Keith Lusher 02.21.25
On the subject of searching squirrels, each season within the woods appears to show me a brand new lesson. After thirty years of chasing bushytails, I’ve realized that success comes right down to adjusting your techniques because the pages activate the calendar. These early days of stumbling across the Pearl River woods in Southeast LA have taught me extra about what to not do than what to do. However these onerous classes caught. Now I’m passing alongside what works when it really works and why it really works – stripped right down to the necessities that can provide help to put extra squirrels in your bag.
Searching Squirrels – Selecting Your Gun
The controversy between the shotgun and .22 for squirrel searching actually comes right down to timing. Every has its place within the woods, and realizing when to make use of which one will fill your sport bag sooner.
In early fall, a .22 is your finest guess. When the leaves are nonetheless thick and squirrels are staying excessive within the bushes to chop nuts, you want the accuracy and vary of a rimfire. A .22 offers you the attain and accuracy for those who’ve mastered the artwork of protecting invisible within the treetops. Any high quality .22 that may constantly put rounds in a golf ball-sized goal at 50 yards will do the job. The bonus is that rimfires are quieter than shotguns, so that you gained’t clear the woods along with your first shot. Head photographs with a .22 additionally imply clear meat with none pellets to pick later.
Come winter, particularly in February, change to your shotgun. When the bushes are naked and squirrels are spending extra time on the bottom on the lookout for fallen nuts, you want one thing that may deal with shifting targets. A 20-gauge with #5 or #6 shot will get the job finished out to about 40 yards. Skip the .410 – it’s simply too mild to be dependable. Stick to a modified or full choke to maintain your sample tight sufficient at typical winter searching ranges.
Some hunters resolve this drawback by carrying each. A combo gun just like the Savage Mannequin 24 with a .22 on prime and 20-gauge on backside covers all of your bases. It’s not crucial, however it’s efficient for those who don’t thoughts the additional weight
Your method to shifting by means of the woods wants to vary with the seasons. Early season requires a unique sport plan than late winter searching, and realizing the distinction will put extra squirrels in your sport bag.
Searching Squirrels – Nonetheless Searching vs Stalking
In fall, you’ve received choices. You possibly can still-hunt or stalk, however both manner, you want to use these leaves to your benefit. When still-hunting, decide a spot close to some nut-dropping bushes and plant your self there for at the very least 30-45 minutes. A easy cushion beats a chair – it’s simpler to scan the cover once you’re low to the bottom. If nothing reveals after 45 minutes, slide over about 100 yards and arrange once more.
Stalking in fall means taking it sluggish. Actual sluggish. Each 10 steps, cease and scan. Use these binoculars as a substitute of your scope – it saves arm power and retains your motion minimal. A dry creek mattress or sport path offers you the silent method you want. The bottom line is waiting for tail motion within the leaves and listening for chopping sounds. These quarters in your pocket could make an ideal nut-cutting sound that’ll typically get a response.
Winter searching is a unique ball sport. The leaves are down, and people bushytails can spot you from 100 yards out. This isn’t the time for shifting round – it’s ambush season. Discover areas with heavy monitor exercise within the snow, or if there’s no snow, take a stroll the day earlier than your hunt to identify the place they’re working. Then get again there early the subsequent morning and arrange.
Suppose mini-ambush spots. Decide a central location the place you’ve seen exercise and stick there for an hour or extra. These late-season squirrels are the good ones – they’ve survived this lengthy for a cause. Don’t chase after the primary one you see. Allow them to come to you. In case you’re affected person, you would possibly get an opportunity at a number of squirrels working the realm. When that occurs, take the farthest one first – the nearer one will typically freeze after the shot, supplying you with a clear follow-up
Searching Squirrels – The place to Discover Them
Discovering squirrels comes right down to discovering their meals, however that meals supply adjustments with the season. Get this half proper, and also you’re midway to filling your restrict.
In early fall, hickory bushes are your gold mine. Shagbark, shellbark, pignut – doesn’t matter which sort, squirrels hit all of them onerous. Scout the bottom below these bushes for recent cuttings. In case you discover piles of shredded nut hulls, you’ve discovered your spot. Beech bushes are your subsequent finest guess, however squirrels get choosy right here – they’ll hammer one tree and fully ignore one other fifty yards away. Test for empty hulls below every tree earlier than committing your time.
Don’t overlook the small stuff in fall both. Dogwood berries, wild grapes, and even discipline corn can draw squirrels once they’re obtainable. And timing issues – gray squirrels get shifting at first mild, whereas fox squirrels sleep in till good daylight. No must freeze at nighttime for these crimson ones.
Winter adjustments every thing. By now, most prime nuts are gone and these survivors get artistic with meals sources. That is when you want to suppose like a deer hunter. First, sleep in – squirrels don’t transfer early within the chilly. Get on the market round 9 a.m. when the solar’s had an opportunity to heat issues up.
Search for den bushes and massive leaf nests – that is residence base for winter squirrels. However don’t spend all of your time wanting up. These bushytails are floor feeders now, digging by means of snow and leaves for buried nuts or raiding their very own meals caches. Discipline edges change into prime spots, particularly if there’s a cornfield close by. Test 50-100 yards into the woods from agricultural fields – you’ll typically discover corn cobs dragged again into the timber. That’s a useless giveaway you’re in the suitable spot
Searching Squirrels – Finest Instances to Hunt
Timing your hunt proper can imply the distinction between success and freezing your tail off for nothing. Fall and winter require totally different schedules, and realizing when to be within the woods issues as a lot as realizing the place to look.
Fall searching is simple – get out early. First mild is prime time, particularly for gray squirrels. They’re up and chopping as quickly as there’s sufficient mild to see, typically earlier than you can also make out your entrance sight. Fox squirrels are totally different – no must rush for them. They’ll begin shifting as soon as the solar’s nicely up, and so they’ll maintain at it by means of mid-morning.
Winter searching flips the script fully. Depart that alarm clock set for later – squirrels don’t transfer early within the chilly months. The candy spot is between 9 AM and midday, and solely on sunny days when the temperature will get above freezing. If it’s bitter chilly or the wind’s howling, keep residence. These bushytails are holed up tight, and also you’re simply burning daylight.
The very best winter days are when the solar’s been up lengthy sufficient to heat these hardwood ridges. That’s when squirrels come right down to dig up their cached nuts. They’ll maintain working so long as the climate holds, supplying you with loads of time for clear photographs. In case you’re seeing squirrels on one ridge, keep it up for at the very least half-hour. They typically work in cycles, and endurance normally pays off.
Searching Squirrels – Ultimate Ideas
From these first hunts years in the past to now, each journey to the woods has taught me one thing new. The guidelines I’ve shared right here will put you on extra squirrels, however there’s no substitute for boots-on-the-ground expertise. The extra seasons you spend searching squirrels within the timber, the extra these rodents will present you about their habits. Fact is, squirrels are nonetheless instructing me new methods – and that’s what retains me coming again season after season.
