Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game 2023 Squirrel Season

The season opened today in Alabama and I'm out looking but haven't seen any yet. But it's the beginning of the best time of the year, out in the woods searching for those little arboreal varmints! Everyone post pictures from your hunts if you will.

Our season opened today in WV. Saw 3 but didn't get any. Like it better when it starts cooling down.

I agree, some cooler weather would be nice, too many skeeters in my neck of the woods right now.....Hb

I managed to nail two this afternoon using my Weihrauch HW100S pcp with 18 grain JSB pellets, both head shots.

Ours opened last Saturday but not much action. Hickory nuts aren't quite ready where I hunt.

We are hoping for a good hunt next weekend

Ours opened on 9/2/23 but it's been obscenely hot and humid and I just can't go when its like that. Maybe when it starts to cool a bit and the humidity breaks. Usually in October.

Also, I haven't seen any warbles on the squirrels around my house yet, or any bot flies this summer at all. This time last year it seemed all the squirrels had at least one visible warble.

I would hate to have to wait until fall to kill squirrels.

I really like how we can hunt them in late May when those young are getting out on their own.

For those of you that haven't eaten a 6 week old squirrel you don't know what you're missing

Yup. Too damn hot. Going out Thursday to scout out a spot for the Early Geezer Bear Season this weekend. Ain’t planning to shoot any rodents though.

Weather hasn't been terrible here in Alabama, warm but bearable compared to a couple of weeks ago. I made two more redheads this afternoon with the HW100S; one did have a botfly warble on it. One male and one female.

I enjoyed some cooler weather this morning and shot this gray.



Ruger 77/22lr
GM fluted barrel
Silencerco Sparrow
Eley HP Subsonic ammo

Heading out tomorrow morning for the first time this year. It's pretty much still summer here and the leaves are still deep green and the trees are full. The pecan trees around here are full of nuts, so I'm hoping the hickories are, too. It's supposed to be a bit cooler tomorrow, and cloudy. I'm taking my new .410.

Not a fan of using shotguns on squirrels...but I could be persuaded with that one!

I love shotguns for squirrels. High velocity #4 simply knocks the life out of them and passes right through.

But it's very cloudy this morning, misting rain, and everything is soaking wet. So I am taking my Winchester SX4 waterfowl 20 gauge instead of the above .410. Oh, and a poncho.

Only got two today, but saw a lot more. Just moving fast on the forest floor. Or just glimpses in the trees. The foliage is full and the understory is thick making seeing into the tops of the hickories hard. But the hickories are dropping nuts. Lots of them. Also saw a couple deer and three turkeys. Temp was about 75 and the humidity was around 100%. It was like a cool sauna. Not entirely pleasant.




And the mushrooms. The forest floor looks like it has been covered in litter., The mushroom are everywhere. I literally thought someone put a top from a 5 gallon bucket in the woods when I first saw this.

That's a big piece of fungus!

Drove all the way to a WMA to go squirrel hunting this afternoon and didn't see a one. Got back home to my own property and spotted this rabbit and nailed it with the HW100S PCP.

I'm saving my home squirrels, rabbits and deer for societal breakdown. My wife thinks I like them. Nope. Feeding them is just a hedge against future need for protein.

Got one this morning.

How you folks cooking these squirrels ?? I’ve only had them coated in Flour and fried.

They're too damned tough to just cook them without tenderizing. At least to me. I soak them in a freezer bag full of salt water for half a day, then in some water and vinegar for a couple hours. I usually put them whole on the grill and baste them with some olive oil and seasoned with garlic salt. Or just BBQ them on the grill like a piece of chicken. Or cut off the meat and my wife will throw them in a pot pie crust with veggies and make a pot pie. The latter is my favorite but probably the way I do it the least. Just about any way you cook chicken you can cook these. IMO, the trick is to get them tenderized first.

I've tried butter milk for tenderizing but butter milk seems very harsh. I ruined a few by making them completley unapetizing after taking them out of butter milk and seeing the mess it made.

I am going to head out tomorrow. It's supposed to be cool and dry and sunny. I'm taking my .410 this time.

Hey 10glocks, have you ever tried a crock pot for squirrel? I have not, but the squirrels out here are tender enough for me. Alan

Got out this afternoon with the HW100S; the wind was blowing some making it hard to see movement in the trees and there was a lot of little birds hopping around harvesting acorns too but I managed to get three. Not great pictures as it was dark thirty.

I have tried a crock pot. Just not in t long time. May have to try that again.

I went out today a few hours. The woods are still green and only the very tops of the tallest trees are showing any signs of color change. It was in the mid 70s toady and humidity was low, but the mosquitoes were out in force. And those big Ord Weaver spiders are everywhere.

