Has anyone here successfully barked a squirrel?

[tenngun]

I never barked one but did butt one.
Had a senaca .36 and had replaced the sights with primitive, got it dialed in and could hit what I could see at twentyfive yards and groups well at fifty.
First time I had it in the tall timber I took a seat in a hickory grove.
About twenty minutes a little guy started barking behind me to my right. I twisted around and in an awkward position took a shot.
Missed
Squirrel dashed behind tree.
I took to reloading.
Squirrel decides tree to my left would be a better place to hide. Comes down his tree and runs to the other. Right past where I was sitting. I was just ramming the ball. I swing the butt and he runs square in to the butt.
Twas my senaca fist kill.

 

[rednexx]

I don't know if this counts as I wasn't using a frontend loader, but I was in camo with a camo face mask with my back to a stump and took a 22 lr casing and clicked it along the serrations in the buttstock of the rifle, it sounds a bit like a squirrel chipping/opening a nut, well squirrels got real interested, chattering and moving about. I could see the leaves and limbs moving closer and closer to me, and I figured a few more times of this and one would pop his head out and I would pop him in the head. Suddenly things got really quiet and there was no movement any where and I head a screech, I looked up and a Northen Harrier was in a power dive for my head, I guess when I moved my head it gave enough reflection off my glasses that the Harrier figured I wasn't a squirrel. The Harrier was no more than about 10 feet from me, that's why I knew what kind of Hawk it was. It was the last and only time I tried that, but it sure seemed to work , I had read old timers used to do this to "call" in squirrels.

 

[Gordoncourtney]

I never barked one but did butt one.
Had a senaca .36 and had replaced the sights with primitive, got it dialed in and could hit what I could see at twentyfive yards and groups well at fifty.
First time I had it in the tall timber I took a seat in a hickory grove.
About twenty minutes a little guy started barking behind me to my right. I twisted around and in an awkward position took a shot.
Missed
Squirrel dashed behind tree.
I took to reloading.
Squirrel decides tree to my left would be a better place to hide. Comes down his tree and runs to the other. Right past where I was sitting. I was just ramming the ball. I swing the butt and he runs square in to the butt.
Twas my senaca fist kill.

UK. Squirrel running circles in garden. Chased by a fox , it suddenly ran for a cedar tree and got 4 ft up the trunk, the fox closed in , leapt in the air and grabbed it. Next doors cat likes to eat squirrel brains if I crush the scull with a hammer for it. Big friendly rat looking at food in box trap, don’t think so , squirrel turns up , oh good grub, rat sitting there, no no no,!!!! “ SNAP” Stupid squirrel you , I did warn him, said the rat. Absolutely true. Yup I shot the squirrel and the rat. Don’t want either near my pool Poor rat he was very friendly Had another friendly rat used to feed it, one morning two rats , oh no don’t want a family of them, shot both rats. I had a very tame wood pigeon would come into the house and sit on my lap, One day another pigeon was attacking my little friend, so I shot it, I never saw my pigeon again, The moral of the story was my little friend tasted very good. True. What a load of old crock , so sorry.

I just bid and won a ml 12b cape rifle in poor condition, happy with that, winter project,? bid £112. With shipping and buyers commission £202 more later. Apologies for taking up space on forum life is tough. Love from Joan and Gordon uk

 

[Mike in FL]

I never barked one but did butt one.
Had a senaca .36 and had replaced the sights with primitive, got it dialed in and could hit what I could see at twentyfive yards and groups well at fifty.
First time I had it in the tall timber I took a seat in a hickory grove.
About twenty minutes a little guy started barking behind me to my right. I twisted around and in an awkward position took a shot.
Missed
Squirrel dashed behind tree.
I took to reloading.
Squirrel decides tree to my left would be a better place to hide. Comes down his tree and runs to the other. Right past where I was sitting. I was just ramming the ball. I swing the butt and he runs square in to the butt.
Twas my senaca fist kill.

That is funny.

 

[hockeyref]

So did anyone else come to the conclusion that “barking” might have really been a byproduct of “not hitting them in the head” and “oooh close enough works”??

