Pennsylvania Game News - October 2011 - 15

in the uplands, but if it hadn’t been for the squirrels, I would have gone home skunked. I’ve chased squirrels my entire hunting life. At first, they were a lucky addition to my game bag when out for pheasants or rabbits, but with today’s small game hunting situation, in many areas squirrels are the main course. While my first loves are still pheasants and rabbits, I also enjoy hunting squirrels, because they are so dependable and just plain fun. Some hunters think they are too simple to take seriously, but they can prove you wrong. Squirrels in areas with heavy hunting pressure can be as wary as any mature buck. Much of my hunting has been on public land, and some years, particularly as the season progresses, getting squirrels is tough. They don’t stay out of their holes that much during the day, and when they are out they are extremely cautious. Make a false move and they vanish quickly. To find a good squirrel spot you have to find the food. Squirrels eat a variety of things, but as a general rule, look for oaks, hickories and black walnuts. Woodlots with these trees are squirrel magnets, and if there are a lot of big trees, you’ll find hollow ones where they make their homes. When I was younger, many of these woodlots had younger trees, and it was common to see a lot of squirrel nests in the trees, due to the lack of hollow trees. Now, three decades later, it seems squirrel nests are somewhat rare, and are not the indicators of good hunting they once were. A good indicator of high populations and good hunting can be determined by the amount of acorn hulls found on boulders, stumps, fallen trees and the bases of large trees. If you find stands of oaks and hickories, you’ll find squirrels. If they are located near a stream or lake, the area will be hot. Water and squirrels always go together, and if you find food sources where there is water, you have a winner.
OCTOBER 2011

Walking along a creek is a great way to connect on squirrels, and as long as there are food trees nearby, they will frequent the streamside. If duck season coincides with squirrels, I’ll switch to steel shot and use that for both squirrels and ducks that may be in the stream. In farming areas, the aforementioned woodlots hold the squirrels, but not every farm has woodlots. However, if a farm has hedgerows, and the hedgerows have a mixture of food producing trees, the squirrels will frequent them. However, in farmland, corn is a main food source for squirrels. During the summer, while hunting groundhogs, I have found that squirrels will raid cornfields almost as much as the chucks do. I have several farms I like to hunt in October, because the farmers do not take their corn down until later. Working the hedgerows and woodlots near these farm fields, just by walking along the fields, will produce squirrels in the game bag. Hunting these field edges and hedgerows is similar to what I do when I hunt groundhogs with my rimfires, except for squirrels I also have to look up into the trees in addition to looking on the ground. It is a little different than traditional hunting methods, such as taking a stand, but it works. Hunting squirrels in October is both easy and tough at the same time. It can be easy, because it’s the beginning of the season and that’s when the most squirrels are available. The weather is normally warmer, and the squirrels take advantage of it by collecting food for the winter. However, it’s tougher because the leaves are still on the trees, making it hard to find them as they cruise through the foliage. It’s because of this foliage, as well as the
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Pennsylvania Game News - October 2011

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