First squrirels of 2016

[Johnsfolly]

Ever since we had a raccoon get into our chicken coop and kill my pet black silky "wooly bugger" we have been actively catching coons and what ever else ends up in our yard. I caught a small opossum this morning. I packed into the car and I brought along our kids .22 LR rifle and drove down to a nearby section of National Forest land to release the opossum and try for a couple of squirrels. I hadn't been out yet this year. I went about 250 yards from the car into a wooded creek bottom. I kicked up a young turkey on the way into the woods. It flew in the direction that I was headed. I headed into a stand of oaks and saw a squirrel up in the top of nearby tree. It was feeding on buds of some sort. I got a rest using a small sapling, but could not get a clear shot with rifle. During this time the turkey started clucking on the other side of the creek. I heard a second squirrel behind me and saw it in a walnut tree. No shot. turned back to the first squirrel still no shot. After about 25 minutes and moving to a couple of different trees in a effort to gain a better shot on the squirrel in that tree, I finally spooked the turkey which was in a tree near the one where the squirrel was feeding.  If I had a shotgun I am sure that I would have taken that squirrel easily. I prefer head shots with a rifle than a bunch of shot from a shotgun. Too much meat damage. The squirrel must have had its fill and moved into the oaks surrounding me and headed towards where I has seen the other squirrel. I heard material dropping from the trees and thought at least one was in that stand of trees. Near the walnut were two large oaks and a couple of dead trees. The dead trees didn't look like good escape routes for the squirrels. So I tried to sneak in from the walnut tree side. There were several thin cedars that I used as cover. I got distracted when I found several ripe black raspberries. I picked a couple and heard a squirrel climbing up one of the dead trees above me. It was a young fox squirrel and it appeared to be eating the fungus from the trunk of the tree. I started hunting in Pennsylvania and there were only grays and little red squirrels where I hunted. When I got to MO and saw fox squirrels, I loved I idea of shooting a 2-3 lb squirrel. Then I ate a bunch. Now I typically don't shoot fox squirrels since they can be rather tough, but this one was a young one. I didn't have a rest, but felt pretty comfortable with my offhand position. This young squirrel didn't easily give me a shot opportunity. I now saw what may have been the gray squirrel that I was hunting all morning also eating the fungus. The young fox gave me a shot and it fell to the ground. The gray didn't know what happened, but headed up a long branch then turned and gave me a shot. It also fell to the ground.

 A couple of nice squirrels with a single head shot for each of them. I got them skinned and broken down. The fox squirrel was a young male that hadn't even had his testicles drop yet. Should be pretty tender. Looking forward to trying out the braised Aurora dish that Billethead posted recently with these squirrels. I can't wait until the hickories nuts are ripe this Aug, which is my favorite time to hunt squirrels. For now I will take what is provided.

[Nitro 750]

Good job, hunting them little critters is a lot of fun!!!