Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game Squirrel Hunting Pics

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.