Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Been squirrel hunting lately....

I try to go a once, or twice, a year. It reminds me of a simpler time when I didn't have to smell good, sit still all day and worry about the wind.

Squirrel & Snow Goose are my two most favorite wild game meals of all.

I have fond memories of my Dad and I going squirrel hunting on the fist day of season. When I was a kid that was one of my happiest times was to be in the woods on September 1st.

That's right...a beagle and a pocket knife.

Got back into it about a dozen years ago.
Georgia squirrel season starts Aug. 15th and end late Feb..
CZ 17hmr is a lot of fun in the open hardwoods ,use a laser and hits at 150-160 yds aren't too hard to make.
Back to using a 22lr though ,just being in the woods with a rifle is great.

Southern Md., Dares Beach. We have a lot of deer, geese, and gray squirrel. That's about it!

Yeah, those office jobs are he**, aren't they? I worry about the wind too, every time I break off a good one, someone seems to want to come in my office, it gets downright embarrassing.

We just had squirrel Brunswick stew last night.I think my wife browns the parts in oil then cooks them in the crock pot for a few hours before adding to the stew. I use my kimber .22 with agula subsonic ammo.

For the old tough ones, brown in hot oil and put in the pressure cooker about 20 min.

When our deer season ends on 31 January, I'll be out there with my Rem. 541-S. Head shots only.

My first hunt ever was when I was six (1956) with my Father, my Uncle and cousin with a Feist Terrier. When my Uncle shot at a high one from the other side of the tree, I thought it was raining when the shotgun pellets started falling. My Mother took a movie of the skinning /cleaning process with a home movie camera and got my older Sister's reactions. The movies have since been put on a VHS tape and they're a scream to watch.

I love to hunt squirrels. I use a bolt action .22 rifle (Kimber Hunter) and WMT ammo. With head shots, it's all I need. I see no use for for a 17 HMR for this type of hunting. Hey, use what you like and enjoy.

Yep, the HMR does the job!

As a kid trying to grow up in Oklahoma, I don't recall any kind of season on squirrels. Shooting time started when the cotton started flying off the cottonwood trees. Never ever shoot one anywhere but in the head. Shotgun?? Nobody that I knew did that!

[video:youtube]http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/22/why-eat-squirrel-really/[/video]

That lady has it all figured out. Great!

In the Texas Piney Woods the pines grow up to 80 ft. Hardwoods don't necessarily drop their foliage on time as we do not have typical Fall seasons. The squirrels can easily hide from a .22 head shot. But, the 12 gauge delivers enough payload to defoliate the tree & terminate the quarry. Too, the Cat squirrels never stop moving. I have shot them many a time running wide open through the canopy, hard to do with a rifle.

For the constantly active cat squirrels before the leaves thin out a low base bird load with 1 oz of 6's out of a 20 ga. Is adequate, though in my young days I used a 12 or 16 ga with high base WW red or Remington greens.

I used a scoped 22 and went for head shots. A guy I used to work with used a full choked 12 with high base 5s when the leaves were on the trees. When I said I thought that was overkill he said when they were in the tall poplars and oaks it made a difference. Then he said, "when I go squirrel huntin I go to kill squirrels."

I preferred high brass #5 shot, it does make a difference & I feel the same as your friend.