Louisiana sportsmen get a bonus opportunity to hunt squirrels during the spring season.
The 2025 Louisiana spring squirrel season runs May 3-25 with a daily limit of three.
In most ways, spring squirrel hunting closely resembles pursuing bushytails in the fall and winter, but the spring season offers sportsmen some advantages and challenges to overcome. First, fewer people venture into the woods after turkey season ends.
“In the spring, squirrel hunters have the woods to themselves,” said Chester Thompson, (337-309-0908) a champion squirrel dog trainer from DeRidder, La. “Not even as many squirrel hunters go out in the spring. We hardly see any other people during that time.”
Since fewer people roam the woods at that time, Thompson uses the spring season to teach young dogs how to find squirrels. He wraps a squirrel skin around a bottle to train them to smell the animals.
“In the spring, I enjoy working a young dog in the woods,” he said. “At that time, I’m not trying to kill a lot of squirrels. I’m doing more training of young dogs. I hope to find a squirrel on the ground moving. If I kill a squirrel, I drop it in front of a young dog to let him put fur in his mouth.”
Spring or fall, sportsmen must spot squirrels to bag them. Walk through the forest slowly looking and listening. In the spring, trees grow thick with fresh new foliage, making squirrels more difficult to see. Fortunately, young squirrels have never faced hunters before.
“With all the new foliage in the spring, it’s harder to see squirrels except when the branches move,” Thompson said. “The good news, older squirrels are not as pressured at that time and the young squirrels aren’t as wary because nobody ever shot at them before.”
A squirrel’s spring diet
Squirrels feed on different things in the spring. In the fall, they primarily eat acorns and other nuts, but in the spring, squirrels mostly eat green buds, flowers, shoots, bulbs and fruit, such as blackberries. They will also eat some crops, especially corn. They even occasionally eat baby birds and eggs.
“Those young, tender squirrels are better to eat,” Thompson said. “They eat a lot of emerging green buds in the spring. In the fall, they eat dead mast.”
Bushytails also love to gnaw on green pine cones. They tear the cones apart to get at succulent seeds. Under a good “kitchen tree,” piles of pine husks and chips litter the ground, marking the presence of squirrels.
Many hunters work as teams to put more meat in the game bag. Squirrels can disappear in a tree, so one person can walk around the tree making noise while another remains still and silent. Keying on that moving person, the squirrel might jump and give away its position.
In the spring, sportsmen must also contend with heat, stinging insects, spiders, and especially mosquitoes. Leave the heavy jackets home and dress to stay cool. Wear a bug suit lined with anti-mosquito mesh. Snakes come out when the weather warms. Look carefully before sitting anywhere. Carry plenty of water and high-energy snacks.
During the spring or fall seasons, hunters can avoid most insects and snakes by hunting from boats. With a small human-powered boat like a pirogue, canoe or kayak, hunters glide along silently looking for squirrels. People in boats could even fish while watching for bushytails.
Don’t forget the youngsters. Squirrel hunting offers an excellent opportunity to introduce children or novice sportsmen to the outdoors.
For more information, see www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/seasons-and-regulations.
