{"id":2650,"date":"2019-02-22T12:05:08","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T19:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregg57.sg-host.com\/hunting\/?p=2650"},"modified":"2019-01-26T12:27:25","modified_gmt":"2019-01-26T19:27:25","slug":"squirrel-hunting-tactics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/2019\/02\/squirrel-hunting-tactics\/","title":{"rendered":"Squirrel Hunting Tactics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In past I\u2019ve shared several of my hunts for squirrels, which have taken place across North America. Fox and grays squirrels in the deep woods of the Midwest, and the tufted eared Abert\u2019s squirrel in the rugged Rocky Mountain regions of the Western states. And even though these species are similar, the ways in which they are hunted can be as varied as the terrain they inhabit. As a traveling hunter, I\u2019ve built up a repertoire of techniques that have proven useful wherever my hunts have taken me. In this blog post I\u2019m going to share some of these tricks of the trade and discuss when and how I apply them in specific situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In spring and summer the thick foliage will cover your approach. But make the squirrels harder to find. Still hunting and blinds work well in these conditions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Late fall and winter the leaves are off the trees you and the squirrels can see each other from a long ways off!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The type of squirrel suggests where you\u2019ll find them, in\nmuch of our Midwestern woods the gray and fox squirrel overlap. In fact, a\nsmall stand of 10 acres may find an equal proportion of these two species. Both\nGrays and fox squirrels may be found on the ground or high in the canopy, and\nregardless of the species both vary the mix of ground\/tree time based on\nseason. As a rule of thumb, fox squirrels spend more time on the ground, and\ngrays spend more time aloft. During the late spring through early fall, both\nspend more time in the canopy where they are feeding or cutting. There is\nsimply little reason for them to drop to the ground, the food is up high and\nmany (but not all) of their predators are down below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But later in the fall through the winter and into early\nspring, both come down to either bury or retrieve acorns, beech, and other nuts\nfrom their food caches.  I\u2019ve noticed\nthat in these conditions, grays tend to stay on the ground long enough to grab\na nut and get back to a higher vantage point to dine in relative safety. Fox\nsquirrels are more likely to stay on the forest floor longer, collecting\nmultiple nuts on the ground or perching on a fallen log to eat before returning\nto the treetops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When foliage is thick being able to reposition and look for a shooting lane is key.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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When there is little cover above, waiting for them to come to you is advantageous.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Identify trees where the squirrels are denning up, and mark them in you notes because they are reused year to year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Even when dreys aren\u2019t used in deep winter, they are often situated near den trees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Keep an eye out for food sources and set ambush\/blinds between dens and food.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the season influences my approach in the field, certain techniques work better in certain situations. In the late fall and winter when squirrels are spending more time on the ground collecting food, they are using the trees as a highway to get from their dens to their feeding areas. Because there is less foliage in the trees, it is much easier to see how and where the animals are moving. But it is a double-edged sword, as it is also easier for the squirrel to see you approaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the spring through early fall, these arboreal rodents are\nspending more time up in the canopy and looking for cuttings raining down from\nabove or the shaking of a clump of leafy branches is a dead giveaway to their\nlocation. And because there is so much leafy material between you and your\nquarry, it allows the hunter to move in closer without being detected. But\nagain, the double-edged sword, because once you get in closer it is difficult\nto see the squirrel through all the vegetation, let alone get a good shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still hunting is at its core, a slow walk through the woods.\nDone right, it is a very slow walk through the woods, punctuated by long pauses\nto look and listen. I\u2019ll pick trees that are perhaps 10 yards apart and stand\nin a fixed spot searching the trees and ground from where I stand to perhaps 40-70\nyards ahead. Slowly moving forward with frequent stops in-between, I\u2019ll pause\nat the next tree and scan ahead before moving to the next landmark. I find\nbinoculars useful for sweeping the woods, because seeing a moving squirrel or\none perched out in the open is not difficult inside of 75 yards, locating one\nthat is nestled into the fork of a tree trunk or peeking out from a pile of\ntwigs is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When still hunting, move very slowly. Look and listen more, walk less!