I had a great time hunting Abert's squirrel this weekend. Seven of us made a period camp and hunt in the Gila National Forest. We shot a bunch of squirrels and feasted on dutch oven squirrel with gravy and onions, johnny cakes, and cold adult beverages. The weather was perfect for minimalist camping.

Sounds like a lot of fun. Good stuff.

Good doin's there PDS!!! I haven't done anything like that in years. I knew of Aberts squirrels but I suppose those are the first pictures I've seen of the real thing. They're quite pretty. Evidently they eat well also!

Dat is cool!


So, are those squirrels all over the Gila forest or are there select areas?

Great pics PDS. Looks like a great hunt. I miss the Gila.

They were some down in the Burro mountains west of Tyrone about 30 years ago!

Named after this fellow’s pappy

pds that looks like it would be a lot of fun

Thanks Bob, nice to know who gave em the name.

I haven't seen Abert's squirrels in the Eastern part of the Gilia. We were right at the Arizona State line near Luna, NM. I think they are thicker the closer one gets to Arizona. One hunter shot one with a black belly. He said it was only the second one he has ever seen that color and he has hunted that area for decades.
I grew up hunting fox squirrels in East Texas, Abert's squirrel was a new experience for me.

what caliber did you use? i have used my.36 a couple times but really want to try my 20 gauge smoothie

Yes! After deer season I’d like to assist the son and grandson in the creekbottom with my 20 bore Virginia smoothrifle. When its cool and crisp!

I used my 40 cal Lancaster (head shots) and my 20 ga Chief's gun. I loaded the smoothbore with one ounce of #2 shot over 80 grains of Goex.

#2 shot may seem like over kill. But I shot a ton of squirrel with #6 shot out of a 20 ga, 870 as a kid. Usually tore them up, and left pellets in the meat.
Thinking fewer pellets would cause less damage and larger pellets would penetrate totally, I loaded #2 and took some #6 in case my theory didn't work. Well it worked like a charm. I was able to make mostly head only shots with the smoothbore and no pellets remained in the meat.

Other hunters were shooting 32, 36, and 40 caliber flint rifles. There was another smoothbore in camp but he didn't use it preferring his rifle. One hunter loads his 36 cal with 15 grains of powder. It sounded like a pop gun when he fired, but he knocked them out of the tree with head shots.

The recipe for squirrel and gravy was awesome! Using a 14 inch Dutch oven, 14 squirrel hind quarters were floured and seasoned, then browned in lard. Those were removed, and flour, butter milk, sliced onion, and a little water added to make gravy. The meat was returned to the gravy, the lid placed on the oven, covered with coals and baked for 30 - 45 minutes.

Those were the most tender squirrels I've ever eaten.

I am trying to find time to finish my squirrel gun, but I have so much to do I seldom get time to work on my own toys. I started it 7 years ago. It's all built now, but no finish work is started and I have to carve and engrave it too.

I have no need for it because we have no squirrels here. I just like it. It's 28 caliber flintlock. I think it will be fun to shoot. I will use it on cotton-tail when it's done.

Maybe someday I'll go east and get to actually use my squirrel rifle on some squirrels.

i really like the 40 caliber but don't own one anymore. i use to mainly use mine for paper matches and it was an accurate light weight rifle. i have a Tennessee Poor Boy and a Lehigh Valley in .36 and mainly everything else is bigger calibers for hunting deer & elk.

that recipe sounds good on the squirrels!

i have always wanted to visit the Gila National Forest, might be able to do it this winter when we got to White Rock to visit my wife's family.

I have been upgrading by replacing my factory rifles with custom builds. I am now down to just two, the .40 Lancaster and the 54 Hawken. One of those will cover any application I can come up with. To complement those I have the .20 gauge Chief's grade trade gun from NorthStar West, and a Navy Arms 12 ga double barrel. I am good to go for the flintlock era of the percussion.

I’ve kilt a wide assortment of local critters here with a .40 RB. Pigs, deer, turkey, etc. I still have one I built. I need to take it out more often. It’s very handy.



Made everything here. Rifle, bag, horn. (There is a small bag knife on back of pouch. I didn’t make it). 😊