Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game Squirrel Hunting Pics

Haven't posted much here lately, thought a good photo thread would be nice. Killed these with my favorite rifle, the Kimber Hunter 22 I got a few years ago.






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as Alton Brown would say, "now that's good eats"

great pics, and certainly a great rifle.

Nice stuff Pillip!! If ya ever get tired of that Kimber ship it up to MI. That one is a dandy!

Here's a couple of pic's from my favorite squirrel guns. CZ452 American and Ruger MKII both 22's.

I hope quite a few more pictures keep getting posted, but the small game section is pretty quiet here. I wish I had one to add for this weekend, but I saw none, didn't get a shot.

Me and a buddy of mine killed seven last week at my farm but I forgot to get pictures due to it getting dark. Maybe I'll have a few more with my kids doing the killing with their rifles.

That really is a sweet looking rifle. I really love the wood. Oh, nice squirrel to.

Yea that kimber is the mutts nuts! I should know as I have it's twin in the safe. Same scope too! Great hunting rifle that's fo sure.

Nice gun dinner and blades

When you get an opportunity to have a squirrel dinner you have to shoot them with the gun you are carrying at the time. While coming out of the woods from deer hunting at mid day a few days ago I took this with a 30yd head shot. Marlin 45-70 Guide Gun, .405gr bullet.

Bama-

What scope and rings do you have on that CZ?

Wabbit vs hunter, wabbit loses. Rabbit dinner results.

A 45-70 is definitely overkill for squirrels



But the final results is worth the cost of a bullet..

Bama-

What scope and rings do you have on that CZ?

Leupold Vari-XII 2x7x33 w/ CZ med high rings.

Here's the ex-mate of the first fox squirrel pictured. Got him on friday.

CZ 452 Varmint w/Leupy 6.5-20



My most favorite--Remington 513 Sporter w/Kollmorgen Bear Cub scope in Stith mounts--classic blued steel and walnut, and deadly accurate.

Looks as though the fox squirrels aren't fairing too well this year.

I'd enjoy these pics a lot more if I had actually seen a squirrel when I hunted them yesterday in WV!

In the rain!

The squirrel population is way, way down. Virtually no mast.



Steve

My favorite place is "off limits" right now since the guy with grazing rights leased is also a deer hunter and doesn't want me to scare off his big buck--so I have to wait until the first week in January to get back at 'em. However, I have a second favorite place that I can go when I am not in my bow stand--

Got three today down at the inlaws place.

You guys are makin' me crazy!!!

I miss squirrel hunting!

Good thread; good looking rifle and good photos. Takes me back a lot of years. 1955, we lived a couple of blocks from the edge of town. Nobody thought anything of a 12 year old kid walking through the neighborhood with a 22 headed for the woods or coming back with a 22 and some squirrels. There was one old woman who would always ask for one if she was out working in her yard.

Here's how I do it in the Ozarks. I know rwl has some pics that are similar.





I didn't have or take the time to dress properly. Usually I hunt 'em like this...

DAT...is too cool for school....

Sharps! You are the man, hunting with black powder like that! Is that long stick you have as accurate as they claim? Must be if you can take squirrels with it.

It is if I do my part. The rifle certainly doesn't lack for accuracy, I shoot most of them in the head.

Sharps, that flinter is a peach.

i chase them around with cherokee's in .32, and a .36seneca. lot of fun going back to sidehammers, although i do love my 17M2's.



me and a buddy used matching .32 cherokees for this stringer:


cant see it much in this old pic, but there is a .36seneca slung over my shoulder in this pic from around 20 years ago.



nephew with a couple:

good stuff, all. it shows some good makings for the vituals to come.

and now, for the extra step, and the extra mile, show us the vituals on the table, with the bread and veggie sides.

a picture is worth a a thousand words.

those pics are good. thanks for the posts.

Fyrepowr, my first smallbore ML was a Seneca. Good rifles! Good shootin' on your part too!

Gus, who thinks of taking a picture, except rwl, of squirrels on the plate!?!?! We're usually in such a hurry to eat them it doesn't cross out mind.

Hello Phillip - Nice rifle and great squirrel hunting results and pictures. I notice you show a few different knives along with your rifle. I am interested if you have any observations on the suitability of different knife patterns (slipjoint patterns, fixed blades, etc.) for use with squirrels. I usually use a large stockman pattern, but if you have observations on the usefulness of different patterns/blades for squirrel I would be most interested. Thanks.

