As daylight broke the horizon, I stepped into the woods. It rained the night before, and everything was wet. But the rain didn’t dampen my spirits, instead, I was excited for this morning.
I stood by, listening intently for a telltale sign. I heard raindrops fall to the ground from a nearby tree that broke the silence. A gray squirrel had jumped from one limb to another–looking for its breakfast.
I rested the rifle against a tree, found the squirrel’s head in the crosshair and squeezed the trigger. At the report of the rifle, the squirrel dropped to the ground. I was one step closer to squirrel and dumplings for dinner.
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Hunting squirrels with a rimfire rifle is one of my favorite ways to hunt. Unlike turkey or deer season where you must jockey for a place to hunt, squirrel season is different. You often get the hunting area to yourself.
Squirrel season opens in early summer in most states. In my home state of Missouri, it begins the Saturday before Memorial Day. It takes place until mid-February. I’ve also noticed squirrel season goes virtually unnoticed by hunters. By the time the season begins, it is already hot, bugs are everywhere and many other events happen during the summer that compete for hunters’ attention.
For me, squirrel season serves double duty. Not only am I out hunting squirrels, but I hunt the same areas later in the year for fall turkey and deer seasons. I use my squirrel days to also scout the woods I plan to hunt in the fall.
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There are two different species of squirrels in my area: fox squirrels and gray squirrels. The fox squirrel is a bit larger than the gray, but both are fun to hunt and both equally good table fare.
How To Hunt Squirrels
Squirrels are not the pushovers you might think they are. Squirrels are a tough quarry.
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For example, when I hunt deer, I get into position in a tree-stand for a better vantage point. Not only do squirrels live in trees, they are also experts at detecting danger, no matter whether it’s above or beneath them. Because of squirrels’ acuity, I dress with camouflage when hunting them. The most critical parts of my squirrel camouflage is the net I wear around my head and my gloves. My head and my hands are what move the most in the field. My head net also keeps annoying flying insects out of my face too.
Armed with a rimfire rifle, I slowly still-hunt through a stand of timber. On my hunts, I stand and listen more than I walk. More specifically, I like to take my time looking and listening for any squirrel that is dropping the part of some nut he’s not eating–like hulls or nut shells. Hunters call this type of “evidence” cuttings. The best way to hunt squirrels is to find their food source.
Calling Squirrels
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Squirrels can be located with a squirrel call. Calls come in two main types: one that mimics a squirrel “barking,” and another that replicates a baby squirrel in distress. I’ll always carry both, but if the action is busy I’ll skip them. Using the calls often makes squirrels bark, which gives away their position. Once a squirrel spots you, there’s not much time to shoot until it disappears.
Early in the season, I’ll look for mulberry trees because squirrels like to congregate around them because they bear fruit. Squirrels will also eat buds and fruit in the early season. Once late summer comes around, squirrels start to find hickory nuts. Because they’re messy eaters, squirrels drop cuttings which gives their position away rather easily. There is nothing more fun than standing under a hickory tree armed with a .22 rimfire while squirrels are cutting hickory nuts.
Rifles for Squirrel Hunting
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Most squirrel hunting is done with rimfires or shotguns. Personally, I don’t care to dig pellets out of my squirrel meat. My caliber of choice is the .22 Long Rifle, though if the squirrels are wary, I will use .22 Short for noise reduction.
Squirrels are tough, but a shot in the head will tumble them to the ground. Rifle-action doesn’t matter much for squirrel hunting. It’s much more important that the rifle is sighted in and accurate.
How accurate? A squirrel’s head is roughly the size of a golf ball, and a rifle ought to group all shots into a target that size at 35 yards. It’s possible to take longer shots, but I prefer a short shot any time it’s possible.
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It’s possible to hunt squirrels with open-sighted rifles, but my old eyes prefer a scope. A squirrel scope needs not be expensive, it just needs to hold zero. I prefer a 4x scope at the bare minimum, but my preference gravitates more towards 2×7 or 3×9 variable scopes. A simple second focal plane thin wire reticle (with or without) illumination suffices for squirrel hunting.
For many years, my squirrel gun was a target rifle mounted with a 6.5×20 riflescope. That gun was very hard on the local squirrel population. Anytime I pulled the trigger, a squirrel met its fate.
Wrapping It Up
Squirrel hunting ammunition doesn’t need to be expensive. Even though many hunters use hollow points, I prefer solid bullets. Again, what ultimately matters in squirrel hunting is accuracy and shot-placement. It’s something that ultimately depends on the rifle and scope combination. In this case, the ammunition just needs to work well with that rifle. This is why I also like to try various kinds of rimfire ammunition and spend a decent amount of time at the range any time I get my hands on a new squirrel gun. It’s worth investing the time to determine which load shoots best in that rifle.
Break out your .22, get a couple boxes of cartridges and go after some bushy tails. Depending on where you hunt, you might even get a little pre-season scouting action. And with a little luck, maybe you’ll bag enough squirrels to enjoy some squirrel-and-dumplings.
