How to Cash-in on the Squirrel Crop
Day 2: Where to Hunt Squirrels
Editor’s Note: Know how to change your squirrel-hunting luck. When you put more thought and better tactics into your squirrel hunting, you’ll end-up with more bushytails in your coat. Here’s how.
The successful squirrel hunter is a strategist. He feeds all the available information he can find into his hunting memory bank. Then he lays out a hunt plan that should produce a limit of squirrels. The most-important consideration for a successful hunt is most naturally to find squirrels to take. During the early season, most squirrels feed on mast – acorns, hickory nuts, pecans, beech nuts and butternuts. So, to find the squirrels, you must first locate the feed.
Just locating the right variety of trees does not ensure bushytail success. A close observation below the boughs of the trees should tell the tale on squirrels. If you find an abundance of freshly-cut nuts, you’re on the right track. Check several trees in the area. The more food available in one location, the more squirrels you are likely to find concentrated. And squirrel concentrations are the key to successful hunting. The less you have to move to pinpoint targets, the more likely you are to succeed. And although the adage, “Scouting does pay-off” is a well-worn-one – especially with bushytails – I like to find three good feeding spots within a few hundred yards of each other. Then if I have a hard time taking squirrels in one place, I can change locations quickly and hunt another spot. Although some squirrels feed all day, bushytails usually are most active from just before daylight until 2 hours after and then again for 2 hours before dark. Considering that you only have a few prime hours to hunt, an outdoorsman is wise to spend the greater part of his time in the regions with the most squirrels. For this reason, I think the three hot-spot technique works best when stalking or sitting for squirrels.
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