We are fortunate enough in Virginia to have a spring squirrel season that runs from June 5th-19th. I have hunted this brief spring season every year since it was first created only about 3 or 4 years ago. While the opportunity to hunt for food in June is a welcome one, this is a much harder season to hunt than the fall and winter.The biggest difference is the amount of cover. Having leaves on the trees dramatically lowers visibility. The woods behind my house are such a jungle right now that I have completely given up hunting squirrels there this spring, save for an occasional patrol of the edge. Even in the more open deciduous hardwood forest around my brother's place down the road I find that visibility is poor. There is a decent view of the forest floor out to as far as 100 yards but 5 yards off the ground it gets pretty patchy.
This has forced a reassessment of tactics and equipment. I prefer to hunt squirrels with a scoped .22 but I find that under these circumstances there are few shot opportunities for a rifle. With so much cover in the trees, every glimpse of a squirrel is brief and there is a real need to get a shot off more quickly than I can bring the rifle to bear, find the target in my scope and get steady. Moving targets are the rule. Its not that they don't ever hold still; its just that the odds of having a clear view of the squirrel at that particular moment are low. When I go out to hunt again after work today I will be carrying a shotgun instead of a rifle.
Schedules in the forest are also a little different in mid June versus December. In cold weather I find that squirrels will be out of the nest as soon as there is some direct sunlight available to warm up in. They will be active on the ground all morning before taking a siesta between noon and around 3 or 4 pm. Then they will be back at it for a few hours.
I have observed very different timing in the spring season. They seem to mostly be concerned with staying out of the heat. The only time of day that I can absolutely count on activity is the last hour before dark. In the heat of the middle of the day, there may be the odd squirrel that finds an errand to run but those will be few. From between roughly 10 am to 7 pm most of the squirrels are out of sight when the temperature is 80 degrees Farenheit or higher.
Right about when I am starting to think that it is time to pack up and go home is when movement will pick up. This is when it gets frustrating. Squirrels can be heard all around but none of them are visible. It is tempting to pick up and move in order to get a better view of what I can hear but unless there has been a recent rain to silence the leaves, this is inadvisable. They will hear the crunching of leaves and will clear out by the time I get into position.
In the fall I sometimes like to walk around in the woods and look for shots of opportunity as the squirrels run from the sound of my approach. This only works when the trees are bare and you can see the squirrels on the trunks and branches. During the spring season I've found that the only consistently fruitful method is to find one good spot and keep still.
The necessary tactics are not unlike traditional turkey hunting. Sitting very still in a carefully chosen spot with a shotgun in hand and pretty much waiting for the food to come to you. Like turkey hunting, it is possible to call a squirrel in. I expect that a decoy would also be worth experimenting with.
Squirrels that live very close to humans exhibit different behavior compared to the truly wild ones. In a semi-suburban backyard you might be able to simply walk outside and pot them with a pellet gun. Set up an ambush by the bird feeder if you like. If the meat is there then you might as well eat it. If on the other hand you happen to be hunting in a truly rural situation then you will find that bagging squirrels in June is much more challenging than the fall season.
[Photo used courtesy of Aftab, licensed under Creative Commons]
4 comments:
What gauge shotgun/shot size do you recommend for squirrels? I've never hunted squirrels, but a friend recommended a .410 with No. 6's.
E.,
Most people who hunt with a .410 do so for one (or both) of two reasons. Either to make hunting as hard as possible for themselves or in order to brag about the fact that they are using this very difficult tool and establish a sort of smug moral superiority over other hunters.
If you already happen to have a .410 then go ahead and try it. Otherwise, do not get a .410 shotgun. A .410's purpose is essentially to give you an easy excuse for missing shots.
Pretty much any shotgun is capable of killing squirrels. But if you don't already own a shotgun then I suggest getting either a 20 gauge or a 12 gauge. And if recoil doesn't bother you much then just get a 12 gauge, because there is so much more that you can do with it. You can use a 12 gauge for everything from squirrels to turkey to pass-shooting geese. Put an open cylinder on it and hunt pigs and deer in a pinch.
There is nothing that a .410 does that a 20 gauge doesn't do better. And there is nothing that a 20 gauge does that a 12 doesn't do better. Also note that .410 shells are outrageously expensive for reasons I have never understood.
You will hear people say that the 12 gauge is 'too much gun for a squirrel.' Nonsense. Depending on how the shell is loaded, it just means more pellets flying at the target and a greater chance of actually hitting it. The squirrel is just as dead and edible either way.
I've been happy using 6s and 7s. #9s would feel a bit light to me and #5s would be sacrificing pattern density on a small target for the sake of extra punch that I don't think is really needed.
Not that I am some great shotgunning expert - I am basically a rifle man and there are thousands of people who shoot more clays every year than I ever will. But I've spent enough days hunting squirrels and doves to have developed an opinion on this sort of thing.
Yeah, that squares with a lot of what I've read about the .410. I'm pretty sure my friend got hers when she was just starting out hunting as a pre-teen, and never bothered to get a new one.
If you handload, a 12 is a very versatile gun. You can load 3/4oz of small shot for woodcock or 1-1/2oz of 4s or 6s for ducks, and everything in between. But I traded my 12 for a 20ga because it's light enough to carry all day and a dear friend, now departed, gave me a great deal on an old Spanish SxS that fits me like a glove.
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