• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Honest question. Anyone ever 'educated' a squirrel while deer hunting?

Have you ever educated annoying squirrels while hunting?

  • Yes

    Votes: 7 22.6%

  • No

    Votes: 10 32.3%

  • Yes, but ate them so no guilt

    Votes: 5 16.1%

  • No, but have been tempted and might give in one day

    Votes: 4 12.9%

  • No and never will

    Votes: 2 6.5%

  • No, but might one day and will eat them

    Votes: 3 9.7%
  • Total voters
    31
HuumanCreed said:
Only thing I ever aim at (hunting wise) has been whitetails. But I see EVERYONE mention that they always have a spare judo point arrow in their quiver, incase a small game appears. I tell my son all the time, as hunter we must respect what we shoot, so never take a shot at anything unless you plan to eat it.

HOWEVER....there been many times that I found the local squirrels very annoying and distracting when I'm in the tree, especially those that seem like they are trying to crunch as many leaves as they can! More then a few times I consider taking them out, but so far have resisted.

But who among us have gave in to the temptation and enjoyed the peace and quiet?
Click to expand...
A .22 with a suppressor works well. Especially if it’s an area you are not going back to. Binary trigger and 50 round banana or 100 round drum for grins.
 
Maybe I should confess I will shoot squirrels because they're the only game animal I see for weeks on end :sweatsmile:
They spook much easier if I'm in the tree. Seems like they just let me shoot them from the ground
 
NMSbowhunter said:
I did give an armadillo a shower from the tree last season, lol. If I'm deer hunting, I'm not going to take shots at other things and have my arrows scattered around the woods to spook deer.

Squirrels don't bother me much and seeing them around gives me confidence that I am likely in a good spot. It's those tiny little birds that fly in, perch 10 feet from me and chirp a high-pitched alarm call for ten minutes that give me fits.
Click to expand...
My lord, I shot a ’diller once when I was a teenager because he was making so much noise…..but not NEAR as much noise as he did when that broadhead hit him. You would have thought he was tearing down the woods! Learned my lesson on that one. Lol.

I do know guys carry slingshots to actively discourage and move them squirrels along.
 
I like the company so I don't mess with the full size gray/black/fox squirrels. The pretty quickly get used to my presence in the tree and once they determine I'm not a threat they go about their business and ignore me. Like others have said, I like to use their eyes and ears to determine what's going on around me.

Red squirrels and chipmunks on the other hand (no offense @redsquirrel) annoy the crap out of me as they will never accept your presence and will bark at you an entire hunt if they find you.

Funny story about a pair of squirrels that lived in a spot I really liked hunting several years ago. There was a black and gray obviously mated up and living in a hollow beech tree near where I sat up. Every morning I hunted there I'd watch them emerge from the tree at first light and the black would disappear down the ridge to the west while the gray spent the whole morning in the area hauling leaves and nuts into the hole in the tree that was their home. In the evenings the gray would go up the tree and nest up early and the black would make its way home right at dark and in the last possible moment scamper up the tree and join the gray in the den. It was always like clockwork and it always gave me the impression of an unfaithful spouse spending the day away and then coming home at night.

Then one evening the black came home a bit earlier than normal and took a sneaky, indirect route into the tree. Sure enough, following behind was another black squirrel. It seemed to lose the original black squirrel for a bit around the base of the tree but eventually seemed to notice the hole up about 30' in the beech. It climbed up and stuck its head in the hole. Suddenly the forest erupted with squirrel chattering as the gray came flying out of the hole and knocked the new black clean off the tree. The black fell all of 30' directly to the forest floor and laid there not moving while the homemaking gray hung outside the den entrance on the tree and scolded it for like 30-60 seconds. I seriously thought the 2nd black was laying there dead or crippled as it didn't move for the longest time. Finally it got up and slowly made its way back down the ridge to the west from where it had come. For the next week that original black never left the area or the sight of the gray. I couldn't hep but think "You got busted playaa"! :tearsofjoy:

Edit: Many years ago I did shoot a porcupine once with a field tip. It pinned it the ground initially but eventually it pulled the arrow free and climbed a nearby tree and died 25' up in the tree with my arrow still in it. I never did get my arrow back . . .
 
Last edited:
boyne bowhunter said:
I like the company so I don't mess with the full size gray/black/fox squirrels. The pretty quickly get used to my presence in the tree and once they determine I'm not a threat they go about their business and ignore me. Like others have said, I like to use their eyes and ears to determine what's going on around me.

Red squirrels and chipmunks on the other hand (no offense @redsquirrel) annoy the crap out of me as they will never accept your presence and will bark at you an entire hunt if they find you.

Funny story about a pair of squirrels that lived in a spot I really liked hunting several years ago. There was a black and gray obviously mated up and living in a hollow beech tree near where I sat up. Every morning I hunted there I'd watch them emerge from the tree at first light and the black would disappear down the ridge to the west while the gray spent the whole morning in the area hauling leaves and nuts into the hole in the tree that was their home. In the evenings the gray would go up the tree and nest up early and the black would make its way home right at dark and in the last possible moment scamper up the tree and join the gray in the den. It was always like clockwork and it always gave me the impression of an unfaithful spouse spending the day away and then coming home at night.

Then one evening the black came home a bit earlier than normal and took a sneaky, indirect route into the tree. Sure enough, following behind was another black squirrel. It seemed to lose the original black squirrel for a bit around the base of the tree but eventually seemed to notice the hole up about 30' in the beech. It climbed up and stuck its head in the hole. Suddenly the forest erupted with squirrel chattering as the gray came flying out of the hole and knocked the new black clean off the tree. The black fell all of 30' directly to the forest floor and laid there not moving while the homemaking gray hung outside the den entrance on the tree and scolded it for like 30-60 seconds. I seriously thought the 2nd black was laying there dead or crippled as it didn't move for the longest time. Finally it got up and slowly made its way back down the ridge to the west from where it had come. For the next week that original black never left the area or the sight of the gray. I couldn't hep but think "You got busted playaa"! :tearsofjoy:

Edit: Many years ago I did shoot a porcupine once with a field tip. It pinned it the ground initially but eventually it pulled the arrow free and climbed a nearby tree and died 25' up in the tree with my arrow still in it. I never did get my arrow back . . .
Click to expand...
porcupines are great eating
 
I don't. With my luck, the noise or my movement would spook a deer. Plus, I'm just not very blood thirsty for a hunter. However, if a squirrel was really focusing on me and making an alert call or something and wouldn't leave, then I might be tempted. But I would eat it, but I don't like squirrel much!
 

Don't shoot at squirrels

The last 3 days was Maryland's 3-day Early muzzleloader season. I decided to carry my recurve to try and shoot another doe. About 9:00 a.m. I had a big fat gray squirrel running around the base of my tree. As I was was watching it I was thinking about all of the squirrels I have passed up with...
saddlehunter.com
 
Squirrels make great trad bow practice targets...and the fat ones are good eatin'!

That's why God makes 'em by the millions....;)

If you don't fancy eating them, just remember what The Outlaw Jose Wales said:

"...Buzzards gotta eat, same as the worms..."

Remember-there ain't nothin' natural left in the woods that goes to waste!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top