I had forgotten about selling squirrel tails to the Mepps company until I read this thread. I did that too as a kid and it was a big deal when I got my check from Mepps in the mail.
Back then I hunted with an old Savage M24 .22/.410 with .22 Longs and paper hulled Mohawk #6 shot, Best squirrel gun a kid ever had. I still take that old gun out a time or two every season.
Most often these days I squirrel hunt with a Marlin 39A with a scope and it's pure death on gray squirrels.
We used to have a lot of Fox squirrels but now it's just gray's. Don't know where all the fox squirrels went.
