Too much testosterone led to this "nutter's" demise

[Hey man!]

I was sitting in my living room with my wife, just watching the Panthers play lousy football, when this guy started making a racket in a tree right outside the window.

You know... that repetitive, wheezy sound they make when they're not happy about something.

I got up and walked out onto the porch, scanning the trees for the source of the sound.  Ahreeee!  Ahreeee!  Ahreee!  Then, when he saw me, a short, staccato bark followed by rapid chatter.  I don't know what got him started to begin with, but he became even more agitated when he saw me.

It didn't take but a few seconds for me to see him, about 30 feet up on a branch in an Oak tree..

I walked back inside to get the Trail, loading up with a CPHP on my way back, listening to him wheezing out there the whole time.  When I came out onto the porch the second time, he stopped wheezing at me, and started running along the branch.  When he came to the end of it, he leapt onto the base of a taller, adjacent Hemlock, and started up.  I thought he's started running, and that I wouldn't get a shot, but he didn't go far- stopping on a branch with a big knot at the base, about 45 feet up, where he flattened himself out a bit and resumed his wheezing!

Most of his body and tail was pressed against the top and far side of the knot, running lengthwise along the branch, but his upper body and head was on my side of the branch, basically presenting me with the side of his head and shoulder for a shot.

I squeezed the tuna trigger and let one fly, and was pleased to hear the THWAP! of the pellet striking flesh.  He immediately fell out of the tree and struck the ground, where he twitched for about 15 seconds before becoming still.  The pellet struck him just behind the cheek, right in the neck.

Not to be weird or anything, but check out the equipment on this guy.  You can actually see them in the first picture, too, even though the camera is directly over head.  They must have been...  producing so much testosterone that he literally couldn't keep his mouth shut to save his life.

[dk1677]

Nice shooting!

[Furseeker]

Great shot, with gun and camera.

[only1harry]

Nice shooting!  He had the classic positon where they get down very low, flat with the branch, to present a much smaller profile, but they still feel the need to watch you, so their partial or entire head will usually be visible and sometimes with their neck or part of their shoulder. 

Yes, they chatter a lot or "bark" as we say at anything that moves around this time of year.  I am pretty sure it has to do with the testosterone and the size of their "nuts" because males do it a lot more than females.  More than 90% of the squirrels I shot that were chattering or barking at me (or a cat), were male.  A couple of years ago there was a thread in which some of us compared squirrel kills/pics to see which one had the biggest "nuts".  I was the proud winner of the biggest squirrel "nuts"   You may have that title now though  

[1377x]

nice shooting!

[shadow]

Great shooting and pic's and those male Squirrels will bark at you because your on their turf or warning the others. Ed

[Hey man!]

Only1harry,

That's too funny.  Now I don't feel like such a weirdo posting a picture of his nuts!  It's just that they seemed HUGE, and since I have only recently taken up squirrel hunting, don't have much experience in the gender identification of squirrels.  I've bagged a couple of females, too, but they didn't just sit in the tree chattering at me.

[jonny.177.22]

he had balls alright, HUGE ones! yes, i think this one wanted to tell you about the mating season, but he ended up telling the wrong one!

[a1Bogey]

At one time I thought only the males barked.  But recently, 2 squirrels that I shot while barking turned out to be females.   Maybe were just b*tching???

Perhaps Males just bark more often.

Bogey