Opinion, 1st published January 1st 2019, appears here now with fresh updates.
David points out that there is still two months of prime squirrel hunting season left in the year.
Every year, when deer season ends, hunters all over the country put their guns away and start watching football. Or wait until spring for the turkeys to start gobbling and rarely bother to get out in the woods during the months in between. But they’re missing out on one of the most fun things to do during the winter downtime, and that’s to hunt for squirrels.
Squirrel Hunting
Here in New York, squirrel season is the longest hunting season. It starts on the first day of September and ends at the end of February, giving you a total of six months to put some small critters into a stew pot. If you’ve never had a bowl of old-fashioned squirrel stew, you haven’t lived.
Sadly, the older I get and the more people I talk to, the fewer hunters bother to go out for squirrels anymore. Most seem to find it too bothersome to grab a .22 or a shotgun that early when it’s too warm, and they seem not to like going out in the winter when it’s cold. I can tell you, though, that there’s nothing like it at either time of year.
I started squirrel hunting at the same time I started deer hunting when I was about eighteen. After a while, I started seeing so many big grey squirrels that I got tired of watching them from the deer stand. On the days I would never see signs of deer, I began wondering why I didn’t catch one of those abundant early-season squirrels.
The next year I began carrying a .22 pistol, and I got practicing to the point where I could bag a grey from under 25 yards. Then, once deer season was over, I started taking a gun out for squirrels, and my winter meat started to increase.
I found I was able to get a lot more squirrels with a .22 rifle than a shotgun. That wasn’t so much because of skill, but in some of the woods where I hunt, you might see a squirrel out to thirty or forty yards where a .410 might be pushing it. My favorite gun has been my old Remington Model 33 single shot, which I have owned for almost twenty years. In the time since I have owned it, the number of squirrels that have been collected with that gun numbers in the triple digits.
Over the years, I have tried a variety of .22 LR loads of all brands, but I have had the most luck with nothing more than standard velocity loads. They tend to be quieter than the high-velocity rounds and have occasionally scored a double on squirrels, the second grey not knowing what happened to the first. I have also had the occasional squirrel stay within gun range when I have missed.
I have taken squirrels with an odd assortment of handguns over the years. In addition to the few .22 LR handguns, I have bagged them with a .22 Magnum Ruger Single Six, and even a Smith & Wesson Model 39 9mm; the FMJ round didn’t do much damage to the meat, passing clean through.
Squirrel hunting is one of the age-old hunting sports of this country. Back in the days before refrigerators and a way to preserve meat, it was nothing for someone to go out and shoot a couple of squirrels for dinner for the family, and that task many times fell to the younger members of the family.
Squirrel hunting taught marksmanship skills in a time when ammunition was scarce and to a farm family with only a few dollars, it was also expensive. General stores sold .22 rounds in partial boxes, selling however many rounds the buyer could afford at a time, and those rounds were precious.
Most people today think hitting a deer at 100 yards is a tricky shot. Not to an experienced squirrel hunter. I’ve seen old timers who can knock a nice grey out of a tree at thirty or forty yards with a .22 like it was nothing special.
Live Inventory Price Checker
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Ruger 10/22 Carbine 22 Long Rifle 18.5in GoWild Camo Black Semi Automatic Rifle - 10+1 Rounds - Go Wild Rock Star Camo | Sportsman's Warehouse | $ 369.99 |
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Ruger 10/22 Carbine .22 LR 18.5 Barrel 10-Rounds Mannlicher Stock | GrabAGun | $ 440.99 |
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Ruger 10/22 Carbine 22 LR 18.5 10 Round Satin Black Rifle | BattleHawk Armory | $ 439.00 $ 363.60 |
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Ruger 10/22 Carbine .22 LR Rifle, Black/Stainless - 1256 | Palmetto State Armory | $ 499.99 $ 299.99 |
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Taking your .22 to the range and plinking away at a target is just fine, but if you plan on taking that gun out to hunt squirrels, you need to be able to hit the critters. One of my favorite targets has always been either playing cards or simple 3×5 index card. Put them out at the 25-yard line and have at it. A playing card turned sideways is about the same area as the vitals as a large grey squirrel. Get out the Ace of spades or a face card, and you can mimic a target roughly the size of a squirrel’s head.