I'm a bit of a knife knut, and I like to try out many different types of blades on the game animals I take. It's hard to pick any favorites, but after a lifetime of skinning and gutting birds, squirrels and rabbits, I'd say my preferences would lean towards a small slim drop point fixed blade, overall length between six to seven inches.

I got a rabbit late this afternoon with the Kimber Hunter, and used the Bob Schultz custom stag drop point to skin and gut it out. Brought the rabbit and knife into the house to wash up, slipped and dropped the knife three feet onto the utility room floor, and the BLADE SHATTERED! Beautifully finished custom knife, but apparently a flawed heat treatent method was used and left an extremely brittle blade. I'm nauseasated by the loss, and now I don't have any good fixed blades left, I will have to be looking around for something new. Money down the toilet.

Hello Phillip - Thank you for your feedback.

That is too da'gone bad about the broken blade you experienced. So far I have not encountered this unfortunate experience. Like everybody, I hope I don't, given the cost of good knives. I can see from your pictures you have a number of fine blades. The loss of a good blade has to be a disappointment.

The 'small slim drop point fixed blade, overall length between six to seven inches' that you suggest for small game tasks based on your substantial experience seems like an excellent, proven, tried and true formula. My sense is this should be the reference base for knives intended for handling small game and probably general field dressing deer use as well. This formula is squarely in the range of what I have found to be useful for small game tasks ... though my experience is not as broad or diverse as yours or many others on this forum. I started with a carbon blade stockman because that was the knife in my pocket. Fortunately I found it to be pretty useful for the tasks at hand.

Like you, I have found there are advantages to a fixed blade over a slipjoint or a lock blade for game processing. Primarily, the fixed blades are easier to clean. Of course the folder/slipjoints are small and handy which is important.

I have another hunting blade question for you and others if they have input they would like to share.

Of late I have taken an interest in experimenting with different blade shapes for different purposes. My reference blade, the one I started with and the one I still use the most, is a carbon steel large stockman clip point of about 3.25". This seems to fall in the range of your preferred formula for small game. I have used this blade with good success on small game. Mostly squirrels, rabbits, birds and fish. I have also used this blade for field dressing, skinning and home style butchering deer with generally acceptable results - so long as I keep the blade really sharp. This blade, though simple and small, generally seems to get the job done for me.

Recently I have been interested in experimenting with other blade profiles for my standard hunting purposes (i.e., processing small game, birds, fish and deer).

I have used various slipjoint patterns (stockmans and trappers), lockbacks (Buck 110, 112, 500) and fixed blades (e.g., Buck 102, 105, 116, 118, 119, Vanguard) in drop points, spear points and clip patterns. You can see I tend to like Buck knives ... mostly because they seem sturdy, useful and reasonably priced.

To tell you the truth, they have all worked well for my needs. The larger blades (e.g., Buck 119) are big for small game, but they are really useful for butchering deer. As you would expect, the smaller slipjoints (trappers and stockmans) are excellent for handling birds, fish and small game, as well as field dressing deer. So far, I have found these smaller knives to be not as optimal as larger blades (e.g., in the range of 4"+ fixed blades) for butchering tasks on deer. The samll slipjoints, though not ideal, when I am careful and keep the small blades sharp they do surprisingly well on a large number of tasks.

For blade profiles drop points, spear points and clip points all seem to work well for me for hunting-related tasks.

Here is my next question for those with more experience: I have not yet acquired or tried to use a classic wide-belly 'skinning knife" profile (e.g., Buck 103) or a trailing point skinning knife (e.g., Puma trailing point skinner) for small game or deer processing tasks.

My sense is the relatively blunt point of the skinner (e.g. Buck 103) might not be great for small game, fish and field dressing deer, especially on the plumbing removal tasks where a good thin, sharp point is useful. Similarly, my sense is the trailing point profile of something like a Puma trailing point skinner might be less than optimal for the initial cuts to open a deer without puncturing the stuff you don't want to puncture.

However, I think the wide-belly Buck 103 is a rugged and interesting knife that I would like to try. A trailing point skinner is another classic design that I would also like to try.