 

[ETipp]

Correct. It's not a "trick shot" as suggested by another member. It was mentioned being done by a frontiersman who had not seen any big game for a couple days, and was very hungry, not having brought food with him. To get the most possible meat, he shot the branch under the squirrel instead of blowing the critter into little pieces with a full deer load. IF the squirrel was hanging on a tree trunk, and not moving, then he'd a shot the squirrel in the head. BUT part of the technique is also to pick a spot on the branch in front of the moving squirrel, and wait, and when the critter reaches the right spot you fire the rifle, and the ball hits the branch just under the squirrel as he is moving, and voila, meat for the pot.

I tried it just to see if it would work or if the story as a bit of a myth. When it worked the first time, I thought maybe I was just lucky, so tried it again. The second time the squirrel was on a branch on a fallen tree on a hill, so there was a backstop. The third time (all of these were done the same day) I was shooting upwards at a pretty good angle, got the squirrel, then got asked about where the shot went by my buddy. So I stopped.

Downloading the load might not work. The branch needs to burst, and I wonder if a 30 grain load would be enough.

LD

Agreed on all of that, Dave.

While I was out splitting firewood today I came to the same conclusion as you. That it be best to use a full power hunting load. Its the concussion shock that kills them when barking. Not even sure if I will ever try the technique of barking a squirrel. But it is interesting for sure.

Back in my younger days I had a bud that liked frog legs. So we would go out of a night to different ponds in search of. I carried a scoped small caliber rimfire and remained up on the bank. My buddy would get into the water and he had the flashlight. I would be slightly out in front of him to where it remained safe to shoot. We both walked very slowly and whenever a frog was located, the frog would be fixated on my buddy in the water with the light. Then I would take my shots. Quite a few times my buddy would wade over to the dead frog, pick it up, and start laughing. Many of them didn't have a scratch on them but were dead. So, the bullet hit the water and/or mud next to the frog and the concussion shock killed it. My buddy would pick up the dead frogs, cut off both back legs where they were hooked together, then stuff them in his pants pockets.

Lots of fun.

 

[JimFlint]

Never tried it.

 

[.36Rooster]

I do quite a bit of (black powder) pistol hunting for squirrels with very light powder charges.

Directly underneath a small red squirrel sitting on a small limb of about an inch and a half thickness, I took a chest shot on the squirrel aiming up through the limb he was sitting on, reckoning the limb would slow down the .44 caliber ball well enough to not worry about meat damage.

The squirrel fell, and while sitting under the tree skinning him and listening for the next one to chatter, I noticed that there was light blood, but no real hole. After removing the skin and examining the chest cavity and removing the front legs, I found 4 long white splinters embedded through the chest.

I would say this would be considered barking.

 

[Taterchip]

I haven’t barked one yet with a muzzleloader but I have done it recently with a 22. A couple weeks back my father borrowed it to squirrel hunt and returned it sans strap. Fast forward a little bit later and I was shooting squirrels and not hitting a single one. Finally figured out the scope was off after 2-3 close range shots that I definitely shouldn’t have missed. To make a long story short, the strap apparently broke and he banged the scope on the ground and didn’t tell me. After finding that out, I had a squirrel 15-20 yards out hanging on the trunk of a pecan that I made a halfhearted shot at by aiming 2 feet to the right of his head. Lo and behold he dropped deader than a door mail with not a single mark on his body. Going by the bullet hole I was maybe half an inch to three quarters of an inch off of his head. Not going to lie, pure dumb luck. But I have seen it done on purpose by my great grandfather with modern rifles on a couple occasions when I was a kid.

 

[Commodore Swab]

I think I did but couldn't find the squirrel or tree!

 

[Juice Jaws]

No mess whatsoever to deal with.

Also, squirrels ain't so easy to hit in the head most of the time.

Easier to shoot them in the head than to bark them.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Agreed on all of that, Dave.

While I was out splitting firewood today I came to the same conclusion as you. That it be best to use a full power hunting load. Its the concussion shock that kills them when barking. Not even sure if I will ever try the technique of barking a squirrel. But it is interesting for sure.

Back in my younger days I had a bud that liked frog legs. So we would go out of a night to different ponds in search of. I carried a scoped small caliber rimfire and remained up on the bank. My buddy would get into the water and he had the flashlight. I would be slightly out in front of him to where it remained safe to shoot. We both walked very slowly and whenever a frog was located, the frog would be fixated on my buddy in the water with the light. Then I would take my shots. Quite a few times my buddy would wade over to the dead frog, pick it up, and start laughing. Many of them didn't have a scratch on them but were dead. So, the bullet hit the water and/or mud next to the frog and the concussion shock killed it. My buddy would pick up the dead frogs, cut off both back legs where they were hooked together, then stuff them in his pants pockets.

