Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game 2022 Squirrel Season

Please do.

Maybe then you'll remember WHOSE porch the birds were on and how close that was to where I actually hunt. You can't even get the facts INSIDE your lies right.

Why don't you go run down the back of some other forum's leg ?? Good, honest, intelligent people wanna talk here..........

We don't have red squirrels here, but we do have wood rats. They're pretty aggressive. I've seen them chase bigger grey squirrels off bird feeders. But they are good air gun targets.

I like fox squirrel tails.
For everyone one of those tails from this year I probably killed from 3 to 5 grays.

Me and slumlord had a blast going Pol Pot on gray,s out to his place while doing the roof jobs on his Bbq extravaganza area and his barn
" pics or it never happened" threads up in the gen forum from all of that a couple of weeks ago.

I use cheap 2.75" turkey loads on tree rats.
Punch thru canopy sorta schit...
Ain't out their for chow.
They do make good yote bait hung up in trees about 6ft off the ground after deer season.
Bunch of Squirrelcicles in the bottom of the freezer where the ole lady wont see em.
What she dont see wont freak her out sorta thing.
Just to kill the fuuukers in deer hunting areas and property damage schit at slumlords.

This is a totally staged pic too.
Just for photogenic effect, eye candy, and overall subject matter.
Any other benefits of it are just a bonus.
👍👍👍

There used to be some fields over by the railroad tracks that quite a few arrowheads showed up on after plowing every year. Most of that area is now a log yard for Louisiana Pacific's OSB plant.

Replying to LFC, yes, the rifle is a precharged pneumatic Weihrauch HW100S, fills to 200 Bar or 2900 psi. That knife is an A. G. Russell, 6-3/4" oal, about perfect for a small game knife.

#4 is better than #6 is better than #7 1/2. #8, which someone recently recommended, sucks on squirrels if you plan to eat them. At least at reasonable ranges, high velocity #4 will punch through leaves (if there are any left on the trees) and skin and pass through with a few mainly lodging under the skin on the far side. And the ones that may end up in the meat are easy to find. High brass #6 is okay, but go smaller and you're picking shot out the whole night. I only use a shotgun occassionally and only after the foliage is down. Easier to hit them when they are moving through the bare trees, but going deaf is no fun.

I have a light weight SxS 12 gauge and I loaded up some 1 ounce and 1-1/8 ounce of 5's to use in it for small game. 4's and 5's usually always penetrate completely through leaving no pellets in the meat. In a heavier gun than mine 1-1/4 ounces of 4's is a great squirrel and rabbit load. Up to 40 yards the lighter loads of 5's pattern great and kill surprisingly well. Every now and then I'll carry the old Stevens 16 gauge single shot that was my Dad's. The HW100S is new this year so I'll probably use it most of the time.

I have a new 20 gauge Browning BPS that I got last year before spring turkey season and have some #4s and #5s. Our foliage here is still pretty green and the leaves are only now starting to turn. So I'll stick with my .22 for now and switch to the shotgun when the trees are bare.

I grew up squirrel hunting....in the South squirrel hunting is a tradition.

Never knew anyone to shoot #4s at squirrels most shoot #6 and #7.5 shot.

Early season most shoot shotguns when the leaves are on and switch to rifles when the foliage is gone.

Doesn't make much sense to shoot a shotgun when the leaves are off the trees.

I hear they're extremely accurate.

You can use whatever you want, but shot smaller than #6 tends to just make a mess, unless you are shooting them for pest control and not eating. #6 is fine, but #4 usually cleanly penetrates and will knock them out of the crotch of a tree.

As far as hunting with a rifle, I do that most of the time when I hunt, whether there is foliage or not. But hunting squirrels in thick foliage with a shotgun, especially if you are hunting with fine shot in a game load, is pretty much a ticket to a wounded squirrel, if you hit it at all. I know some people do it thinking they can blast through foliage blindly at a squirrel but fine game loads already don't have a heck of a lot of energy on target and even less when they are poking holes through leaves. Rifles are superior to shotguns in thick foliage due to narrower windows and better accuracy. When the foilage is off, and you have much broader windows, it's pretty much just as easy to hit them with a shotgun when they are still, and way easier when they are moving. The only time I've wished for a shotgun when hunting in full foliage is whgen one bounds past me on the ground when I'm on my way in.

Lots of different opinions out there on what's best.

It does not surprise me that you would have it all backwards....

Sometimes when you do it long enough, you realize that there is a better way than what someone recommended in some Field and Stream magazine. You do it your way, I'll do it mine. I don't care to blast blindly through leaves with an underpowered fine shot load in hopes of hitting a squirrel. Again, if its pest control, it works. If you are eating them, nope.

Been a lotta years since I went squirrel hunting with a shotgun. But back then, the best places were stands of very mature hickory and oak. Start to do the Pythagorean theory (remember geometry class ??) on a shot to the top of a 75 foot tree that's 20 yards or more out.......... Now you're looking at a 30+ yard shot and squirrels can tend to cling tightly to life if not hit in the head.

I usually used #5 shot as a good and happy medium.

