQUIRREL SQUIRREL" at the top of our lungs

[soup]

Thanks for the help. I've been looking online as well. I think I'm going to look for a book this weekend on field dressing so I can at least get an idea of what is involved with other types of game

[roland]

Gutting most animals is just like gutting a fish. You flip it over, start at its ass and cut to its throwt. Grab the stuff inside and toss on a bush. Done. Birds are different, you can make a cut between its legs, sideways, on the underside, and hook your finger and dig it out, or wait till you get home and just cut out the breast meat, the latter is what I usually do. This might sound disgusting, but it's a part of hunting.