I live in Montana, which as far as I know has never had any closed season for squirrels--or any limit. We have more than once species, including fox squirrels, which were original native only to the southeastern quarter of the state. Same deal with cottontail rabbits, or snowshoe hares.
This is because not many hunters here bother with hunting small, edible mammals, due to so many big game animals. Apparently many believe anything smaller than a pronghorn is "too small to bother with."(An actual quote.)
I moved to Montana in 1975. Some of my best hunting, ever, was in the late '70s and early '80s here in Montana. Back then Pronghorn antelope tags were almost a 100% draw in most units, Deer and Elk tags for residents were otc for just about all units, Grizzly tags were $25 and otc, and chances of drawing a Bighorn Sheep, Bull Moose, or a Mountain Goat tag were fairly reasonable. The odds of drawing a Goat tag in the unit where I drew my first tag was 1 in 4. When I moved down to the Bozeman area in 1978, all of the bighorn sheep units in Montana that were just north of Yellowstone NP were unlimited with the seasons running from the 1st of September to the last Sunday in November. And some years, some of those units would not reach their quota.
I had horses then so I didn't have any problems getting into the backcountry, and just about every year I wouldn't have any problems getting my bull elk, buck mule or whitetail deer, and buck antelope. All of those unlimited sheep units and the units where I shot my Shiras bull mose and Mountain Goat were all within 100 miles of my home. I was not good in seeing what the future would bring to Montana.
In all of the years that I bought unlimited sheep tags, I only hunted one weekend each year, and if I shot a ram good. If I didn't, well there's always next year. I would buy a Grizzly tag every year and just hoped that there would be a bear on the gut pile of my elk when I came back to pack the meat out. That worked for mon of my co-workers, but not for me. I only actually hunted one day sp[ecifically looking for a Grizzly. Now I doubt that we will ever again see a grizzly tag in the lower 48.
Back then I also subscribed to Outdoor Life magazine, so one of those years I had filled my deer, elk, and antelope tags, and also a bull moose or bighorn ram tag, when my copy of that months Outdoor Life mgazine arrived. The cover story for that month was some guy who had "opening day jitters" for squirrel season. The Outdooor Life stories just didn't do anything for me anymore and I didn't renew my subscription.
