Squirrel hunting has changed around here

[ray1377]

Case in point. Back in the day, when I was younger you could stalk through the woods and ease up on squirrels and get close enough to shoot them with an airgun. Then later on in my hunting I realized that when you were up in a tree stand that the squirrels practically paid you no mind at all and went around underneath you without a care in the world. Hence the reason I started carrying carbine airguns with me while I deer hunt. Because everybody knows when you only have a deer rifle with you that your gonna see tons of squirrels and when you have an airgun your gonna see tons of deer. It's murphys nature law I guess. Well I had something happen to me the past 3 times I've been "squirrel" hunting. I was in the tree stand and any squirrels I saw were well out of airgun range and never came close enough for me to take a shot. Another thing, I was hunting late this afternoon and about an hour before dark I heard a squirrel in the leaves about 50 yards in front of me. I looked and saw him moving across the ground toward me. I reached for my Prod and I guess he saw me move and froze behind a tree. I looked through the scope and and I promise I'm not making this up. He was peeking around the tree looking at me. I'm in full camo head to toe plus a camo face covering. He watched me for like 20 seconds and then turned and went flying back up in the woods directly away from me. Crazy thing is these woods haven't been hunted in like 15 years. Back in the day, squirrels would climb the nearest tree and either hide from you or bark at you. Nowadays they all do the same thing, run like their tails are on fire. Way to fast get a shot at with an airgun, or a shotgun either for that matter. I could understand this behavior if this place had been over hunted weekend after weekend. But this puzzles me as to how or why these squirrels seem so dang wary and ready to run. Even stranger is about two months ago when I hunted deer in this stand I remember counting 6 squirrels at one time without moving me head, just looking forward I could see that many moving around below me at once. They didn't seem to mind me being in the tree stand then so I wonder what happened?

Thx
Ray

[Blowpipe Sam]

I don't know if you are hunting public or private land or when your squirrel season opens.  Around here the squirrels on public land are pretty warry and the ones on private land are getting that way by this time of winter.  The leaves are off the trees and that naturally makes them more cautious plus the ones that are still alive have all been shot at.  I was getting two or three an outing at the beginning of winter now I'm lucky to see one.  Midwinter hunting for small game is always slow here.  I depend on bait stations on my permission this time of year.

[ray1377]

I don't know if you are hunting public or private land or when your squirrel season opens.  Around here the squirrels on public land are pretty warry and the ones on private land are getting that way by this time of winter.  The leaves are off the trees and that naturally makes them more cautious plus the ones that are still alive have all been shot at.  I was getting two or three an outing at the beginning of winter now I'm lucky to see one.  Midwinter hunting for small game is always slow here.  I depend on bait stations on my permission this time of year.

Private land, not public. I understand totally about the beginning of season vs. the end. I'm like you now, used to see a bunch, now lucky to see one. May be doing better if I switch to rabbit hunting

Thx
Ray

[Mzq284]

I think the difference is that when deer hunting you sat motionless. When you reached for your gun your arm mightve looked like a hawk or owl stretching a wing. They're used to seeing predator birds in trees. Treat them like hunting deer, it might help.

[Back_Roads]

 I think it depends on what kind of day the squirrels are having

[smythsg]

Take a bird feeder with you to the woods... I can't keep them off mine, always several at a time 

[Motorhead]

Out West ... Around here we need to Cull out the invasive Red / Fox squirrels as they push out our native Greys.
While The Greys are indifferent and run around on the ground, chase one another round & round, up & down the trees while your watching and well within shooting distances .. The Red / Fox squirrels
will have no part of it and hide or run soon as they spot you ... well 75% of the time at least
Shooting these little buggers is a game of AMBUSH or dumb luck on there part stopping and tail flicking about to dart off again.  Getting one is VERY rewarding 

[ray1377]

Take a bird feeder with you to the woods... I can't keep them off mine, always several at a time 

Don't think I haven't thought about that. But baiting in our state illegal. So there's that
I've always wondered what it must be like to live in the UK where you can hunt squirrels year round over bait , must be nice!
I'm about to agree with James, must be the squirrels just having a weird day I guess.
Scott, back in the day there were tons of "fox" squirrels around our parts mixed in with the greys. I can't tell you the last time I saw a big red fox squirrel.
I think one of the problems I'm having is now that I'm an old man, I long for how it was when I was a kid and it just ain't so. Oh well, adapt and overcome.

Thx
Ray

[Motorhead]

Take a bird feeder with you to the woods... I can't keep them off mine, always several at a time 

Don't think I haven't thought about that. But baiting in our state illegal. So there's that
I've always wondered what it must be like to live in the UK where you can hunt squirrels year round over bait , must be nice!
I'm about to agree with James, must be the squirrels just having a weird day I guess.
Scott, back in the day there were tons of "fox" squirrels around our parts mixed in with the greys. I can't tell you the last time I saw a big red fox squirrel.
I think one of the problems I'm having is now that I'm an old man, I long for how it was when I was a kid and it just ain't so. Oh well, adapt and overcome.

