Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game why do people look down on squirrel and rabbit hunting ?

If you don't have the time, I get it.

if your only chasing horns and glory - your missing the point of hunting

Well, I for one, do not. I don't hunt them like I used to because of a couple of things. Squirrel, I only eat four of five a year and when my Dad and a couple of other old timers that I gave my squirrels to died, I quit hunting them hard. I do not hunt things that I have no use for except some critters that do/will do damage to my critters and garden. Rabbits have been so scarce that it would not be worthwhile. miles

hey miles, try that limb chicken chowder recipe, I listed in one of the threads listed below, and yer consumption will go way up! Just had 2 bowls for lunch.


maddog

I didn't know anybody did!

I don't care if anybody looks down on it. I love doing it and that is all that matters. I think alot of people just don't like to eat them. Once you find a recipe that you like you will spend more time going after them.

Squirrel hunting is just about my favorite type of hunting. My dad was never much of a deer hunter but loved to hunt squirrel, rabbit, and birds so that is how I cut my hunting teeth. I love being in a squirrel woods with a nice .22 bolt action. It also doesn't hurt that I also love to eat the little buggers.

I had more fun squirrel hunting this year, than deer hunting, even though I put two deer in the freezer. I sat down this afternoon and worked out a list of farmers that I'm going to ask for next season. If I would get all of them, that would give me over 35 woods to hunt, in my area. All within about 20 minutes of the house! Literally nobody hunts squirrels in this area, anymore, and it's not hard to get permission.


maddog

Maddog,

I grew up in Indiana and that's where all the family still is. When I was a kid if a guy had a good squirrel woods or mushroom woods he would keep it a big secret and some guys would even drive a circuitous route to get to the woods if they thought someone was following them. When we get home now it does seem that folks aren't as interested in small game anymore and are more into deer and turkey. When I was a kid there was no turkey hunting at all and deer was shotgun only and there weren't nearly as many deer as there are now.

What part of Indiana are you from?

I used to live for squirrel season when I was much younger. When the deer bug hit me, I gave the squirrel hunting up for the most part. Now that I'm much older, (56)and with several deer under my belt, I hit the squirrel woods this past Fall with a vengeance. I think I have rekindled the fun that was lost a long time ago. I had a blast!

You mean people on forums or just in general? The roadside stores and fast food joints are filled with rabbit hunters on Saturday mornings in the rural areas of NC and SC this time of year. Mostly older gents, but many in their 30s and lots of youngsters. We hunted Saturday. The beagles ran one rabbit for over an hour. Big fields with hedgerows and ditches with thick cover.

+1, It's nice to spend a few evenings in the woods before sunset hunting squirrel. And not traveling far to hunt them.

All I know is that I mentioned that one of my goals this next year was to re-start hunting squirrel and rabbit, and I got some excuse the expression "squirrely" response to my goals

From yesterday.

We've got two Saturdays to go here and I'll try to get some pics of our success posted.

I`ve rabbit hunted and kept a pack of hounds for the last 57 years. Rabbits are scarce these days. I had more cottontails at my place in Wyoming, than here in N. Jersey. I only shoot a few a season now, because a dead rabbit can`t run, and there`s nothing prettier sounding, than a pack of hounds, in hot pursuit. Squirrels are always on the menue. I think they taste even better than rabbits.
A few of my friends keep bird dogs, and travel to Minn. and the U.P. every fall. We all enjoy each others passion.
When I was a kid everyone knew what a hound was doing when they heard them running. Now I get people running around trying to catch a hound because they think they`re hurt. It`s a different world, and not necessarily a better one.

I love hunting squirrel. First with a shotgun in the early fall when the leaves are thick, then with a rifle after the leaves thin out and come down. And, although I don't have a dog, and the rabbit population isn't very good around here, I still enjoy going out and kicking a bush our two just to try to jump a bunny.

Cottontail rabbits, and the squirrels have put a lot of meat on tables that would have had none otherwise.

I was just on the phone with my cousin about an hour ago and
I was telling him how I miss hunting squirrels in PA. Give me
squirrel hunting over deer any day. Still need to pick up a
good bolt action 17HM2 someday.

Who knows where people pick up their notions? Off the TV or out the mouths of idiots, I'd guess.

Ella

..news to me too.

dave

I thoroughly enjoy shooting rabbits with cannons (270 or 7mm) whilst walking through the local sandhills, much more than I enjoy shooting large game such as pigs and deer.

But then, I couldn't give a toss about trophies or pleasing others.

You get it. I will hear that hour long run for a while to come. Ten old vets and a couple of pups running full throat that long! Amazing. One or two for the pot is all I want to take each year as well.

used to hunt on camp pendleton in 60s with a fellow who shot cottontails with a 30-06. he of course got yotes & once 3 deer on the side. i stuck to cottontails with an ancient single shot rem. 22.--cranky72

There are few squirrels here in Wy..but the last good hunt I had was about 10 years ago in W. Va. Big old fox squirrels..But the woods we hunted then has been cut over and subdivided for lots for folks from D.C. As for cottontials..Got 3 or 4 this winter with the CZ .22 rifle..but hunting cottontails in the west is not as much fun as in front of a pack of dogs, or even one dog..
Lots of folks I know quit hunting cottontails due to the marked decline of rabbits..Squirrel were never as popular as cottontails in the areas I hunted..but they were a real favorite for me..My favorite hunts were with a good Marlin 39a and later a Browning .22 Hornet..Squirrel were always tougher to skin than bunnies..Most of the folks I gave game to are now long gone, and with it that way of life......

