Let me ask you this, LFC, and try and keep it on topic.
Just what happens when the leaves fall that makes it such that a shotgun becomes an ineffective weapon for squirrels?
No one said or thought it was an ineffective weapon....a shotgun is a more effective squirrel killer.
The whole "shotguns for heavy foliage and rifles for when the trees are bare" is really just Field and Stream philosphy.
Its called common sense.....with the foliage off your shots are clearer.
Like I said, I've known hunters that didn't even own a .22 and only hunted with shotguns.
My first real gun was a Remington single shot Targetmaster .22 with iron sights I was turned loose with it behind our house with it when I was 8 or 9 years old at first I killed more birds and animals than Audubon (not something I'm proud of)....it was a mile and a half to a rail road track to the west of us and 5 or 6 miles to the first gravel road to the south nothing but hardwoods....I kept a tally of the squirrels I killed every year with the tails nailed inside our barn.
I've been a rifleman ever since....it takes more skill to kill a limit of squirrels with a .22 rifle.
Years back every year I used to go on a opening day squirrel hunt at a big WMA on the Mississippi river with bunch guys...I always took my Winchester model 75 Sporter with a 3-9 Leupold AO compact....got my azz dusted every year everyone else shot shotguns. One year I showed up with my shotgun and I dusted their azzes.
There's just something about hunting with a .22....