Thx
Ray

Same here ... in my youth the Bull Frogs were in dang near every pond or backwater, Pheasants galore down in the valley, Mourning doves that clouded the sky in late summer.

The Herons & Egrets bounced back from DDT spraying decades previous & the FROGS never stood a chance upon there return in mass !!
The Pheasants got hunted out where clubs established seasonal areas .. now most are farm raised & planted for the hunters.
The Doves .. no idea, but there is a fraction of them around any more making hunting them a waste of time & effort.

[smythsg]

+1 for the good ole days!!!

[Hoosier Daddy]

Here the Grays are only in "town".
 Out here in the stix there are Reds and Fox.
Fox and Grays have a season... but you can shoot Reds all year long. Lil Boogers are horrible!
 I have given Fox squirrels a pass for a couple years because they were so rare... but now they are back in droves!
All Red's must be eliminated upon sight.

[Blowpipe Sam]

Down here the urban areas are over populated with squirrels. Tallahassee is a city of trees and as a kid I was encouraged to shoot squirrels year round by my horticulturist grandfather.  It helped that he was the head of the Florida Department of Agriculture's legal division.  I would sit in his huge formal garden with the Crosman 1400 he bought me and some days I would bag as many as three squirrels.  Not bad for a kid using iron sights and the awful Crosman pellets of those days.  Whatcha call a "target rich environment".  We had a similar situation on the family farm in Alabama.  Quail abounded and we were allowed to hunt them year round.

I left this part of Florida in 1984 and did not return for over 35 years.  There's less game, less fish and more people than when I left.   

[longislandhunter]

Like you whenever I'm sitting in a tree stand deer hunting I routinely have squirrels all around me, some so close I've actually moved on purpose in order scare them away cause I thought they were going to come climbing up my tree and I didn't feel like having a "face to face" experience.  However when I go back to the same locations with one of my air rifles to target the squirrels they suddenly become super wary and even though I'm in full camo and sitting motionless on the ground or on my tree seat they spot my 9 out of 10 times and immediately start running at top speed and are gone in a flash.   Very frustrating to say the least.  I've thought several times of bringing my tree stand with me and hunting the nutters from it but I really enjoy being able to move through the woods when I'm hunting squirrels so I've never dragged the climber with me.   Before the season closes I may try the tree stand squirrel approach at least once and see what happens.  I can't legally bring an air rifle with me when I'm deer hunting because in NY an air rifle is legally classified as a "firearm" when you are hunting small game with it and the bowhunting regulations clearly state that you cannot posses any firearms while you are bow hunting.   

Jeff

[Blowpipe Sam]

I carry a cheap folding camp stool from a big box store.  It has a shoulder strap.  If I startle one squirrel into running away there usually are more that froze at my approach.  I’ll walk to a likely spot and sit.  Usually within two to five minutes any squirrels that froze when I appeared will start to move to better concealed positions.  That’s when I’ll get a shot.  Then sit patiently for up to twenty minutes in that spot.  If I don’t move I’ll sometimes get a more wary squirrel to reveal itself.  After twenty minutes without seeing or hearing squirrels I’ll move on to another likely spot.

[Struckat]

Here the Grays are only in "town".
 Out here in the stix there are Reds and Fox.
Fox and Grays have a season... but you can shoot Reds all year long. Lil Boogers are horrible!
 I have given Fox squirrels a pass for a couple years because they were so rare... but now they are back in droves!
All Red's must be eliminated upon sight.

Yes sir, reds must be shot on sight. They will run all the other outa town and then move into your garage.

[ray1377]

I carry a cheap folding camp stool from a big box store.  It has a shoulder strap.  If I startle one squirrel into running away there usually are more that froze at my approach.  I’ll walk to a likely spot and sit.  Usually within two to five minutes any squirrels that froze when I appeared will start to move to better concealed positions.  That’s when I’ll get a shot.  Then sit patiently for up to twenty minutes in that spot.  If I don’t move I’ll sometimes get a more wary squirrel to reveal itself.  After twenty minutes without seeing or hearing squirrels I’ll move on to another likely spot.

In years past I've done that very same tactic. With good results I might add. But it just seems this year the squirrels are all on edge 100% of the time. Back when they were rutting you might could get a shot because their minds were preoccupied with other things if you catch my drift. But not now at this particular time of year, they are just strange.
Thx
Ray

[Bicycleman]

A couple of years ago, the squirrels' population crashed in my hunting area.  (Reason unknown.)  For about six week, I hunted without seeing a single squirrel.  It took a two years for the population to recover.  This time of year [around the end of December and beginning of January], there is usually a slowdown in squirrel activity around here.  YMMV  Activity usually picks up again as the weather starts warming with as the end of winter nears.
Hang in there and hunt.

[Hoosier Daddy]

I see a lot of nests in the trees but no activity lately... even the Dawg is perplexed.

[bear air]

Ray it is hard to say what's up with the squirrels there. My first thought was a predator bird or birds perhaps. I hate to say it but those little tree rats are smarter than we think lol. Anyways I was just thinking the other day how the wild life has some what petered out around here too. Fishing same.

[Blowpipe Sam]

Google "Great squirrel migration".  I ain't kidding.