Lots of fun.

Barkin' squirrels, OR
Splashin' Frogs

I LOVE IT

LD

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Easier to shoot them in the head than to bark them.

It's a "movement" technique. If they sit still, you very much shoot them in the head, especially if they are sitting up, and a tree trunk is behind them.

LD

 

[Appowner]

My oldest daughter (now 37) has long been able to call squirrels. Usually took her only a few minutes to get them to come in. As a kid she had six or more that would come up to her whenever she went out to play. They'd climb on her and chatter, allow her to pet them and feed them. Even take a nap in her lap. One we named Shakes because he had an injured right front foot and it quivered all the time.

She can do that with most animals tame and wild. She once took a horse deemed psychotic and unsafe to be around by several Vets. And after working with it for a couple of weeks there was a distinct change in the animal. Within a month my daughter was riding it bareback using nothing but a halter and lead rope.

Can't get her to call the deer for me though!

 

[ike]

Yes. Squirrel on the side of a tree. Aimed just in front of its nose so the bullet struck the tree very close to the squirrel's head. Actually, hit the squirrel in the nose a few times.
My uncle knocked one out this way. He picked it up and was about to gut it. At the first prick of the knife point in its stomach the squirrel woke up, doubled up, and bit my uncle on his finger. The squirrel escaped by running back up the tree.

I have. When I went to pick up the squirrel I did not see blood on the snow. I examined the squirrel to see that the skin under the head was full of blood. Wood from the branch caused the death of the squirrel. Ike

 

[stikshooter]

Looking for information on barking squirrels from those that has actually done it. I don't mean put on a collar, go out in the back yard, get down on all fours, lean up against a tree, then look up and bark.

Where did you aim for?

Where do you think the ball hit?

What caliber ML?

How many attempts did it take before you were successful?

45 cal H+A underhammer 440 RB Bear oil patch lube , coming down a hickory and stopped head down . POA was under his nose and he ended up with a life threatening injury (both front feet removed ) fell hit head on rock and looked at me advancing with a hickory stik . Upon skinning said unlucky squirrel ,no damage to hide but entire chest /throat shoulder had a case of road rash ! /Ed

 

[Pipe welder John]

danggg. bet that hurt

Shot four in the head with 22 lr last week with a scope . But gonna try with my old 32 cal muzzleloader soon I hope

 

[Whitworth]

Many decades ago my dad taught me how to skin. Make skin cuts under the tail right up against his butt and sort of around it to get it started, then step on the tail and pull by the hind legs. Hide comes right off the entire squirrel up to his head. You gotta learn that by doing. The first few I messed up.

The West Virgina One Step.

 

[oldwood]

Back in the early 1970's , friend of mine invited me to a squirrel shoot on his Dad's farm. Got there in the AM , and his neighbor show's up with Winchester 30-30 150 gr. hard cast lead bullet reloaded ammo. , and a lever action rifle , w/scope. My friend and I decided to walk out a hemlock woods with shotguns , I with my 12 ga. Pedersoli m/l shotgun and he with his ctg. shot gun. We were hunting the pines , and heard the neighbor shoot w/ the 30-30 rifle. When we went back to the truck , neighbor told us how he killed the grey squirrel w/o any bullet holes in it. He barked it off the side of a big oak tree , and said he had barked a squirrel before w/ his hand loaded rifle ammo. That's the only squirrel I've ever seen , "barked".
Only trick shot i ever made on a squirrel was removal of one's tail with a miss trying to shoot a verticle squirrel off a tree in vertical silhouette position. Squirrel had it's tail pressed tight to it's body bottom to top. The .36 cal. m/l ball cleanly severed half the grey's tail because of my poorly executed offhand shot. Next day , the farmer who's ground I was hunting , called and told me he had seen the 1/2 tailed squirrel. He was amused , and I was asked back to help rid his farm of corn stealing critters. It was all good , except for the 1/2 tailed squirrel having to learn a new way to balance on limbs when he is up trees. .......oldwood

 

[Moe ziggley]

Airgun pellet right behind the front shoulder..drops them like a dirty rag..she says ..not bad for an old blind bastard..lol..