Hey guys, here are some squirrel hunting lessons I learned from mother nature yesterday I would like to share with you all. Hopefully, it might be beneficial to some of you in the future and/or reduce some frustrations at a minimum.
Woke up yesterday morning feeling quite run down. Understandable considering how much I've been out hunting and scouting this year. Due to the steepness of the terrain, it adds additional wear and tear on the body. It is an accumulative thing. Having to hobble around on one very worn out knee doesn't help matters any. Deer hunting has been more challenging this year and taken more out of me than I can ever remember. But that is over for this year. Job complete.
So, between that, as well as being a little lazy (reads worn out old fart), and the fact that I have been seeing lots of squirrels out and about later in the morning, I decided to wait until 10:00 to head out. Thinking they enjoy being out and about in the warmer sunshine, I thought I had this one all figured out. Well, as often times has proven, that was not the case.
By the time I made the ride up there to that thicket on my ATV and started walking, it was 10:24. Walked about 20 yards and there was a squirrel. It had seen me first and wasn't sticking around. Wasn't frightened, just kind of hopped away. Thinking surely this was a good sign, I continued slipping around the thicket. I literally eased around, back and forth, sat down for a while to rest a few times, went up high, down low and off to the edge of some big woods for over 3 hours and only saw one more squirrel. And that one saw me first. I didn't even hear the usual squirrel(s) barking at me from a distance. Everything was too quiet. This puzzled me. I knew there were squirrels in and around that thicket because I had seen them there not only the day before, but during deer hunting.
While working my way back downslope to my ATV that I had parked about half way up in the large thicket, I tried to process this and fall back on my memory banks to figure out what was going on here. The weather was about the same as the day before, with the only difference being a little wind in places and a somewhat thin overcast, but the sun was still shining through. Temps were about the same. As I arrived back at my parked ATV, I pondered this situation as I sat there soaking up the sun, ate some munchies and drank some cold water I had in my cooler. Then two past major scenarios kept playing through my mind.
With a few other squirrel hunting experiences I have found that on some days, even though everything is basically the same, such as location, weather, wind, etc, squirrels just do not come out much. So that was a viable thought indeed.
Second was the time of day **for this hunt** when compared to the previous day when I was out in the early morning only. Both could be possible, therefore, I decided that I was there for the day and there's not a thing I can do about whether or not squirrels decide not to come out. However, there was something I could **maybe do**, in terms of time of day. I said to myself "any nice weather day out in the woods is better than being home". So I decided to stay for the rest of the day and wait it out.
Looking at my watch (which I am a firm believer that every hunter needs to carry) It was then about 1300 hours. Firing up my ATV I rode back downslope to the edges of the open fields to ease around trying to spot squirrel activity. None to be found so I rode back up and parked the ATV in the same location, looked at my watch, and decided to head out anyway at 1340 hours.
At approximately 1355 hours a squirrel and I happened to walk up on each other in the thicket. He wasn't scared, just kind of hopped off through the thick brush. It took about five minutes after that to get to the edge of the thicket where it opened up a little bit where I could see a bit further. So I parked next to a tree and just began observing. As luck would have it, I sat there for maybe 1-2 minutes when a slow and low flying helicopter flew over. By the time the helicopter had flown off, I thought I heard something in the very loud dry leaves, I looked to my right and there was a big squirrel looking at me from maybe 20 feet away. I didn't move any more and there was no way to try to raise my Crockett rifle to get a shot, so Mr. Squirrel just meandered away into the thick stuff.
Here's where everything changed. It was right at 1400 hours and I swear to you all that it was like someone had activated a squirrel activity switch. I saw several squirrels in several directions at the same time, mostly in the big woods that I do not have permission to hunt. I can only hunt a smaller portion of the big woods that belongs to the thicket owner. However, a few squirrels were still coming through, and/or out of that thicket. It took me about 15 minutes to maneuver around a bit and I had my first squirrel for the day.
So, lesson learned. I am now fairly certain that those squirrels came out earlier in the morning, filled their stomachs, and went back to their den trees for a late morning nap. It was not like many days when they are still scattered about during the afternoon. Either way, it began happening all of a sudden. I couldn't believe how much difference a few minutes can make.
