First day of squirrel season in TN-my friend Justin Strikes!

[Atchman2]

Justin and I went squirrel hunting before Church this morning. I had a plan in mind but someone beat us to the spot!



Well I'm home from Church and now for the rest of the story. Normally it is best to hunt squirrels from the top of the ridge down. I stopped short of a spot that I've seen squirrels before. As we were parking and getting our guns (I was using my Whisper in .177 and Jason his Marlin .22 automatic), a guy drove up and asked Justin if we had got any. Then he proceeded to drive his SUV right through our hunting spot.   

Next we went to where I knew there was a four-wheeler trail. I'd walked it last year but I know you can't go up that hill when it is wet or hot. Since I knew we couldn't walk up we went to the top of the ridge on the main road and walked down to the trail from atop the ridgeline.

About half way down two or three deer just bolt out of the brush! It was exciting to see them and makes me want to practice with my bow! As we got down the the trail the runs down the side of the ridge, there was a four-wheeler parked there-another hunter!  I've NEVER seen another hunter in the last couple of years and today we ran into TWO and both in my pet spots   

Back up the hill we went and I have to admit I was tired from that climb and the heat. We walked down the spot we were headed to first and there was nothing there. Justin and I got in my Durango and headed over to the bluff. There is a den tree there where I've seen them in February. We parked the car and went down to where I like to sit. All of the acorns and hickory nuts wash down the hill to this place.

Honestly I was resting.  My old body was worn out by hunting most of this week and the going out with Tim coyote hunting the day before. I looked at Justin and started to look where he was pointing his gun when two shots rang out! Down goes the Nutter!  The undergrowth is pretty thick there so when he was gone for awhile I was starting to worry. Then two more shots rang out and then another two. The guy with the four-wheeler must have gotten lucky as well. I figured Justin's shot startled his squirrels.

Anyway, Justin appeared a short time later with his squirrel. It wasn't edible as it had those sores on it from the fly larvae. We left it for the predators. It is the same spot where I feed the turkey buzzards raccoons after I skin them.

We walked around some more and I got more tired. It was time for Church so I had to split anyway. Justin stayed to hunt a little more. As I was driving back down the hill, I saw a flock of turkeys! I didn't even know they lived in those woods! I counted nine of them and they were mostly yearlings. 

I've never seen any coyotes there, but I have found canine tracks along the bluff before and scat. There are for certain raccoons there as there was ample evidence of them. We may try and call coyotes the next time before we start squirrel hunting.

It was fun hunting and I'm going to take Justin over to another spot I have that is really good for squirrels. It has lots of mature hardwoods and there isn't near as much undergrowth there.

Now I need a NAP!   

[Atchman2]

One of my friends wrote this on the local hunting forum:

Read on another forum that the hot morning and the moon being almost full at dawn made finding them yesterday difficult. Theory was the Squirrels were cutting just before dawn in the bright moonlight, once the sun came up and got hot fast, the squirrels packed it in. These guys seemed to think next weekend, the moon (or lack of) would lead to better hunting. We can only speculate on whether it will be cooler , I'd say not much if any.

Never thought about that!   

[dk1677]

Congrats to Justin!

[only1harry]

Good shooting.  How about some backyard squirrel action Randy?  You have plenty of squirrels on your property right?  Squirrels are very active and very hungry early in the morning.  Set up around 6am and you will seem them moving about everywhere shortly after.

[Atchman2]

I've been concentrating in the backyard getting it primed and pumped up for raccoons and possums!  I'll have to head to Wally World and get a big bag of deer corn for the nutters   They really haven't started moving in that last couple weeks, but with the Dogwood berries coming out, they will arrive in numbers! 

It is pretty dark here at 6 AM we live at the edge of the central/eastern time zone.  Our 7 is your 6 probably. 

I just went down a bit ago and wired three more chicken legs to the sign.  The Game Camera is setup and ready to record the night time festivities! 

I'm also getting all of my camera gear ready to go.  The Sony has the night time thing on it.  I really need to recruit a camera man for the the "Suburban Outdoorsman"  

[longislandhunter]

Enjoyed your hunt Randy.  The important thing is that you got out in the woods and joined with nature.  As for the other hunters, I've had that happen a few times but around here after the first week of the season the amount of hunters in the woods drops off drastically.  Since I'm retired I'm able to hunt during the week, when 99% of the hunters are working, so I rarely run into other hunters during weekdays but on the weekends it of course can get a bit "busy" in the woods.  I'm already looking forward to your next hunt.

Jeff

[only1harry]

I have been thinking about doing the same again this year with the chicken legs Randy.  I did it a couple of times last year.  I will be hanging them high though, so the skunks can't get to them, and the raccons and possums can work for it   I am hoping to attract another fox and maybe a Coyote with the Chicken.  I have seen the coyotes as close as 1/2 mile from my neighborhood so I know they are around.  Plus I found Coyote tracks in the snow around the bait site last winter, but there is a slight chance they were fox tracks, although I did a lot of research and I 'm confident they were coyote, because I found the fox tracks a few days later in the snow and they were slightly different and smaller.

[shadow]

Long as you get out there and take in some of Mother Nature all is good and if you score a harvest even better. Ed