Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Shooting and Hunting => Topic started by: Deerhunter21 on August 27, 2021, 12:33:59 pm
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Ive probably asked this before.... but i wanna go squirrel hunting tomorrow or after school monday. Im gonna bring my bow and my .22. Any tips? I want to go squirrel hunting because i dont think i could take a more serious hunt atm like coyote or something. Schools stressing me out too much for me to want to do deep and thorough scouting, or planning. I just wanna go out in nature, de-stress, and hunt.
so... how do you tackle squirrel hunting, rifle or bow?
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Ive probably asked this before.... but i wanna go squirrel hunting tomorrow or after school monday. Im gonna bring my bow and my .22. Any tips? I want to go squirrel hunting because i dont think i could take a more serious hunt atm like coyote or something. Schools stressing me out too much for me to want to do deep and thorough scouting, or planning. I just wanna go out in nature, de-stress, and hunt.
so... how do you tackle squirrel hunting, rifle or bow?
1. Find a squirrel.
2. If it's a tree squirrel, use extremely bright flu-flu arrows so you'll be able to find them.
3. If it's a rock squirrel, use arrows you don't really care about all that much.
4. Make sure you won't hit anything important if you miss.
5. Let 'er rip!
I guess that isn't too helpful, but it's all I've got. ;D I can say these are all from personal experience.
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Move quietly, a dog will help, find a nut tree, or oak. Shoot straight, if you use the rifle, make sure it is a safe shot! Listen to their chittering, and imitate (it also helps to be able to make noises like a nut, or acorn >:D (lol)!) (lol) (lol) They also like apples and other fruits. Post pic!
Hawkdancer
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Here's one way for you Deerhunter with bow and arrow.Squirrels are territorial.Find where you know squirrels are.Set up a make shift ground blind.Take a small teddy bear with you when you want to hunt.
Set teddy bear on ground or a stump out there within range of your capability and wait.Be patient.Squirrels will come out to investigate what that teddy bear is doing in their territory.It works.
I've shot em off my bird feeder and using the teddy bear method using rubber blunts.
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Here's one way for you Deerhunter.Squirrels are territorial.Find where you know squirrels are.Set up a make shift ground blind.Take a small teddy bear with you when you want to hunt.
Set teddy bear on ground or a stump out there within range of your capability and wait.Be patient.Squirrels will come out to investigate what that teddy bear is doing in their territory.It works.
I've shot em off my bird feeder and using the teddy bear method using rubber blunts.
No kidding!? Never heard that before! Is it just the males that are territorial like that?
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To their own species yes.We have red and fox squirrels here.There are colorations from them too like black.I hav'nt used this mounted one yet but I'm sure it would work too.
(https://i.imgur.com/i1YQ5wU.jpg)
It works best during mating season and that's late winter early spring,but they are hoarders too in the fall for nuts.You just have to notice them chasing each other.I have a lot of walnut,hickory and oak around me,but to make the hunt more successful you have to know the habits and nature of things you want to hunt.
PS....Many ways to squirrel hunt.I used to use a jack russel and a .22.
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That is a really neat trick Ed!! i gotta try it! just... not on public property LOL! dont want my stuffed squirrel to get shot!!!
It seems that for now my parents only want me to hunt alone with my bow. no rifle yet.... it seems like im going to need to get my bowhunters ed for deer season. I can hunt rabbits and squirrel and rabbit without a bowhunters ed tho.
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I have to ask... just in case. but lets say i make a bad shot with my blunt arrow. i hit it out of the tree but its not fatal. what would the best way for me to dispatch the rabbit or squirrel without it biting me? I know this is worst case scenario but there is always the chance that i hit it in the leg instead of the body or head.
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#1. Get your bowhunter ed card! #2. RE Le coup de grace - carefully grab the critter by a hind leg and bash it very ungently against a tree or rock! #3. clean, skin, salt hide, cook, enjoy! Make rawhide from skin.
Hawkdancer
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That is a really neat trick Ed!! i gotta try it! just... not on public property LOL! dont want my stuffed squirrel to get shot!!!
