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9/21/05

Squirrel Hunting, Then and Now

While grandma, the moms and dads, aunts and uncles gathered inside the old farmhouse, a handful of the older cousins would grab a couple of .22s and head for the grove out back.

The woodlot was no more than an acre or so of mature mast trees but to us it could just as well have been the Ozark Mountains. As we stepped into that grove, we instantly became Daniel Boone, Davey Crockett and assorted other frontiersmen of note. Instead of grizzly bears, however, we were on the watch for squirrels, gray and fox.

For kids of previous generations, stalking squirrels was often how they received their introduction to the world of hunting. Heck, back in the 50's and 60's it was even common to see squirrel and raccoon tails tied to car radio antennas. It's a different story today. As recently as 1979, hunters were taking between 400,000 and 500,000 gray and fox squirrels annually. Over the past few years, the total harvest has dropped to about half that number.

The reasons are likely several: lack of opportunity in terms of connections with rural landowners with places to hunt and adults to take them, competing interests vying for a youngster's free time, and other fall hunting opportunities for the more "glamorous" game species such as deer, pheasant and waterfowl.

The other day, as I sat in a chair and studied the remarkable number of gray hairs that were falling into my lap, the conversation turned to hunting. The young lady cutting my hair, I knew, is a hunter. What I didn't know is that squirrel is her favorite quarry.

"It really doesn't matter much if I don't get a squirrel," she said. "What's really great is just being out walking around in the woods in the fall. I love it."

Those who savor any opportunity to explore an autumn woods before the winds of winter howl, or who is looking for an opportunity to teach a young person about woodsmanship, gun safety, marksmanship, and wildlife, should consider squirrel hunting.

Squirrel hunting need not be complicated or expensive. Camo clothing is fine but not necessary. A pair of blue jeans and sweatshirt can work as well. An old single-shot .22 is sufficient and also a good way to ingrain in a young person the importance of not taking "iffy" shots at any game. Some squirrel hunters like to sit, others prefer walking. Dawn and dusk, as with most wild game, are the best times to be afield. Consider introducing a kid to nature's ways via squirrel hunting. And while you're out there, you can impress your young companion with the following squirrel facts:

1. A gray squirrel can hide 25 nuts in a half an hour and can later find roughly 80 percent of those it buried. Squirrels have been seen digging through a foot of snow to find their buried food.

2.  The squirrel's tail serves as an umbrella. It puts it up to stay dry when eating nuts in the rain or snow.

3.  Like other animals in the group called rodents, a squirrel's teeth never stop growing. That is necessary because a rodent is always chewing and gnawing; if the teeth stopped growing they would soon be ground down to nothing.

4.  Squirrels prefer to live in tree cavities but will build nests if suitable cavities are not available. They begin by placing leafy twigs in the fork of a tree, then add leaves, grass and small twigs.

5.  While squirrels prefer to eat nuts and seeds, they will also eat pine cones, berries, grain, mushrooms, insects, spring buds, flowers on trees and shrubs - and baby birds!

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