However, if these blade designs are 'special-purpose-only' and not suited to general tasks (birds, fish, small game, field dressing and butchering deer) then it likely does not make sense for me to buy or carry such a knife.

If experienced folks have input on the general usefulness of these types of blade profiles (wide belly skinner and trailing point) I would be really interesting in your input - whether it is positive or negative.

So far, I seem to be most comfortable with knife blades in the range of 3.25"-5.5" for small game and deer tasks. I have found carbon steel blades to be rugged, and easy to sharpen. I have also found some of the better stainless blades (e.g., 420HC, 425M, 440C, and all the super steels) to work well for me. If you have input on blade length and blade steel choices based on your experience I would also find that to be interesting.

All input is much much appreciated.

Everybody will have different opinions, depending on where, how and what they hunt. I can only give my observations on what I have personally found that works well on small game animals. Stockmans main blade, trappers and mini trappers main blades, and both blades on the copperhead pattern work fine. The secondary blade on a copperhead (2-3/4" length) with just the slightest drop of the point work wonderfully. Swept up points/trailing points I have had terrible luck with. The high tips want to dig into the flesh and cut too deeply, getting past what you intended to cut and into the guts, making a mess. Broad drop points with wide blades and lots of belly worked poorly for me too. A slimmer drop point, with the blade not much wider than 3/4" (or less)has a sharp enough point to pierce and cut through easily but with the drop point, the tip doesn't catch and dig in as easily as the trailing point shapes. I've never tried the broadly rounded "skinner" style blades, as I had such poor luck with the broader drop points I would have expected the skinners to be even more unwieldy and awkward when trying to cut up little squirrels and rabbits. Blades longer than 4" are awkward on small game too, requiring too much choking up to get them controllable. 2-3/4" to 3" drop point, approximately 5/8" height and no more than 1/8" thick with a "Loveless" shaped handle of 3-3/4" to 4" is what my thoughts of "ideal" for small game would be. Like the A G Russell Bird and Trout or Gentlemans Hunter knives. Nothing wrong at all with a good slipjoint though, or even a small lockback like Buck makes. The important thing is that the knife feels comfortable and controllable in your hand; if it's clumsy and awkward feeling it just won't make for a happy situation.

Here's a knife that has found its way to my heart and it was by accident I started using it.

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categ...mp;styleId=224&partNum=KNIFE-ROACH-4

I bought it simply for reenacting purposes but as with most of you guys, most likely, I can't stand a dull knife so I put an edge on it. We were butchering a deer a few years back and I needed a knife right now. I grabbed this one from where it was displayed and started using it. I was quite pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. Being carbon steel it dressed back to a fine edge quickly and held its initial edge quite well.

Since then it's been carried a lot more than for just reenacting. I've done all the small game we have here in Missouri with it and a few deer. I've never used it for fish, preferring an electric filet' knife for that.

It's small-ish, light, easy to carry and I like it!

Hello Phillip - Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback on what you have observed (pros/cons) with different blade patterns for use with small game. This is exactly the type of input I was hoping for.

Your summary of ideal knife characteristics for use with small game - '2-3/4" to 3" drop point, approximately 5/8" height and no more than 1/8" thick with a "Loveless" shaped handle of 3-3/4" to 4" is what my thoughts of "ideal" - is really useful. Your feedback on the challenges you have seen with wide blades, trailing points, and longer blades is also useful. Getting this type of input from an experienced small game hunter is excellent. Thanks.

Hello Sharps4590 - That is a really interesting knife. It seems solidly made with good materials. It also seems to be a good value. If I'm not mistaken the knife you suggest also seems to fit Phillip's 'ideal knife for small game' characteristics pretty darn well. Thanks.

Got a new knife to replace the broken one; a friend on RimfireCentral forum had a really beautiful Russell Easler stag drop point, and after he saw my photo of the broken knife, he offered to let me buy the Easler for a very reasonable price. 7-3/4" oal with a 3-1/2" blade, a bit smaller than the Schultz knife and close to what my ideas of "ideal" would be. Should be an excellent all around hunting knife for me. I'll get a picture tommorrow hopefully if it isn't pouring down rain all the day, the forecast for tommorrow stinks.

KPO, I like it. Well, I like it a lot! It's pretty old school, (kinda like me), being copied from a knife from 1750, not very high-tech. Sure does the job for me with no fuss. Simple, beautiful and functional.