It seems that for now my parents only want me to hunt alone with my bow. no rifle yet.... it seems like im going to need to get my bowhunters ed for deer season. I can hunt rabbits and squirrel and rabbit without a bowhunters ed tho.
No trick just what works.You will get what you put into it.Good luck!
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Russell, post pics and have good hunts! Make meat!
Ed, never heard of the teddy bear trick! Sounds like a good idea in big enough woods.
Hawkdancer
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Deerhunter 21,
Just remember even if you aren't seeing any doesn't mean they aren't there. If you sit or hide and quit moving for 15 min they will appear. You can almost set your watch by them where I hunt. After a bit they get comfortable with the situation and won't pay attention to where you are. On a side note as a kid I had a little feist dog with two different color eyes. Best squirrel dog a kid could have had and way better hunter than myself. Almost seemed to know which ones I could get and which ones to leave alone. Have fun and enjoy mother nature. And yes they are tasty.
Piddler
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Many times a squirrel will circle to the back side of the tree to hide. Stay still for a few minutes, then throw a rock or stick behind the tree and the squirrel will circle around to your side of the tree away from the noise and hopefully offer you a shot.
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Huh. That’s a good idea bentstick!!! Tomorrow is the big day. First hunt alone! I’m gonna be out most of tomorrow. Hopefully I make some meat!!!!
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Russell,
Have a good hunt and make meat. Post pics, if possible!
Hawkdancer
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Shot lots of squirrels that way. Both with bow and .22s
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Another time tested trick for hunting squirrels is to "call them in".
It's easy enough to do. Just limb a tree and act like a nut.
;D
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Russell,
Have a good hunt and make meat. Post pics, if possible!
Hawkdancer
No dice, not even a single squirrel, rabbit and barely even a bird! Man… I did learn how inaccurate my .22 can be. That bullet drops fast. I also suck at sighting it in… (gonna need to work on that) man, bows are so much easier to shoot than guns!!! I already know what the arrow drop will be like and I can even see my arrow and adjust if I miss… it’s easy to use something I understand, and it’s easy to understand something I made.
I’m gonna try a different place on public land with lots of oak. Hopefully I’ll get something there.
Ok JW… that one got me real good! ;D
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I usually don't shoot at them much in the tree if I am hunting with my bow, I look for where they are cutting nuts and then just set up and wait for them to get on the ground to gather up the goodies they cut ;) and yep DH21 I ant much of a gun guy either, don't like the noise and have just never shot one a lot, fill much better with a bow in my hand. :) No problem with guns or folks that use them,it just ant for me. :)
Pappy
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Yes Deerhunter after using a bow and arrow for hunting,hunting with a gun seems to me to be the easy way out and not as satisfying as with the bow and arrow.Especially all being made yourself.
Everybody invests a lot of time hunting before success is achieved.It's just the way it's always been.Keep trying.Things will come around.
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Deerhunter 21,
Just remember even if you aren't seeing any doesn't mean they aren't there. If you sit or hide and quit moving for 15 min they will appear. You can almost set your watch by them where I hunt. After a bit they get comfortable with the situation and won't pay attention to where you are. On a side note as a kid I had a little feist dog with two different color eyes. Best squirrel dog a kid could have had and way better hunter than myself. Almost seemed to know which ones I could get and which ones to leave alone. Have fun and enjoy mother nature. And yes they are tasty.
Piddler
Russel this is great advice… I went out and wasn’t seeing a single thing the woods was so quite and still. I remembered this advice and walked a little ways and then sat down for about 15 minutes and had 2 squirrels just appear on the ground not too far away, although I was hunting with my grammas 16 gauge and it was too far away. But I saw several squirrels that day. Next day I didn’t have long but I found a tree with a huge pile of hickory husks all chewed, I saw a few squirrels around there too but never got any shots off. Also if there’s green acorn shells on the ground then there’s squirrels around and sitting for a while might be the way to go … although I still haven’t shot a squirrel so what do I know ;D.