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In this type of hunting, you are trying to find your quarry\nand get a shot while on the move. You are looking from where you stand to slightly\noutside of your shooting range, to ensure you don\u2019t blunder into a squirrel as\nyou move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my view, the difference between still hunting and spot\nand stalk, is subtle but important. In spot and stalk the hunter is scanning\nthe woods much further out than their immediate shooting range. The intention\nis to locate a squirrel at some distance, then move quickly and quietly into\nrange to take the shot.  Moving through\nthe woods in this manner requires that the hunter uses natural cover to shield\ntheir approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With any of these techniques, cover your face and hands in camo at minimum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I find that when the leaves are on the trees, still hunting\nworks better. It is more difficult to locate a squirrel high in the canopy at\nlonger distances, and the hunter is more likely to walk up to game at close\nquarters. Conversely when the leaves are off the trees, and you and the\nsquirrel can see each other from afar, sighting the squirrel before he sees you\nallows a considered approach using natural cover, to get into shooting position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When spot and stalking keep trees between you and the squirrel until the last minute.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The tactics of setting a blind and ambush hunting are\nsimilar, but again with important differences. When setting a blind, the\nobjective is to identify a route between a den tree or nest, and a food source.\nWhen scouting new areas, keep a look out for den trees or dreys, and for stands\nof mast producing trees with nut shards lying about. The hunter should keep a\nlookout for other animals such as deer, turkey, and woodpeckers in the area, as\nthey utilize the same food sources. With these landmarks pinned down, the next\nstep is to look for a place in-between where you\u2019re likely to intercept a\nmobile bushytail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When setting up a blind, locate it where there is a\nlikelihood of intercepting multiple travel routes to ensure the effort is\nwarranted. Even pop up blinds, or quickly constructed natural blinds, take time\nto set up and limit mobility. However, if you are in a high traffic area, this\ncan be a very effective approach. I find a blind a productive technique for\nhunting smaller areas with less dispersed populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Two key tips for ambush hunting, be patient and be still.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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My squirrel kit contains binoculars, range finder, and a bellows call on most outings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, applying the same basic principles to ambush\nhunting is generally more practical in the areas I hunt. You still want to\nlocate the traffic routes, but rather than setting up a blind the hunter relies\nin camouflage. To do this well, you need to be well covered with an appropriate\ncamo pattern, you need to keep your hands and face covered, and you need to be\nvery still. This sounds simple, but sitting on hard, cold, and sometimes wet\nground for 30-40 minutes without moving can be a challenge. Once finding a\nlikely spot, try to stay put for 20-30 minutes before moving on. The main\nadvantage of this technique is that the hunter can be mobile and cover large\nareas of terrain.\n\nAny of these techniques requires that the hunter\nhas their shooting dialed in for both ground shots and those elevated shots up\ninto the trees.  I started hunting\nsquirrels with many years of big game, predator, and small game experience\nbehind me, but was unskilled at shooting quarry that lived high up in the\ntrees! This is a skill that an effective squirrel hunter must practice and\nbecome proficient at. Though I didn\u2019t cover the use of calls in this article,\nmy experience has been that calling works at specific times and in specific\nsituations. We don\u2019t have time to cover this topic in the detail it requires,\nbut that might be an interesting topic in future, what do you think?\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In past I\u2019ve shared several of my hunts for squirrels, which have taken place across North America. Fox and grays squirrels in the deep woods of the Midwest, and the tufted eared Abert\u2019s squirrel in the rugged Rocky Mountain regions of the Western states. And even though these species are similar, the ways in which … Continue reading »<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,72,122,133,126,26,7,146,22,52,1,101,145],"tags":[194,192,193,197,195,4,196],"class_list":["post-2650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-airgun-ammo","category-binoculars","category-compact-guns","category-fall-hunts","category-hunting-guns","category-pest-control","category-smallgamehunting","category-small-game-in-winter","category-spring-piston-airguns","category-squirrels","category-uncategorized","category-where-to-hunt","category-winter-hunts","tag-aberts-squirrel","tag-fox-squirrel","tag-gray-squirrel","tag-hunting-techniques","tag-squirrel-gun","tag-squirrel-hunting","tag-squirrel-hunting-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2650"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2665,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions\/2665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/hunting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}