October 29, 2020

Some of the fondest memories I have as a young outdoorsman is of going squirrel hunting in the back 40 acres of an Ohio farmstead. I was never one of those guys who managed to get out at first light in pursuit of morning squirrels. One other thing that I was missing was any sort of mentor at all. I had a father at home, but he was an executive at an excavating company and trained horses part time. Forays out into the wilderness were few and far between for him and mostly involved the seeking of a lost farm animal. He cared nothing about hunting. I don't to this day know what drew me to the wilderness, but something did. It started, I think, when I discovered the joy of Jack London books.
In any event, I discovered young the best way to hunt squirrels, and how to do it in a way that is sure to help you bag your limit. The trick is to do it during deer season, and pretend that you're hunting deer. There have been days that I spent sitting silently in the woods for hours, squirrel hunting, and I won't see any squirrels or even any signs of squirrels. However, every single time I've gone deer hunting I've been accosted by squirrels in such a way that it becomes uncanny; even to the point of having one perch on the barrel of my Hawken rifle.
So this year I'm going to take my grandpa's old military surplus WWII era tent and set it up on the 8 acre woodlot I keep for hunting camp, tree stands and all. But this time I'm going to have field tips on all of my arrows... I'll let you know how it goes.