Success during Missouri's squirrel opener

Squirrel season opened this past Saturday in Missouri and Ole Betsy and I were out there bright and early to help thin the herd. It was hotter than seven kinds of hell so the bushytails weren't that active but I managed to bring a few home over the long weekend. They can generally be found right off my front porch in my bird feeders but killing those is just too easy. If one is out there when I walk out with Ole Betsy, I always give them a headstart before I go after them. I'm still not too proud to shoot one from the porch every now again, though. A man has to defend his property!

The gun I use is a 12 gauge cylinder bore made by my good friend, John Pruitt. It has a large Siler lock and a 42" Colerain barrel. My squirrel load is 60 grains of 3F powder, 1 overpowder card, 1/4" lubed fiber wad, 1 1/2 oz. #6 shot in a pillow ticking shot cup, and 1 overshot card.

The last squirrel I shot fell out the tree and almost landed on top of one of my beehives. That could have been interesting...





This ole boy was packing a serious load! I guess my hearing is getting bad because I should have heard those guys dragging on the bark as he went through the tree tops. I might have to pressure cook him a while.


Darren

:haha: those rattling on a limb could be mistaken for a distant woodpecker! :haha:

Good stuff Darren :thumbsup:

B.

Congratulations Darren, well done. Our season, in Indiana, opens on August 15, every year. It is usually sweltering by then. Best to hunt right after a rain when it is cooler. Keep yer powder dry...”¦..robin :bow:

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: Well done .Congrats. :hatsoff: Griz

Tsaan Wookkuh!!

I'll have to haul my smoothbore to Missouri then next time we go visit the grand parents!

Thanks for sharing!!

Congrats! :hatsoff:

Nice!

92 days till NH opens on 9/1

:thumbsup: Yer gun looks real clean too!

We open first week of Oct here (one month earlier for the archery die hards (I aint shooting a $12.00 arrow up in the air myself, I can wait 30 days :haha: )

azmntman, I used to hunt squirrels hard with a longbow. I used flu-flus with blunts for squirrels in trees and regular arrows with judo points for squirrels on the ground. After a while, though, I got tired of chasing and losing arrows. I make all of mine so I had a lot of time and money invested in them. Blackpowder is more fun anyway!

Darren

Now you have us all itching to hunt squirrels, Darrin.

azmntman said:

(I aint shooting a $12.00 arrow up in the air myself, I can wait 30 days :haha: )

Click to expand...

My eldest son, who sometimes hunts with a long bow, has a cedar arrow stuck about 30' up an oak tree with a squirrel skeleton pinned to the tree, from 3 years ago. Lesson learned, he now uses blunts made from 38 special cases. He also hunts with muzzleloaders..”¦...robin

"I shoot an arrow into the air, where it lands I do not care. I get my arrows wholesale!" Curly of the 3 Stooges.

I'm jealous, squirrel season doesn't open here in Michigan until September.

Ive hunted them a lot with a longbow using flu-flu's with bodkin heads with 1/2" bobbed off the tip. Some of the fox squirrels we have are big enough to put a saddle on and are very tough, I've bounced blunt tips off them with an 80# bow. A head shot or up front will do the job but I get better results with the bodkin heads.

If I'm meat hungry I take the .32 flinter or the 28ga smoothbore with shot

I think our season opens June first. I checked the game and parks website yesterday and they don't list the dates yet, but that was what it was last year.

Congrats Darren! Pretty gun, is that a cherry stock?

No, Stubshaft, that is a walnut stock.

Darren

Very, very cool gun; and it sure does a number on bushytails.

Longhunter,
There is something seriously wrong with that smokepole. Have you noticed that the lock is on the wrong side????
(Very nice rifle!!, I Like!)