Learning to properly target squirrels makes youngsters and adults better at all types of hunting.
It’s as real to me today as it was when it happened more than half a century ago. When my dad told me to pull on my boots, grab my jacket and come with him, I knew what that meant, especially if it happened on a Saturday morning in October. Dad would head out the door packing a shotgun, and I’d be close on his heels, atwitter with excitement because my daddy was going squirrel hunting, and I was going with him.
I still remember how it felt to be sitting there next to Dad on a log down on the creek bank. His whispered words of instruction are still fresh in my memory — be quiet; don’t wiggle around so much; watch where you step; keep your eyes on the trees, especially the oaks, hickories and beeches; if the end of a limb shakes, it’s probably a squirrel.
While I was absorbing his whispered words of caution, he’d touch my arm and slowly point to a beech out front. I’d look, not seeing anything but a tree.
“There’s a squirrel up there; I just saw him move,” he’d say.
“Where? I don’t see any ….”
Dad would cut me off with a “S-h-h-h … you’ll scare him.”
I’d watch my dad ease up from his seat and slowly, quietly make his way a few steps toward the beech, hiding his movement by making sure that a bush or overhanging limb blocked his movement. I’d marvel at how dad could sneak along without stepping on a twig or rustling dry leaves.
I still hadn’t seen a squirrel when dad eased the butt of his double barrel to his shoulder, took aim and fired. It was only then that I saw the fox squirrel tumbling in a shower of leaves to the ground.
I figured my dad was right up there with Daniel Boone and Ben Lilly. He could kill a squirrel most people couldn’t even see, and I felt so fortunate that I had him for my teacher.
I evolved eventually into a pretty fair squirrel hunter, an accomplishment that figured prominently into my being able eventually to fool deer, ducks and turkeys. Because I mastered to a degree the ability to sneak up on and shoot squirrels, the transition to being successful with other game was natural.
Today, it’s commonplace to get reports from a dad who boasts that his pre-pubescent youngster just killed his/her sixth deer. On the one hand, that’s good; at least the kid isn’t sitting home on Saturdays preoccupied with Playstation. On the other, it’s sad because it’s unlikely that the kid sitting in a box stand who banged a deer in a food plot or at a feeder could sneak up on a squirrel if his life depended on it.
But for those dads who want to invoke the tenets of woodsmanship into their youngsters, there’s still time. Other than teaching firearm safety and marksmanship, nothing is more important in setting your kids on a path for a lifetime of successful hunting than to insist they cut their teeth on squirrel hunting.
For starters, squirrels are wary creatures that often see you before you see them. The satisfaction of slipping a downed squirrel in the bag comes with the knowledge that you just outfoxed one of nature’s craftiest creatures.
In order to consistently bag squirrels, a hunter has to, first of all, become a student of squirrel behavior. This involves spending time in your yard or on the courthouse lawn of your town and observing squirrels. Watch a squirrel moving up and down the trunk of a tree. See how he moves the end of the branch he’s ventured onto in search of acorns.
These movements of semi-tame squirrels in your yard and in town are exactly the same as those of their wild cousins down in the woods. Take your youngsters with you on such forays to enlighten them on the behavior of squirrels.
Once you’ve become somewhat knowledgeable about squirrel behavior, you’ll need to practice woodsmanship. Become familiar with the woods you plan to hunt. Prior to season opening, walk the woods over with your youngsters, noting the location of groves of the types of trees squirrels prefer — oaks, hickories and beech in particular.
Check the ground beneath these nut-bearing trees to see if there is a mast crop and if squirrels are feeding on them.
Take your compass and learn to use it. Many hunters have become lost in the woods, compass in hand, because they refused to accept the fact that the compass was pointing north when their heads were telling them it’s south. Compasses don’t lie; learn to trust them.
Check the treetops for squirrel nests. The more of these basket-ball sized masses of leaves and twigs you see, the more squirrels are using the area.
Take your youngster and head for your squirrel woods just prior to opening day, and get there at first light before squirrels begin moving about to feed. Find a comfortable seat next to a grove of nut-bearing hardwoods, and sit with your eyes and ears open.
If you spot movement in a tree, determine if it’s a squirrel or a bird, perhaps a blue jay. Watch how a blue jay moves in the tree in comparison to the way a squirrel moves about.