Hello Phillip - That is excellent news on your replacement knife. The new one should be right on target based on your preferred design. Let us know how it works for you.

Hello Sharps4590 - Based on your comments I may have to pick up one of those.

Here's the pics of the new knife from Russ Easler.

KPO, you never know til you try. If you get one I hope you like it. They aren't terribly expensive so it isn't as if one will miss a house payment if one is purchased. If you do and don't like it, lemme know, I'll buy it from you.

Phil, that's a pretty knife. It should be as functional as it is good looking.

That's an exceptionally fine looking knife Phillip, and great pictures. It should serve you well in the field.

Tree Rat Rendezvous squirrel camp this year.





Check out the two squirrels on squirrel cooker rods next to the venison ribs. It's called livin off the land..

Hello RWL99 - Great pictures of your hunting camp. Looks like a comfortable camp and good hunting success. I like your set-up for the squirrel being cooked over the fire along with the venison ribs. I'm gonna have to try that. Good stuff.

You can't live on just squirrels and ribs, We roasted this venison haunch one day and threw some squash in the coals to go along with it....don't wanna get scurvy.

RWL, great pics of a great camp. But then, I wouldn't have expected any less from you. Thanks for a glimpse into a "north country" camp!!

Great shots there RWL99! Love it. I've been sick for several days with bronchitis and sinus infection; felt better enough this afternoon to take a trip down to the inlaws place, and went for a bit out into the woods. Sat down by a tree in a good looking spot, and in a little bit a squirrel showed up about 50 yards or so away. Put a CCI Minimag HP through it's neck and down it tumbled. No crawling away with that hit!

Phil, I expect not!! Just the crack of the .22, a crumbled squirrel falling to the earth and a sodden thump at the end! Another good shot with a fine meal the result!

Only saw one today. I guess the full moon has them playing all night. This one must not have a late night partier he came out before dark.

Rwl: Wow! Never considered the 45-70 a squirrel gun, but I have considered heading a grouse or two when out elking.

Killed five today, but only recovered four. One of them fell into a clump of vines and mess and got stuck waaaaaay up in a tree, couldn't get it down. Got four in the morning and one after lunch.

I don't know where in AL you're hunting but while I was deer hunting I saw a pile of squirrels and no deer. Made me consider changing rifles and still come home with some meat.
Nice Pics.

Some of my squirrel i have taken.







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[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v378/bea175/Squirrelswith17HMR3-1.jpg[/img]

nicely done lefty!

I have a number of Left Hand Rim-fires just for squirrel hunting

WOW! That fox squirrel next to the Colt is a big one!

You think that is big? Really?

Try this

I miss squirrel huntin'. Nicely done guys.


Travis

yes he was a good size one

Ive got one dining at the Continental Breakfast Bar at the Squirrel motel outside that looks like a Pomeranian...will post pics when he " checks in, but doesn't check out".....

it happens....

Thinking I need to do a weekender backpacking trip for bushytails this coming month. Feeling the itch...

Holy Chit Don! That looks like a marmot with a bushy tail...

Where do you have fox squirrels down there?

these pigs came off a cottonwood bottom, of all places.....

Theres a couple spots up here like that...or so Ive heard..also cotonwood bottoms....

Here's some old pics from quite few years ago back home in southern IN. Good times! Nothin' like squirrel hunting with dogs...

This season is not going well.

Usually there is an abundance of squirrels but this year I've seen three.

Of those three I shot two. Of those two I was able to recover one. The other thrashed into the creek during a snow melt.

I need to get out and pattern the tracks to see if something's killing them off or if their habits have changed for some reason.

Working on shooting down a big ol' dead tree with the surplus rifles at the moment to try to provide more cover for them from hawks and such while they're on the ground.

Regards,

Josh

Here's a good one from the family archives. That's my great grandfather Frank Baron on the far right, with the Baron boys (brothers and cousins) after a fine day of hunting in Somerset County. Probably my favorite hunting photo I have.



larger version here.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6661098935_0fe6f267b4_b.jpg

That is one COOL photo. But where is Somerset Co.? Probably a lot of them.

Can you ID any of the guns, and do you have any of them today?

