The squirrel season ends in Minnesota next Sunday. While I have business meetings happening this weekend and next, they are all early morning and evening due to the time zones of my foreign colleagues. That left me time yesterday afternoon to sneak out for several hours to get in a hunt for a few more tree rats.
Sunrise saw an air temp of minus 8 F, but by the time I was able to get out around Noon, it had warmed up to a balmy 20 degrees! After a half hour of sneaking along quietly through about 8 inches of snow, I spotted a very small grey squirrel angling downhill away from me. It was clearly on a mission as I couldn't get any closer than about 60 yards as it steadily moved through the tops of trees heading for somewhere only the squirrel knew. Just before it was going to cross a rather steep ravine I had no intention of going into, it stopped briefly at about 70 yards. I thought, what do I have to lose? I rested on a tree and took the first shot of the day. I think I could hear the little varmit laughing at me as it scurried quickly across the treetops to the other side of the ravine. Tree Rats one...me zero.
I reloaded the .36 SMR and continued poking along. As I crested a small rock outcropping I noticed a squirrel move in a large dead tree about 50 yards ahead. Then another. The squirrel "rut" is on and it was a male chasing a female around. They were oblivious to me as I approached to within 20 yards and found a nice tree as a rest. It wasn't long before their romantic foreplay brought them to my side of the tree. I lined up the sights on the lead squirrel and squeezed the trigger. At the boom and blast of smoke the squirrel fell to the ground. The other one didn't really know what happened and only scurried over to the next tree. As I was reloading I was trying to keep an eye on his location, but loading does require one's attention. When I got the next load set and primed the pan I looked up where he was and no squirrel could be seen. Then I saw a squirrel moving about four trees downhill and just naturally assumed he decided he wasn't going to wait for me, so I temporarily left the dead one and started moving for the other one. Just like the first squirrel I saw earlier, this one just kept moving on ahead and after about 100 yards I decided he wasn't going to give me a shot, so broke off the chase to go back and retrieve the one I already had.
I had just gotten back to the dead squirrel when a movement caught my eye in the tree this one's lover had been in while I was loading . You know, you just can't trust a squirrel. Here he was, still in the same tree where he had stayed in hiding while his buddy was trying to lead me away!
He finally moved out on a branch into the open and the SMR sent him tumbling from his lofty perch. He was a big male.
I always like to clean my squirrels right away and "wash" them in the snow to both clean and cool them. I carry a big ziplock bag to put the cleaned carcasses in along with the heart, lungs, and liver for my dogs.
By the time my cleaning chores were done, the wind was picking up and I needed to be on my way back so I could be ready for my evening meetings. No more Tree Rats were seen, but I was content to have been able to get a mid-day jaunt in the winter woods and thrilled to have two in the bag. Hopefully I'll be able to get out again for the last days next weekend.
Sunrise saw an air temp of minus 8 F, but by the time I was able to get out around Noon, it had warmed up to a balmy 20 degrees! After a half hour of sneaking along quietly through about 8 inches of snow, I spotted a very small grey squirrel angling downhill away from me. It was clearly on a mission as I couldn't get any closer than about 60 yards as it steadily moved through the tops of trees heading for somewhere only the squirrel knew. Just before it was going to cross a rather steep ravine I had no intention of going into, it stopped briefly at about 70 yards. I thought, what do I have to lose? I rested on a tree and took the first shot of the day. I think I could hear the little varmit laughing at me as it scurried quickly across the treetops to the other side of the ravine. Tree Rats one...me zero.
I reloaded the .36 SMR and continued poking along. As I crested a small rock outcropping I noticed a squirrel move in a large dead tree about 50 yards ahead. Then another. The squirrel "rut" is on and it was a male chasing a female around. They were oblivious to me as I approached to within 20 yards and found a nice tree as a rest. It wasn't long before their romantic foreplay brought them to my side of the tree. I lined up the sights on the lead squirrel and squeezed the trigger. At the boom and blast of smoke the squirrel fell to the ground. The other one didn't really know what happened and only scurried over to the next tree. As I was reloading I was trying to keep an eye on his location, but loading does require one's attention. When I got the next load set and primed the pan I looked up where he was and no squirrel could be seen. Then I saw a squirrel moving about four trees downhill and just naturally assumed he decided he wasn't going to wait for me, so I temporarily left the dead one and started moving for the other one. Just like the first squirrel I saw earlier, this one just kept moving on ahead and after about 100 yards I decided he wasn't going to give me a shot, so broke off the chase to go back and retrieve the one I already had.
I had just gotten back to the dead squirrel when a movement caught my eye in the tree this one's lover had been in while I was loading . You know, you just can't trust a squirrel. Here he was, still in the same tree where he had stayed in hiding while his buddy was trying to lead me away!
He finally moved out on a branch into the open and the SMR sent him tumbling from his lofty perch. He was a big male.
I always like to clean my squirrels right away and "wash" them in the snow to both clean and cool them. I carry a big ziplock bag to put the cleaned carcasses in along with the heart, lungs, and liver for my dogs.
By the time my cleaning chores were done, the wind was picking up and I needed to be on my way back so I could be ready for my evening meetings. No more Tree Rats were seen, but I was content to have been able to get a mid-day jaunt in the winter woods and thrilled to have two in the bag. Hopefully I'll be able to get out again for the last days next weekend.
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