Should you spot a squirrel, practice your stalking. See if you can sneak quietly to within shotgun range without spooking the squirrel. Better yet, let your young hunter-to-be try his luck at stalking.
Make opening day a special and memorable event for your youngster. If he’s not old enough to carry a gun, do like my dad did me, and take him along; the exposure to a real hunting experience at an early age, be assured, will pay dividends down the road.
Make sure your youngster has his own set of hunting clothes, pack for snacks and drinks and insect repellent. Nothing can put the damper on an otherwise meaningful outing quicker than hunger pangs, thirst and biting bugs.
If your youngster has reached the age where you trust him to carry a shotgun or rifle, let him do so, but hunt alongside him at first. Don’t make the mistake my dad did when I was first allowed to hunt alone. He left me sitting on a stump telling me to watch a nearby grove of hickories while he moved off down the creek, leaving me there with my childhood fears and phobias.
I distinctly recall that my first experience of hunting alone was not fun. I heard bears and panthers; when dad didn’t return in half an hour, I assumed he’d been eaten by wild creatures, and I’d die a slow and agonizing death alone on a stump with bears and panthers closing in.
You should hunt alongside your youngster the first few hunting trips after you entrust him with a gun. Let him spot and stalk under your watchful eye. Watch how he handles his firearm; you’ll be able to pick up on any unsafe tendencies and make corrections on the spot. Compliments go a long way toward reinforcing desirable firearms handling when you see he’s doing it right.
When the opportunity presents itself, let him stalk and shoot, and should the squirrel tumble from the tree, it’s time for celebration and congratulations on a job well done.
One thing that makes hunting squirrels a good primer for a lifetime of hunting is the abundance of these creatures around the state. Squirrel numbers vary from season to season depending upon mast production primarily.
If there is abundant mast — acorns, hickory nuts, beech, etc. — one year, look for a bumper crop of squirrels the following season. Conversely, during a year of mast crop failure, expect fewer numbers of squirrels the following season.
As far as the outlook for squirrels for the 2006-07 hunting season, most experts agree that over much of the state, the numbers should be there.
Steve Hebert is wildlife biologist for the Region 1 office in Minden. He feels that most of the state should be in good shape for squirrel season this year, but he’s hoping for one element that has been missing the past few years.
“I’d like to see a typical opening day in October with a chill in the air — a day where a jacket would feel good,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’ve had too many opening days in recent years where it was warm and sticky, not the best conditions for squirrel hunting.”
Even so, Hebert said that because of a generally good mast crop around the state last year, the numbers of squirrels should be fairly high.
“The main exception would be Southeast and Southwest Louisiana, those areas impacted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” he said. “So much of the prime timber in some areas impacted by these storms is on the ground, not exactly what you’d look for when you’re squirrel hunting.
“Even so, there should be plenty of squirrels around the state this fall and winter.”
Much of Louisiana’s prime hunting lands today are leased to hunting clubs. Thus, hunters who are members of hunting clubs can have access to some prime squirrel hunting prior to the opening of gun season for deer.
In addition, the state has hundreds of thousands of acres of prime public lands in management areas that offer some of the state’s best squirrel hunting.
Hunters who would like to see their youngsters grow up to love hunting and all that it entails have a golden opportunity to do just that right here in Louisiana.
The state’s squirrel crop is in abundance, offering youngsters and their dads the perfect opportunity to create bonds that will last a lifetime.
Once the hunt is over, a good opportunity exists for teaching youngsters the proper way of cleaning and dressing squirrels. The best, though, is yet to come when he chomps down on a tender fried drumstick of a young squirrel or samples this delicious meat that is part of a pot of dumplings or squirrel mulligan.
A word for dads of youngsters who want to learn to hunt: There is absolutely nothing wrong with you and your youngster building deer stands, planting food plots and filling feeders together. Any legal activity in which you’re involved in the outdoors with your kids is positive. Once the season opens and the opportunity presents itself for him to take a deer, go for it; there’s not a thing wrong with that.
However, if you want your youngster to really learn what hunting is all about, and that involves woodsmanship, learning how to stalk and learning all you can about the quarry you seek, you’ll want to consider letting him cut his hunting teeth with you down in the creek bottoms after squirrels.
The lessons he learns here will go a long way toward your child becoming the type of hunter you always dreamed he would be.