Somerset County, PA. They lived in and around Holsopple, PA to be exact. The photo was taken in Johnstown (not sure why, maybe they rolled into to town just to take the photo? ha). I am not sure where the guns are today, my grandfather may have one but I am not sure. My dad told me what the guns were, I think a couple model 12s and some others. I'll have to ask him.

My old Savage 24 .22Mag over 20 gauge. And yes, both these tree rats were hit with the .22 Mag, not the 20 gauge.

Got this one last year

Nice!

This is my best

and i always thought using my .223 for squirrel might be overkill...

Here are a couple with my Ruger.

Looks like a custom, reverse taper barrel on that Ruger. What's the details with that?

looks kinda like the Green Mtn Running Boar barrel maybe?

few years ago, went out on the last weekend of the season, hunting big timber near the Cookson Hills in OK.

kimber 82, 4-12x leupold...

It is a Volquartsen 'muzzle weighted' barrel. I bought it in 1994 or so and it is a shooting son of a gun. PH

From this morning--1/16/2012

Remington M521?

No--Model 513 SA (sporter) with Stith Bear Cub/Kollmorgen scope in Stith mounts.

Pic of my son, coupla years ago, on the Indiana Aug. 15 opener. We squirrel hunted, then bluegill fished on my buddy's property. The rifle was his grandpas. 39a circa 1955.





maddog

I shot these last fall in the early season. I usually use a shotgun when the leaves are thick and switch to a rifle later in the season.

"We squirrel hunted, then bluegill fished"

Nice way to spend a day. I do it myself a couple times a year--sometimes I substitute smallies, trout, large mouth or catfish....


Ella

(As usual I can't get the pics to show up.)

We did that on the last trip I spent with my best freind...

Didn't think it was special at the time...


I was wrong.

I've kinda decided to get back to my roots a little more this year. Gonna be a whole lot more squirrel huntin'/bluegill fishin' this year.


maddog

Good for you Maddog, I too hope to get some time to do the things I like. 1st we need to put down the laptop and stop talking about it and just do it

You're right. However it's a might cold here abouts. May get one more squirrel hunt in before the end of January....if it warms up. My ole bones don't cotton to cold weather like they used to.....


maddog

Our season in Ohio ends the end of Jan. too. Was 60ish today and was going to grab the rifle and head to the woods in hopes of getting another squirrel or two before the season ends. Well, it got cloudy, rained cats n dogs and had wind gusts of 50 mph. Hunt canceled..... Hope to get out before season ends. We'll see what the weather is like... I'm like you too, not about to freeze over some tree rat..

Some of my favorite memories as a kid, were getting suited up and heading out hunting squirrels with my Maternal Grandfather. The Squirrel season in Kentucky came in around August back then, and the leaves and mosquitoes were thick.

The first season, he had me hunting with a Winchester 37 in .410 bore. I'd hit them and they'd run off. I did learn a valuable lesson about the usefulness of a greenbriar, while hunting with that .410.

The next season I was sufficiently grown up on soup beans and Bologna sandwiches that I pestered Papaw to carry a .12 gauge like him. He accomodated me, and traded for a Remington 1100, with a 30 inch full choke barrel. As heavy as a railroad tie, that shotgun put me in a position to play college football, I have no doubt, but when I touched off a highbrass load of SuperX no. 4 shot, squirrels were dead when they hit the ground.

I still remember the way he taught me to walk in the woods, and how to tell the trees by the bark and by the leaves. I'd give anything to be able to go squirrel hunting with him one more time.

When he was close to the end, and the cancer nearly had him, I was sitting with him one day in March, far from a squirrel season. He hadn't eaten to amount to anything in quite a while, and between his naps, he told me that he thought he could eat a mess of squirrel if he could get it.

Enough for me. I went to his gun cabinet and got a 16 gauge Remington Model 11. I picked up a pocket full of shells, and walked the ridge. In no time, I had three nice gray squirrels and I hurried back to the house. I had them cleaned and ready when Granny made it back home from her trading (Grocery shopping).

She made squirrel and dumplings, and we brought him to the kitchen table. I sat with him while he absolutely scarfed those squirrels. He could leave a shiny white pile of squirrel bones like no one I have ever seen.

When he was done, we took him back to the hospital bed he slept in, and he went back to sleep. He only made a few more weeks before he was gone, but I have never been so happy to have three squirrels in my life.

CT, that was a heck of a nice story. Bittersweet, but nice.


maddog