I only ended up with two, again. And they were kinda small. There was some activity early in the morning but by about 10:30 am of so, it was pretty quiet. Saw a few more out in the distance, and it was pretty clear they were active in the tree tops, but with the understory so thick, it's hard to see up high. We need our first frost to get the leaves falling and to kill off the mosquitoes.

First blood for my new Browning BPS .410.





I killed these with #6 3" rounds, and it made me remember why I hate anything smaller than #4 for squirrels. I shot the first one at about 15 yards and he was so peppered with shot all four legs were broken. Luckily, most of the shot passed through.

What choke on the 410??

The standard FULL that came with it.

I haven't used a shotgun in a while. I loaded my own shells, 12 gauge, one ounce of fives at 1165 fps. All pass throughs and low recoil in my double. I hate shot in the meat too.

I like #5's for squirrels for that very reason, less shot in the shell and it passes completely through so there is less shot in the meat. I have a little 1968 Beretta 20 gauge SxS 28" choked Mod & Full that should be a squirrel-killing machine. Just for kicks, I'm going to take it out the next time I go.

That's one sweet looking shotgun, MOCG.

No 5's are excellent, that's all my late Dad used for squirrels. He used No 6's for rabbits.

That is a sweet double....

Tip!----Don't shoot squirrels at 15 Yds!!!

Hip

Wife made a squirrel pot pie yesterday afternoon.

It can be done with a tight shooting gun and holding out just on the tip of the squirrel's nose when broadside. Only the edge of the tightly clustered ball of shot will hit the squirrel in the head. Shot like that, the squirrel won't have any shot in the body. Gotta be broadside though, otherwise, you'll blow the heck out of them.

Dang, that looks good!

Yes it does ! I need to try that .

I LOVE me some squirrel pot pie..I make a couple every year.

Man that pot pie looks good. I haven’t had squirrel pot pie in years, might have to look that up. When I take a shotgun I use low brass #4’s. Pretty much same for rabbit. As others said, less pellets and they are bigger so tend to pass through.

The pot pie do be looking mighty fine!
Yesterday eve hunt..

👍👍👍👍

What are the details on the rifle and scope?

CZ 452 American in .22 long rifle. Leupold 4.5-14x40 Long Range, 30mm tube with side focus and regular duplex.
The scope is a little too much for up close shots but it makes easy work for the 50 to 60 yards squirrels.

The CZ 452’s are amazingly accurate with CCI standard velocity ammo.

Been out the last 3 afternoons. Just a couple hour walk and sit each day. 10-1ish.

Didn’t see a thing the first two days. Today they were everywhere! And I couldn’t hit one to save my azz! Missed 5.

I had my little Steven’s Favorite with iron sights that I usually shoot pretty well. Finally walked back to the truck and grabbed an empty can. Set it up at about 30’ and proceeded to miss all three shots using the truck mirror for a rest.

Something is fugky.
Either it REALLY doesn’t like the Winchester X ammo I had or something got tweaked. I’ll clean it and run some different ammo through it on paper.

I’ll head out Monday, maybe with a scoped rifle😳

I got out later than I planned to. Saw 2, got 1.

I hunted last week on some TVA property, carried my Kimber Hunter 22. It was a beautiful day to be out. Saw three way off in the distance via binoculars; one getting a drink from the creek off of a fallen tree branch and two running through the treetops. The place should loaded with squirrels, there are nests all over. This land often gets flooded as it is overflowed from the Tennessee River but it has been so dry here that there was no standing water anywhere so no mosquitoes to drive me nutz.

Been out four times so far with two of my boys here in NW Vermont. We’ve seen zero squirrels unless we were in the car! Anyone else up north having a hard time connecting? I’ve been through the usual spots where we’ve had success in the past, and there is some sign, but absolutely quiet woods. Been going both in the morning and afternoon.

I've been out a couple of time when I was looking for tree stands that trespassers had put up. Found 2, cut them down, and then cut them up with the sawzall so that the smaller parts were easier to haul out of the woods. Piled the parts up next to the county road for the owners or the scrap metal guys to pick up if they want it.

I took the Anschutz with me 'cause the weather was fine and so that I could try the CCI yellow tip 17 HM2 ammo somewhere other than the range. While it isn't Eley grade accurate, it is at least as good, maybe better, than most other CCI or Hornady branded ammo. No complaints about the rifle, the ammo, or the number of squirrels seen.

Haven't been seeing squirrels lately. Went for a walk around my patch of woods this afternoon and spotted two, managed to nail one with the Kimber 22.

Picture of the Kimber 22 and the squirrel I got over at father in laws place the other day. Just now taking the time to plug the camera up to the computer and get it off of there. Got a 45 yard head shot off of a snag on the side of a oak about ten feet up. Saw a couple of squirrels too far off for a shot that kept moving around all over the tree tops, one finally made a fatal error and took an RWS Subsonic to the noggin.