.22 hornet what the inthe?? suprised there was skinning invalved.

Heck everybody seems so down these days that when they get a moment all they do is look up. Squirrel!! kicked to poor rabbit to get there.grin

Gimme squirrel hunting any day over deer hunting. They're just as much fun, the season is a LOT longer, there is certainly a lot more of them, they can be as challanging if not more so, it doesn't take near as long to clean one, you can take one or 10 here in Missouri, you can hunt them with our without dogs, you can hunt them any time during the season with rifle, shotgun or muzzleloader, permission to hunt, if needed, is so much easier to obtain that it is laughable and for me last but not least, they taste 10 times better than deer.

I don't, nor do I know anyone that does "look down" on small game hunting..

Sounds to me like you're "looking down" on trophy hunters though.

I would guess the answer to the original question is, "Because they've never done it, or eaten squirrel or rabbit." In other words, ignorance.

We actually have some decent fox squirrel hunting in far eastern Montana, and around urban areas in the western part of the state where they've been transplanted. Cottontails vary due to habitat and year, but in boom years in eastern Montana they're quite abundant--and I'd rather eat them than pheasants.

Not many people hunt jackrabbits for food, but the big white-tailed jacks we have here are very good eating at the right time of year, much like pronghorn. (And yeah, I know some people don't like pronghorn. I do.)

I really enjoy squirrel hunting and the taste of squirrel. I actually love a good late October day with a 22LR and running the hills and hollows of WV chasing grays and fox squirrels. I get sort of a "rush" out of deer hunting but get pure fun out of squirrel hunting.

If all you do is trophy hunt, I feel bad for you.

Not you personally but a person who does that is missing out.

Jackrabbit sorry but it works but a slowww cooker and in the end quite good as is the carrits salrie pottato salt pepper and this strainge bone I found at work yes it all comes together.grin

Kawik, the Hornet is a great small game round if loaded down with a powder like Unique..Paul Mathews used to use his #3 on all small game..Here I have used it a great deal for cottontails..simply knocks of the head..for squirrel with medium loads and a 45 grain bullet head shots were necessary, but even with light loads, the head was the place..The only thing with squirrel, I never took a shot that didn't have a excellent backstop, but never did that with a common 22 either..

kawi, sorry about the incorrect name, my fingers hit too many keys...

Hello WCH, some years ago I had a 1949 Brno ZKW465 rechambered to 22 spitfire, it easily pushed a 40gr Nosler ballistic tip out at 3400 fps using ar2205.

I had 2x ZKW's done and a Ruger no 3, and all three shot extremely well...they gave 1/2" groups at 100 yards using the original Brno/Ruger barrel...boltface is the same, and I left the long neck.

If I could only own one firearm, that cartridge in a small action would be what I would choose.


ps, which reminds me, one of the old smiths here changed a couple of ZKW's to the Sako L461 bottom metal and magazine style, if I ever find one of these I will hock everything I own and snatch it.

JS, this spitfire is a new one on me!! A bit of information please? Sounds interesting..

It is just the 30MI carbine necked down to .224...been around for years.
Most converted carbines but we just rechambered Hornet barrels, and it worked a treat.

Being a shorter case, the ogive of the Nosler sits outside the mouth of the case which is something you cannot do with a Nosler 40gr BT in a ZKW magazine and Hornet case...the Spitfire case lasts better as well.

JS, thanks..I will have to check this round out in my books..I may have heard of it, but it sure didn't register..thanks again..

Who ever looks down on skwerl or rabbit hunting has likely never done it. Probably the most fun I have ever had was this type of hunting. Both of these critters make real decent table fare.

I've always enjoyed hunting rabbits, but they are the stinkiest animal to clean I have ever done. Plus they have more fleas on them then anything else I have shot. They do taste decent, although not my favorite.

It has been a few years since I last went after them. My Sister-in-law and her family came out 2 summers ago. Her son wanted to go rabbit hunting, but his parent didn't want me to take him very far (as in distance from our place). So we hunted our place and he did get one. I was willing to travel 150 miles to a place I know that is BLM and usually hold lots of rabbits. So I guess I like hunting them.

We usually hunted them by spot and stalk with 22s. I think it would be fun to hunt them with beagles. I have an aqaintance here that uses them, but I am not in the in crowd so have never been able to go.

Cleaning a cat box is not much fun less You love the cat.

I would much rather hunt small game than have a cat..wait, arnt cats small game?

Only if you eat 'em. Supposed to be tasty.

Heck the folk of this day and age take and have a liking to big guts.

Squirrel hunting is probably my favorite activity, fall through winter.

..not only do they taste great, but there are about ten-thousand ways to prepare them.

In my neck of the woods, they are EVERYWHERE, and BIG. Simple hunting, and you're not fighting the clock having nearly six months to chase them from late summer through deep winter.

Rabbits are fantastic as well, though I don't have a beagle, and most of the ones shot are incidental to trapping, hunting deer or whatnot.

Here in mt it would be somewhat squirrly.