Squirrels are abundant statewide and found in every terrain, from piney woods to bottomland hardwoods to coastal marshes.
The height of the tree canopy often dictates what load is best for making clean kills on squirrels.
“I’ll buy a case of high-brass 6s, and it’ll last me a year or two, but that’s all I shoot at squirrels unless I’m hunting longleaf piney woods, where fox squirrels love to stay way up in the top,” McCollister said. “There, I’ll have a pocket full of turkey loads, typically No. 4s.”
In the coastal marshes along canal banks, where there are thick patches of low and mid-story myrtles, willows, scrub maple and water oaks that are inhabited mainly by smaller gray squirrels, low-brass 6s, 7 1/2s and even 8s are just fine.