Second lesson learned. Hunting squirrels in and/or around a thicket is very challenging. This is especially true with the current, dry conditions this time of year. The leaves on the ground are as thick and deep as I have ever seen, especially in the big woods and/or in close proximity to them. We are in a big time drought. This can be both good and bad for hunting. Good if you remain relatively stationary. Bad if and when you decide to move. It is so dry that a dang chipmunk sounds like a draft horse walking through the woods/brush. Squirrels react to loud noises, as well as rapid movements. However, the good aspect of the thick and dry leaves on the ground is, if you can have the patience and strength to move very, very slowly and put your foot down as quietly as possible, go a few feet and stop for a while and just watch and listen, I have found that to be a great asset. However, the main downfall to that one is, more times than not, I get caught out in the open where there is no trees to take a good rest off of for a shot. It seems that squirrels can be like spirits........they just magically appear to one. Even in the noisy leaves they can still just "appear", and very close to a person IF they are slow and quiet during their walk. I have found that most of those squirrels were up in trees very close to me and neither one saw the other. Either way, this time of year, especially in and/or around a thicket, calls for a long day and can make a man go weak in the head, in terms of displaying patience, as well as maintaining a positive attitude towards the hunt. It can be a true and classic example of just about the time you think there is no hope................"Prang" a squirrel magically appears. And in a thicket, often in close quarters to boot. Its what I call one of those for real "They Lord have mercy" attitude adjustment times.
Lesson three.
This is one that I have already known but it has never been as apparent as it has been the last two days while squirrel hunting in and around a thicket. I am also adamant that this happens more so during this time of year when its what I have termed "stupid season" for squirrels.
I've experienced more squirrels within very close proximity to me during the last two hunts than in a long time. Most every one of those was after I had already shot and was reloading, or was in a bad position to shoot, or couldn't get my rifle up in time before they saw me went a different direction. Again, the extra dry leaves added to the trouble. Even when sitting perfectly still, there's just no way to twist around to try to get a bead on a very close proximity squirrel that just came up from behind, or off to my opposite shooting side without them hearing it. If I tried to twist around, it was loud and sent off sonar waves to the next zip code.
Therefore, it reinforced into this ole boys brain that anytime a squirrel gets really close, but doesn't see me, its absolutely best to freeze and allow the squirrel to move along. For whatever reason, during stupid squirrel time even if they see me and IF I don't move, they do not see me as a threat. I have killed a fair number of squirrels by doing so. Yesterday, on my second squirrel, I had waited for a while to get a shot. There were two of them playing around out there and just kept hanging around the same basic location. Try as I did, and considering their movements, there was no getting any closer. So I parked next to a smaller tree, not my favorite for taking a rest off off. I finally, after what appeared to have been hours, and growing tired of that game of cat and mouse, I did my best and fired at one. It was a miss. While slowly reloading the other one saw me and, went up the side of a nearby tree, and began barking at me. We could clearly see each other. After reloading I stood there as still as possible with him looking at me, the both of us had a good ole fashion stare down. After quite a while, the squirrel lowered his guard and decided I wasn't a threat, or got he got busy thinking about something else, and jumped to another tree just looking around. This time I slowly dropped down to one knee and got a good rest and bead off of the smaller tree and my knee. Score two.
After that I was about worn out. I had been hobbling upslope and back downslope twice, waded though the thicket and briars, sat next to trees, and decided to call it a day. It was, by no other definition, a long day out hunting, but it was worth it to this ole boy. Even with only two squirrels to show for it, this was most certainly much better than sitting at home wishing I was out squirrel hunting.
Almost forgot......... Lesson four.
I ordered a bullet board for my .32 Crockett about a month ago. Due to what I call my deer hunting priority, I had not used it. So for this hunt I thought I'd give it a try. After using it yesterday, all I can say is they are the berries. Wished I had figured that out when I first began my squirrel hunting with my Crockett Squirrel Rifle. Most definitely worth it. So much so that I would like to order another one. Considering how much I miss when I shoot at squirrels, I consider them a must have item. Perhaps I need to carry three of them.
So indeed, several valuable lessons learned and/or relearned on this one.