10Glocks I would never tell a feller how to hunt. If it's legal and makes him happy good on him then. But I've been hunting squirrels for over 50 years in a part of the country where squirrel hunting is a long time honored family tradition and I have never heard anybody use that line of thinking for using a shotgun. Your thoughts are exactly opposite of every squirrel hunter I know, and I know bunch of them.

Here, it is shotguns in the early season when the squirrels are constantly on the move in trees with a lot of cover and shots tend to be close. It's easier to sneak close in the early season with all that leaf cover and squirrels tend to be preoccupied with the early mast crop constantly running around and always on the move. A lot of guys use the .410 or 20 gauge with a load of #4,5,6 and a modified or full choke. Shots at this time of year are moving squirrels and under 30 yards for the most part.

Later when the leaves are down and visibility is much further the rifles take over. Now squirrels are on the ground a lot and shots tend to stretch out there to 40,50 or even longer yardages. They are harder to sneak close to when the cover is gone and the dry fallen leaves are like walking on bags of potato chips. An accurate scoped rimfire rifle makes sniping squirrels with headshots at longer range possible and a very fun game.

I'm at a point in my squirrel hunting that early in the season I either use a .22 handgun like my old S&W K22 or my Ruger Hunter semi auto. Or my very favorite is my old Marlin M39A lever action with a peep sight. That old Marlin just seems "right" in the big timber. Later when the leaves are down, accurate scoped bolt actions or my Ruger 10/22 Custom Shop Competition semi auto gets the duty.

Have fun doing it your way but you are 180 out from anyone I know. Not that that is bad, however it is different than most in my experience.

Thanks for relating your experiences. I've been hunting squirrels for nearly 50 years myself and started out with a shotgun then graduated to a .22 at about 12 or so. I only use a shotgun occassionally but have a new one I will be using this season.

I've read the articles and listened to the justifications and understand the rationale for a shotgun in heavy foliage and if some people prefer it, hey, good for them. I no longer do. I've hunted squirrels both ways and prefer the way I do it now. It has a lot of advantages.

I almost never take a shot at a squirrel I can't see well enough to hit with a .22. I've seen shotgun hunters watch the tops of hickories and oaks for shaking branches, catch a glimpse of a squirrel, then fire into the shaking foilage hoping for a hit. Or I've seen them take shots at scurrying squirrels hoping their shot will penetrate whatever they are shooting through. I've seen a lot of squirrels wounded from poor shooting, or trying to shoot through foilage. Wounding occassionally happens no matter what you use. But shotguns used poorly tend to be worse at it, especially if you're using light loads and fine shot. So I don't hunt them that way. I've never really had a problem waiting until a squirrel is visible and still enough to take with a .22 (thus the reason I almost always hunt with a .22 regardless of the time of year).

When the foliage is down, you have better visibility up high, and more light down low. And squirrels aren't always on the ground at that point. Often times, they do retreat to the trees and they are scurrying along branches. And the shots aren't as hampered by foilage that can suck the energy out of already weak pellets. I've taken countless squirrels from the trees when all the leaves and mast are on the ground.

As far as squirrels on the ground, I'm not sure where you hunt, but there is scarcely a difference here between the forest floor when the foliage up high is full and when it has all fallen. Except for lighting and leaf litter depth, it's virtually the same. Yes, there is an occassional young beech that has green leaves out near the ground that may block a view here or there, or a low holly that has green leaves year round, but for the most part, in mature hardwood stands, the forest floor is equally open regardless of the time of year. And the young beech trees tend to hold their leaves even after they turned brown and often times don't start dropping them until they are getting ready to sprout new foliage. YMMV.

On the ground, I rarely take a shot past 30 yards or so because in many cases, it's hard to see that far - an not because of foliage. It's because the mature trees are often times thick, there are fallen trees, and younger trees just don't make being able to see much further than that possible. When the foliage is on the trees and blocking a lot of light, it can be dark in the woods even at midday. A scoped .22 makes picking off squirrels on the ground easier. When the foliage is off, and there is more light on the ground, nailing them with a shotgun is easier.

The way I have settled on hunting squirrels, a shotgun and rifle are fairly interchangeable. I'm shooting at what I can see well no matter what I use. I'm not shooting at glimpses of squirrels in shaking foliage. If I'm shooting at a moving squirrel, I prefer a shotgun, but I'm only shooting at a moving squirrel I can see well. And I can see them best when the foliage is down. When the foliage is up and I'm hunting dark woods, I want a scope. On the ground, when the wooids are bright, it doesn't much matter since I'm typically not shooting beyond shotgun range with a shotgun or a .22. I've reduced wounding doing it this way, notwithstanding the one I wounded a week or so ago that I didn't find. And I am taking as many, or more, squirrels than I did hunting the old way.

I understand convention and often times when someone hears something that goes against what they've always know there is resistance to it. But I've done it both ways and find no disadvantage to using a shotgun late in the season if you hunt the way that makes it effective. And I've found advntages - a reduction in bad shots being one. In fact, I've known people that didn't own a .22 at all and only hunted with shotgun through the entire season and had no problems limiting. There's plenty of squirrels and it'ss not that hard and can be both enjoyable and very productive. What's that old saying? Don't knock it till you try it.

Acorns are falling right now, squirrels all over the place. Ought to shoot a few.

You are wasting your time telling this guy anything.