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This last squirrel is not a specific species, because all the species mentioned will occasionally throw off the genome for a black color phase. And there are also hybrids of the fox and gray squirrel, which can express this color variation. With all squirrels having a black variation you might think it would be relatively easy to find, but my experience is that it is in fact the most difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is because it is only occasionally, even rarely, occurring and it is therefore difficult to come across the variation except by luck. However, there are locales where this variation is frequently occurring, and if you can zero in on one of these spots, your odds go way up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nThe first spot I found that had a relatively high ratio of\nthe black color phase occurring in fox, gray, and hybrid squirrels was in the\nupper part of Michigan\u2019s lower peninsula. I\u2019d heard rumors from some guys I\nknow that hunted deer up there that black tree squirrels were a common sight. I\ndidn\u2019t fully believe this, people may see a couple or few black squirrels over\nyears of hunting an area, and say they\u2019ve seen a lot of them. But still, when I\nwas invited to a deer lodge to do an interview for Sports Afield on airgun\nhunting, I brought along my PCP handgun to slip away for some squirrel hunting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is very telling as top how I perceive small game\nhunting, I was going to a premier deer lodge that costs big bucks, and was more\nexcited about the possibility of a new squirrel than a big buck\u2026.. As it turns\nout, there were a lot of black squirrels running through the woods when we\narrived. I took a nice whitetail buck on the first day, then spent the next couple\ndays going after (and bagging a few) black squirrels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I went back up to this area a couple times over the years,\nand always had some success. The only problem is that it\u2019s a 12 hour drive from\nwhere I live. Still last year I was going to do the drive, when out of the blue\none of my readers sent me a message saying he lived in an area with a high\npopulation of black squirrels, and it was only a three hour drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I went up there to hunt a couple times last year, and in fact did have some luck. The whole trip was fun, I drove into a national forest, set up a camp, and traveled from there to hunt returning to camp nightly. I was roughing it under a small awning and crashing in the back of my Outback. But this year I\u2019ve not wanted to stay in motels due to the pandemic, so I invested in a good tent, camp furniture, etc, and this year will set up a right proper camp and maybe stay out for a week, before heading to Arizona for Abert\u2019s squirrel. By the way, it was Airguns of Arizona<\/a> resident hunting guru Kip, that pointed me in the right direction for the Aberts squirrel, no beating local knowledge!! And since I\u2019ll be set up for winter camping, will probably bring my gear and stay up there for a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an aside, many of you know that I have a professional life\nand work in clinical research, but my organization has just change policy about\nhow much vacation we can carry over. I have over 8 weeks to use before the end\nof the year, so plan on a lot of extended hunting trips this year. I\u2019m\nconsidering moving down to Texas for 2-3 weeks\u2026\u2026 if my wife will let me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I digress, my post was about black color phase\nsquirrels. It takes a bit of work, and a bit of travel, but if you want a\nreally great small game hunting experience, go for the squirrel grandslam. My\nadvice though, try to get that black squirrel in the bag first, then go after\nthe Aberts, then the fox and gray should pose no problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you want to see videos or read more about these hunts, stop by my website and YouTube channel, www.americanairgunhunter.com<\/a>. I don\u2019t yet know what the plans are for EBR, but I\u2019ll be in Arizona in the fall for squirrels if nothing else!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve been going after this small game challenge for several years now, and my strategy is get the most difficult one out of the way first! I\u2019ve written quite a bit About the squirrel grand slam, which I coined to describe taking the four most common types of tree squirrels in the USA: the fox … Continue reading