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