I spent my first day squirrel hunting here in SE Va. Pretty much a rotten day for squirrel hunting. It rained early this morning so everything was slopping wet. It was in the mid to high 70s and humidity made it like a sauna. All the leaves here are still green and the trees are full. There was heavy overcast so the woods were dark. The mosquitoes were relentless. I walked through exactly 10,798 spiderwebs, most of them with a big red orb weaver in the middle, and most a face level. Only saw four squirrels and only got a shot at one of them, which I got. I heard several calling in the tree tops but you can't see up into the trees since the foliage is so thick. So, not an ideal day for squirrel hunting. Yet, somehow, infinitely better than work.

Lots of hickory mast falling, but very little oak. The acorns are still mostly holding on up in the trees. There are some acorns, but they are mostly red oak and it looks like the squirrels are cutting them down in bunches and feeding on them on the ground. Only a very few white oak acorns were seen.

All of my yard squirrels have warbles. So I knew what to expect out in the woods, and my only squirrel of the day did not disappoint. One of the reasons I prefer squirrel hunting after a freeze or two.

one is better than down here , the tree rats have 8 or 10 on them now . Nov. it will get better

Not to sound stupid, but Do the Warbles hurt the meat?

It it safe to eat the Squirrel?

They only get in the skin. Doesn't hurt the meat at all. In fact, they don't even really hurt the squirrel. They're just ugly. But this is the time of year for them.

What kind of bug causes them?

Warble flys. Aka heel flys.

Botflies. Like cattle botflies, but a slightly different species. Disgusting looking things.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuterebra_emasculator

I appreciate the info, as I didn't know that, yrs. ago my son shot a squirrel, and we found one of those under the skin,
and not knowing, I buried the whole darn thing!

Very familiar with the cattle version. I remember popping them out of a cow's hide like an enormous blackhead.

When younger,we raised meat rabbits. Always found some during the summer. We treated with hydrogen peroxide. Popped them right out

This one had a healing warble hole but no larvae in it. I think the larvae are starting drop out. Good. Now if the temperatures and dew points would also drop a bit. It's been like a sauna in the woods over the last few days.

It's still warm here in Alabama too, but surprisingly I haven't seen any of the icky little devils so far.

Very nice photo 10Glocks. Bushnell scopes are still high on my list, probably an age thingy, but I still like them as they are generally very clear. Even with all the high end scopes I have, there is just something about Bushnell scopes.
I've used that same ring and base adapter setup you're using for many years without a hitch.

We had one here on our back yard that had three or four around his shoulders and between his shoulder blades and he looked pretty gross. We nicknamed him Quasimodo 😊