Squirrel hunting seems to be a dying sport. I can maybe count the number of people on one hand I know who has ever done it locally in my lifetime. Most hunters now seem to stick to whitetails and turkeys and leave the rest of woods alone. All I can say is you are missing out on quality time in the woods.
At one-time squirrel hunting was probably the most common way to get meat for the family. It was a right of passage for the young boys in a family to start hunting, heck; even Annie Oakley got her beginning bagging small game, squirrels in particular when she was a teenager. Don’t just go out and chase squirrels for yourself and the meat you can get, but take a youngster with you and get them started in it too, you won’t regret it.
Inexpensive .22 rifles with Threaded Barrels – Surprisingly Good Values
About David LaPell
David LaPell has been a Corrections Officer with the local Sheriff’s Department for thirteen years. A collector of antique and vintage firearms for over twenty years and an avid hunter. David has been writing articles about firearms, hunting, and western history for ten years. In addition to having a passion for vintage guns, he is also a fan of old trucks and has written articles on those as well.
What did we call it? Squirrel frickasee? Something like that. Honestly, I don’t miss it. Was a lot of work for a little bit of meat. My dad wrote an essay for readers digest years ago on cooking squirrel. I think it was published, but cant remember. It involved about 4 different manners of cooking, several sauces and about 6 hours total cook time. By the end, at which time the meat was not recognizable, it was eatable! I much prefer waskily wabbit! I do remember walking around the woods with my friends and hunting though. The long seasons allowed… Read more »
I have not been squirrel hunting in years either. I used to go with my friend who was a retired colonel when I was a teenager. He would bake them with a few strips of bacon over them. I am in my 40s now and my wife isn’t keen on the idea of eating the cute little critters. It does bring back memories of hunting in the late winter sitting in the morning then walking around in the early afternoon. Any day out in the woods is better than sitting around.
I HAVE BEEN HUNTING OVER THIRTY YEARS AND I LOVE DEER HUNTING BUT YOU JUST CAN’T BEAT GOING AFTER SQUIRRELS IT KICKS OFF MY SEASON AND KEEPS YOUR SHOOTING SKILLS UP TOO.FISHERS WILL WIPE OUT WIPE THEM OUT IF THEY COME INTO THE AREA IT HAPPENED TO ME ABOUT TWENTY YEARS AGO IN MY BEST HUNTING GROUNDS BUT BE PATIENT THEY WILL COME BACK.THE BEST TRICK I EVER LEARNED WAS JUST TO SIT DOWN AND RUB TWO PENNIES TOGETHER ,AND YOU WOULD’NT BELIEVE HOW FAST THEY COME BUT USE OLDER PENNIES NOT NEW ONES AS THE SOUND IS MUCH BETTER… Read more »
We have a small ten acres of woods and springs next to several hundred acres of woodland. The squirrels are disappearing. No one is hunting them. Logging over a century most of the good acorn oak trees, and other nut trees plums, and muscadines wild grapes are gone. I’ve tried to plant some but the deer or something get them while small. I saw what I thought was a Fisher over 30 years ago overhead on a tree limb over the road. They supposedly live far north of Tn. It had been feeding on a road kill and ran off… Read more »
Squirrel hunting with my dad and grandpa are some of my earliest memories of “hunting”.
The started me at about 4 years of age. I’m 68 now and haven’t squirrel hunted in years, though I did take 2 deer this fall.
Both of my mentors are gone. I have no grandchildren and 2 children in 2 different time zones.
My palate has changed and the wife won’t eat them.
I suppose if it meant eating or starving, I’d hunt them again.
Probably is, deer hunting, turkey hunting, waterfowl, and upland bird hunting take all the glory. Deer and turkey mostly.
I haven’t done it in a few years, so I bought a T/CR22 just for it and rabbits last month. While my two 40xb Remingtons would do good they are a little heavy.
Looking to get a 20ga for the task as well by next year.