When pressed if he had any tricks a squirrel hunter might be able to take into the woods, Simsboro squirrel hunter Sid Havard suggested taking along a pocketful of smoke bombs and a rag.
If your reaction is anything like mine as a former member of the U.S. Army, you’re probably wondering why a squirrel hunter would feel the need to screen his movements from a squirrel with a smoke screen.
“It’s not for you; it’s for the squirrel,” Havard said. “When a dog gets after a squirrel, he would much rather go up a hollow tree than anything else.
“So when he does that, I light a smoke bomb and stick it up in that hollow tree and plug it up with a rag.”
Then Havard, who obviously doesn’t like missing out on the chance to kill a squirrel, watches the top of the tree. When smoke starts coming out of the cracks of that tree, the squirrel just can’t stand it — he’s got to come out.
“That’s nothing new,” Havard said. “My grandpa would just take some pine straw, light it and smoke them out that way.
“I take smoke bombs because they’re a lot easier.”
