...until S.C. squirrel season. I have two new places lined up to hunt them this year so it can't get here soon enough!

Squirrel season has been open in Missouri since Memorial Day weekend but the high humidity and 90+ temps aren't conducive to fun hunting.

Yeah, ours is October-March. Don't think I'd want to hunt them in hot weather even if I could.

YOU SUCK!

Around here the best squirrel hunting is September & October. November isn't bad either, just different because the squirrels aren't in the trees cutting hickory nuts or acorns. In November and on into the winter months the squirrels are on the ground digging through the leaf litter looking for acorns on the ground. It's still good, I actually like to use archery gear and kill a few then. I can usually recover arrows when they're on the ground.

Indiana opens in 43 days.....can't wait for

"FREE RANGE ORGANIC LIMB CHICKEN SEASON".....just sayin'


maddog

63 days here...

August 1st start for Illinois, south zone.

wont be long!

dave

Last year where I hunt, there were very few hickory nuts but this year is looking much better. I have already had some very good hunts.

When I was a kid ,I always heard that squirrels were no good to eat until the first frost.Is there any truth to that?

Can't speak for the whole country, but where I live, I've been known to fry a youngin' and eat it on the eve of opening day, and they're DELICIOUS!! And opening day is August 15th.


maddog

You been hunting in this 90*+ heat and 90% humidity? You like to hunt them more than I do!

I try to get in the woods at first light and hunt for a couple of hours. When it gets to hot for me it seems to be about the same time it gets too hot for them as well.

You want to wait till that first frost kills the warbles.

That's an old wives tale but if it makes you feel better then more power to you. I have very seldom found a warble/wolves on a squirrel. I have found them much more often on rabbits.

How is the acorn crop looking in your area? I took a little scouting trip to my bowhunting spots on public ground Saturday. A good sized thunderstorm Friday had knocked out some limbs and blown some tops out and I found a bunch of overcup acorns in clusters on those limbs. Didn't see any of the bigger white oak acorns blown out. Or for that matter any black oak acorns or hickory nuts. The hickory trees out back here at the house have nuts but I couldn't find any on the public ground I was at.

I haven't noticed a lot of acorns yet. The squirrels have been cleaning up some of the remaining acorns left on the ground from last year. I am seeing several hickory nuts so in about two weeks it should get real interesting!

Yeah, by the end of the month the squawks will be hitting the hickories pretty serious. Man I hope we get an early cool fall.

Yeah, frost doesn't kill them, by then most have hatched and left their hosts....

Around here, just about any squirrel you kill in hot weather is apt to have at least one. I generally use the "first frost" rule of thumb myself. I know you can eat them regardless but those squirmy, squishy little bastards are just too disgusting to deal with...

The first month is my favorite time here in Mo. Get out and hunt until 9 or 10 in the morn. Find a Mulberry tree and sit down about 25 yards away.

You aren't killing young squirrels if you have to wait all summer. I like them lil uns that have twice as much tail as they do body.

That is what a young good tasting squirrel is, about 6 weeks, 2 months old at max.

Squirrels breed twice per year in Missouri. Litters are born in the spring and late summer. There are young squirrels around in September and October.

Never knew that. Surprised the MDC lets us have a season when their may be young in the den.

I dunno, not supposed to harass them in the den anyway so I guess it doesn't matter. There's plenty of squirrels usually so I guess MDC gives us plenty of opportunities with squirrels. Like you I try to shoot the young ones, they are better on the table and easier to fix in different recipes. However, I do like the body to be at least as long as the tail - LOL.

I'm still seeing and shooting young squirrel after the snow flies. Not sure if they ever stop breeding and producing.

Lost my 2 best squirrel spots. One was a quarry surrounded by oak and hickory. Sold to a corporate interest.

The other was a private farm timber and the owner has passed on. Sold and subdivided. Already one house finished in the timber, and another started...

Sorry to hear about losing your spots. Makes me appreciate the abundant public ground to hunt here in the Ozark's. I noticed cuttings around the hickory trees in the back yard. They're starting...

Not harrassing them in the den but if you kill a sow and there are little ones in the den it seems to me that they will die of an unpleasant death.