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Post by jimh on Sept 2, 2007 13:42:47 GMT -5
well unlike red, i have not been out to bag any of those tree rats yet. all of that is expected to change come tomorrow morning. my #2 midget has been begging me to take him squirrel hunting all summer but with the temps in the 100's i have been putting him off for a while. heck at those temps you would have jerky before it even hit the ground ;D
with the sport schedule this household has tomorrow might be the only free time we have until one day at the end of oct.
my son will be packing his H&R 20 ga single shot and i'll tote my 12 ga. we'll head out at 5:00 am. my buddy has 160 acres 30 min away. it might not be big game but it will make my sons day if we get a few. pictures in 24 hrs!
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Post by Purebred Redneck on Sept 2, 2007 14:30:16 GMT -5
Temp is going to be 94 tommarow. low of 58 so the morning should be pretty good though. I'm doing the same thing, except I'm going to be hanging some tree stands after hunting. You're leaving your house at 5? You do realize that you can't shoot until 630, right  I love that single shot shotgun. I have a new england 20 mod that I always take in the spring and summer (shotgun's good when it's hot and real thick and you might only see a couple squirrels all morning). I like the highbrass 6. |
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Post by jimh on Sept 2, 2007 14:41:53 GMT -5
Temp is going to be 94 tommarow. low of 58 so the morning should be pretty good though. I'm doing the same thing, except I'm going to be hanging some tree stands after hunting. You're leaving your house at 5? You do realize that you can't shoot until 630, right I love that single shot shotgun. I have a new england 20 mod that I always take in the spring and summer (shotgun's good when it's hot and real thick and you might only see a couple squirrels all morning). I like the highbrass 6. temps should be perfect for a mornign hunt. yep high brass #6 (or is it 5's?) is what i have for the 20 ga. the land owner was out yesterday and got 6 but he said only two where in the trees, the other 4 where on the ground |
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Post by Purebred Redneck on Sept 2, 2007 17:14:16 GMT -5
I had the same problem at busch wildlife recently. My guess is either the freezing cold spring or the dry summer caused no nuts to produce. And the squirrels are being forced to try to dig up last year's accorns and other things on the ground. I got to tell you, it's VERY hard hunting.
My experience is that the smaller hickory and walnut trees will produce nuts when the big trees won't. So that's what I would look for. Probably along the field line too it seems unless you get a creek bottom that actually has water in it.
There's not by chance a corn field on this guy's property is there?
I've been hunting about 75 miles west of where you live. Seems like there are no walnuts or hickories but they are sure going after the green acorns. They are all up in the trees there. Different weather patterns I assume.
Good luck
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Post by jimh on Sept 3, 2007 16:21:45 GMT -5
ok, so the boy got one, should have had 4 but we're learning and proper/safe handling of the firearm is more impotant. Red there is nothing on the white oaks, nor the hickories. and the walnut trees are spoty at best. is it that early in the year or is the mass crop gonna be that piss poor this year? i was all set to take pictures but the camera comes up saying that the battery is dead. my son says , yea it said that last night too.   so no pictures but we had a great time. saw 6 squirrels and only one was in the trees. that one came home with us. well so did a couple of seed ticks too but we're not counting that in the harvest. and red, it was high brass #5 that he was shooting. did a dang fine job too. unlike his dad on rabbits (er, i mean Red) my son didn't blow it to shreds. |
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Post by Purebred Redneck on Sept 3, 2007 16:57:36 GMT -5
I went to hang treestands with the old man this morning/noon.
He killed 6 with a 20ga 870.
I killed 5 with my marlin 22 bolt - I probably saw about 15 (I only shot 5 shots too) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
In the last 4 weeks, dad and I killed 25 squirrels on about a 10 acre chunk of woods.
You're right, walnuts are pretty spotty. The green acorns (red oaks) are abundant where I was. That's all the squirrels were eating.
The deer are just tearing them up as well.
The squirrels will go after the walnuts in late june or early july and eat them until the hickory nuts are ripe (which there appears to be none this year). Right now they are eating nothing but green acorns which it's normally too early for those.
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Post by deputydon on Sept 4, 2007 8:39:50 GMT -5
What happend to your .17 HMR Red? I presume you don't have it sighted in yet. Or are you not quite ready for change ?
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Post by Purebred Redneck on Sept 4, 2007 22:30:17 GMT -5
It just needs a range session in a decent tempurature.
You know, I really don't mind tearing the squirrels up --- so the bullet it not the problem.
The problem right now is the noise it makes. Shooting at the range, I don't wear ear plugs when I shoot it. But in those thick leavy woods, it makes a pretty big crack and scares the hell out of the squirrels. Right now, it's too loud. And as thick as the woods are still, shots are fairly close under 40 yards.
Once the leaves are off the ground, I think this caliber will shine. I'm certainly not good enough to make a shot at 100 yards. But at like 60 yards (the distance where a 22 is in the begining process of falling fast), I think it's going to be an advantage for two reasons
1. trajectory
2. anchor power on a marginal hit that will give me time to get there
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