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Deerhunter 21,
Just remember even if you aren't seeing any doesn't mean they aren't there. If you sit or hide and quit moving for 15 min they will appear. You can almost set your watch by them where I hunt. After a bit they get comfortable with the situation and won't pay attention to where you are. On a side note as a kid I had a little feist dog with two different color eyes. Best squirrel dog a kid could have had and way better hunter than myself. Almost seemed to know which ones I could get and which ones to leave alone. Have fun and enjoy mother nature. And yes they are tasty.
Piddler
Russel this is great advice… I went out and wasn’t seeing a single thing the woods was so quite and still. I remembered this advice and walked a little ways and then sat down for about 15 minutes and had 2 squirrels just appear on the ground not too far away, although I was hunting with my grammas 16 gauge and it was too far away. But I saw several squirrels that day. Next day I didn’t have long but I found a tree with a huge pile of hickory husks all chewed, I saw a few squirrels around there too but never got any shots off. Also if there’s green acorn shells on the ground then there’s squirrels around and sitting for a while might be the way to go … although I still haven’t shot a squirrel so what do I know ;D.
hey! your a step ahead of me! I havent even seen one! ;D
I know that there are a lot of walnut trees on the property but they are still green. I didnt see any sign of squirrels eating the walnuts either. I sat down for a while in a patch of trees for about thirty minutes and nothing. I wasnt expecting any squirrels there though. no food or reason to bring them in. I was just hopin.
on another note, i have sooooo many chigger bites.... like at least 30! normally i get 5 or six around the waist but these ones are all up my back, my legs, my waste, my feet, and up to my neck! never forgetting bug spray again! :-[ :-[
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Have you tried spraying your pants and socks with permethrin? It's a semi-natural insecticide (made from chrysanthemums if I remember right) that's odorless once dry. I use it on my summer backpacking clothes. Works great and doesn't DEET up your skin. I bet that would keep the chiggers off. Glad we don't have them here--the ticks and mosquitoes are bad enough.
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Might also try smoking your hunting clothes with sage, but the pyrethrum is a good go! You can likely get some at your pharmacy.
Hawkdancer
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Might also try smoking your hunting clothes with sage, but the pyrethrum is a good go! You can likely get some at your pharmacy.
Hawkdancer
If you can't get permethrin locally you can get the 36% solution and an empty spray bottle on amazon and dilute down to 0.5%, works great and is quite a bit cheaper than the ready to spray stuff.
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Deerhunter 21,
A bleach bath also works pretty good on Chiggers given it's done soon enough after you get home. Put enough bleach to where it feels really slick, for example 1/2 cup bleach per bath. Kind of hard to say since everyones bath water fill is different but where it feels good and slick.
Two notes here.
1: It's not real good for your skin but I've never had any problems with it just keep it out of your eyes.
2: Lots of modern bath tubs and showers are acrylic or something and you cannot use bleach in them. You'll get in serious trouble if you ruin the bath tub. I just mix some in a bucket and head out back behind the barn.
Any of it better than itching for a week or so.
Piddler
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You can get Permanone(Permethrin)spray at Wal Mart. You spray your cloths, hang them out to dry and you are ready to go.There is no lingering odor either. Any insect that touches your cloths is dead. Works well for ticks, chiggers, skeeters and gnats.
Chiggers burrow into your skin and secrete something that causes the itching. The more you scratch the more they itch. Coating each bite with clear fingernail polish helps prevent scratching and lessens the itching.
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Back to squirrels instead of bugs for a moment… I finally got a squirrel…. Find a tree where there’s tons of acorns or hickory all eaten up around it, and then listen and sit eventually you’ll hear bits it husk falling from the trees, look at the leaves of smaller trees or branches and you’ll see where the husks are falling right about that’s the squirrel (obviously) then if there’s not a obvious good shot just wait 10 yards from the tree, eventually he’ll come down ;)
Or atleast that worked great for me at this time of year
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Congratulations on your 1st squirrel.
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Gratz fox!!! Any pictures???? ;D
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Fox,
Way to go! First time for everything! There's hope for all of us! I took my first squirrel with a shotgun at some ungodly range many years ago! Still have to get one with a bow!
Hawkdancer
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Well done! How'd it taste?
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Thanks guys :)
It was tasty, I made buttermilk fried ;D