I missed the opening day of squirrel season bck in August. That would never have happened when I was growing up. Opening day was almost as good to me as Christmas and the last day of school each year!
Back then opening day was much later, usually in early October, if I remember right. I could not wait for it to open, always on a Saturday back then. I would be up before daylight and sitting under my favorite white oak tree as it slowly got light enough to see.
I usually carried the Remington .22 semiautomatic rifle I got for by 12th birthday and had its “high capacity” 17 round magazine full of long rifle bullets. I prided myself on marksmanship, being able to hit a squirrel in the chest just right to not mess up any meat.
Some of my friends shot squirrels in the head, but even though I was a good shot, I knew a miss just 2 inches the wrong way would blow its jaw off, sentencing it to a slow painful death. And I would not get to eat it if I made a bad shot, so I stuck with the high percentage chest.
Later in the season when leaves were off the trees I carried my .410 shotgun. With no leaves, I could see the tree rats better and often run to them to “tree” them, but the squirrels could see me better, too. And they often would not stay treed but would run, so I wanted my shotgun to have a better chance of hitting a moving target.
We ate every tree rat I killed. Mama would cook them in a variety of ways, from country frying young ones to making squirrel stew or squirrel dumplings with older ones. And BBQ squirrel was always good.
With the way things are going, I am glad there are lots of squirrels around my house and I know how to kill, clean and cook them!
Kids now-a-days miss out by not going squirrel hunting. Deer hunting is exciting, but so is squirrel hunting and you can kill 12 each day, so you get a lot more shooting. And you learn hunting and shooting skills, as well as safety, chasing them.
Take a kid squirrel hunting. You may be surprised how much fun it is for both of you.