The Art Of Hunting Squirrels

When the fox squirrel hit the forest floor with a soft thud, I was elated. The big, red squirrel had been on my bucket list for years, since I was raised in the east where there were no fox squirrels–only grays. And I dearly love to hunt squirrels.

Let’s dispel the notion that all squirrels are accustomed to human presence, such as those that raid your bird feeder or scamper around city parks and streets. The squirrels I speak of are wild as a whitetail buck in the Back 40. These wary bushytails, either gray or fox, will disappear like smoke when you crunch your boot down on the first dry leaf.

My debut to squirrel hunting was with my best hunting buddy, Louie. I was 15, working in an auto parts store after school. I was too young to drive. At 5 o’clock sharp, I’d wait outside for Louie as he came screaming up Broadway and skidded to a halt in his clunker of a ’52 Dodge. That gave us only half an hour before shooting light was over.

As I leaped off the curb, Louie would shout “Hurry and get in. We only have 20 minutes to hunt.” He said that every day. It took 10 minutes to reach our hunting area, a big stand of tall oaks which has since been converted to a mall. My shotgun, a JC Higgins bolt action 16 gauge, was already in Louie’s car.

The Perfect Primer

When we reached our spot without being ticketed for speeding, we’d jump out and walk briskly across a brushy field to the oak woods whereupon we might flush a cottontail, which was fair game. But it was the squirrels we wanted because of the challenge. Rabbits could be hunted in other areas with Grandpa’s beagle hounds.

After a few years, I realized squirrel hunting is the perfect primer for big-game hunting and retired my shotgun for a scoped .22 rifle. One of the biggest challenges is seeing the quarry. A bushytail bouncing about high in a tall tree is easy to spot, but a hiding squirrel is entirely another matter. Your task is to locate that package of fur somewhere up in the tree, a chore that is best accomplished with binoculars. Finally, you might spot a tuft of fur or an ear or an eyeball. That’s when precise shooting is a must. You might have to change positions to get a shot.

Many times, the squirrel will flatten itself on the opposite side of the tree. As you move around on the ground, the squirrel scurries around as well, always staying on the opposite side. When hunting solo, I would tie a long piece of string to a bush on the opposite side of the tree. I’d jerk vigorously on the string to shake the bush and invariably the squirrel would scuttle around to my side, offering a shot.

The art of stalking is also a major part of squirrel hunting. Moving in quietly on a distant squirrel will teach you how to negotiate the woods as silently as possible, which is necessary when you’re hunting a big-game animal as well.

Listening to Chatter

Listening is of paramount importance, whether you’re listening for a squirrel to chatter, or run noisily along the leafy forest floor, or even to hear acorn or hickory nut hulls dropping to the ground as a motionless squirrel feeds high up a tree.

And finally, you must learn the art of patience as you sit for long periods of time waiting for squirrels to scamper back and forth to a big white oak den tree or to follow a well-traveled route on a century’s old stone wall.

Master those challenges and you’ll easily transition to big-game hunting. As a bonus, squirrels are delicious table fare. And to me, a big bulge in my game pocket containing a mess of squirrels is one of my greatest joys of hunting.

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