First squirrel for fall 2024

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JimD

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Mar 27, 2021
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I've had a frustrating fall until yesterday morning. It is always slow around my house when the oaks still have their leaves but the few shots I had I missed. Or a twig deflected the pellet or the wind did. Finally yesterday morning about 7:40am I connected with this one pound one ounce female. She was 37 yards away and at an upward angle of 18 degrees (both from my range finder after the fact). It was just getting light and she made the mistake of sky lining herself with nothing between us. I was using my P35-177 which I prefer for upward shots because it's pellets carry the least. I was using H&N Baracuda Match pellets (10.6 grain) and the gun is tuned to send them at around 850 fps or a little better. This gun wears an Athlon Talos 6-24 which was set to 6X with the illumination on the lowest setting. It really helped in the low light. I hit her right at the base of the neck and the pellet did not exit. There were large blood clots on the top of both front legs but no holes in them. She fell immediately. She did not take even one step.

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JimD said:
Thanks. Another one has been by since but it hasn't presented itself for a shot yet. My dog is my near full time spotter. She gets very excited when she sees one. That is both good and bad. It tells me when to look but the squirrels hear her barking and the smart ones start running.
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@JimD I can understand the pros and cons of hunting squirrels with dogs. Mine like to run or walk heavy footed through the woods and it tends to have a similar effect on the squirrels. I shoot at the ones that remain once the dogs start barking. When the leaves fall and it gets cold, you'll have more visitors if you have a good mast crop this year. I see some oak leaves on the ground in your pic.
 
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A friend of mine has squirrel dogs. It is a complete different way to hunt, similar to coon hunting. But I walk my dogs every day through woods and we manage to shoot a few. You can't sit and hunt squirrels with a dog well, squirrels pick up the movement from the dog. I walk my dogs everyday around woods and carry my PCP. My Shepherd has learned to watch for squirrels and picks them up and will follow them until they tree or stop in a tree. So we walk and watch and I keep the dog up ahead of me. When the dog is looking up he has found one he won't bark.
 
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JimD said:
I've had a frustrating fall until yesterday morning. It is always slow around my house when the oaks still have their leaves but the few shots I had I missed. Or a twig deflected the pellet or the wind did. Finally yesterday morning about 7:40am I connected with this one pound one ounce female. She was 37 yards away and at an upward angle of 18 degrees (both from my range finder after the fact). It was just getting light and she made the mistake of sky lining herself with nothing between us. I was using my P35-177 which I prefer for upward shots because it's pellets carry the least. I was using H&N Baracuda Match pellets (10.6 grain) and the gun is tuned to send them at around 850 fps or a little better. This gun wears an Athlon Talos 6-24 which was set to 6X with the illumination on the lowest setting. It really helped in the low light. I hit her right at the base of the neck and the pellet did not exit. There were large blood clots on the top of both front legs but no holes in them. She fell immediately. She did not take even one step.

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Good work, I assume you did the appropriate ceremonies, facing the appropriate coordinates, at the appropriate solar time, heeding fieldty to Kukulkan? Please tell me you didn't neglect to appease the sun...
 
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Got another one with the same rifle yesterday. This one was sitting balled up on top of a chain link fence in front of an oak tree. I saw him from my recliner but wasn't sure it was a squirrel but I did not remember a lump on that tree so I got up and took a look through the scope. It was clearly a squirrel facing me. I loaded the 177 and took a shot. I am not if I hit him with that shot. He did not drop but just moved to the tree in a head down position. I fired again and he dropped. When I cleaned him there were more than one hole through him so it is possible both shots hit. But my dog got there first and likes to mouth them and her canines make holes too. She did not have it in her mouth when I got there, however, so I don't know. But either way dead squirrel. At least one pellet obviously went from the top of the squirrel to the underside of the chest. He was about 30 yards away, about the same horizontal distance away as the first one. Weighed a pound.

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JimD said:
Got another one with the same rifle yesterday. This one was sitting balled up on top of a chain link fence in front of an oak tree. I saw him from my recliner but wasn't sure it was a squirrel but I did not remember a lump on that tree so I got up and took a look through the scope. It was clearly a squirrel facing me. I loaded the 177 and took a shot. I am not if I hit him with that shot. He did not drop but just moved to the tree in a head down position. I fired again and he dropped. When I cleaned him there were more than one hole through him so it is possible both shots hit. But my dog got there first and likes to mouth them and her canines make holes too. She did not have it in her mouth when I got there, however, so I don't know. But either way dead squirrel. At least one pellet obviously went from the top of the squirrel to the underside of the chest. He was about 30 yards away, about the same horizontal distance away as the first one. Weighed a pound.

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And here is P-Nut pre autopsy.
 
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It isn't super surprising but I still prefer getting 3 squirrels in the first 7 days of November versus getting none in October. I shot this one with my P35-177 again using the same H&N Baracuda Match pellets. I hit her behind the shoulder as I think you will see but I am pretty sure it went up into her spine. She flipped around like a brain shot. Pellet did not exit. It would have on a side to side chest shot. Still go the lungs, she was bleeding foamy blood out her mouth. She dropped immediately. She weighed 10 ounces on my fishing scale and I ranged it at 22 yards at an upward 9 degree angle. The previous two I saw first but my dog saw this one first. It was on the ground when she saw it but ran a short distance up an oak and then stopped to look at us and I dropped her. She is in the freezer with the other two now. It was a lot easier to peel her skin off versus the two previous ones that were larger.

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I've never shot a fox squirrel. They are uncommon here. I would be confident in a brain shot with my 177 pushing 10.6 grain pellets 850-900 fps but I don't know about body shots. I've had to give a couple grey squirrels another pellet on body shots with this gun. The only one I've lost was a shot I should not have taken. I shot it in the ass with it facing away. It dropped but crawled off somewhere we could not find it and then I found the carcase later. If I knew I'd see fox squirrels I would take one of my 30+ fpe 22 caliber PCPs or my 40+ fpe 25s. I like to use them too but not so much around the house. The power is not necessary and the pellet will travel further if I miss. But I don't think I've lost a squirrel hit with my "big guns".
 
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Fox squirrels can take some punishment. I shot one square in the chest once with a Mini Mag HP. It turned around and ran back down the branch jumped onto another tree and that is where I found it. We use 22 LR subsonic HP's on them here and try for head shots. I shoot a few with a 50 fp 25 and it is enough gun. Even a 30 fp 22 cal is enough just need good hits.

I used to hunt rats at night with with my 124. You crept around with a red light through hog pin's. Shots were 5-25 feet. The H&N Match was the best stopper. The big wad-cutter front end really whopped them.
 
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It took about another week or so but I got a fourth for this fall, 15th for my P35-177 at 20 to 8 this morning. I looked out towards the 4 remaining oaks and saw small limbs wiggling more than a bird makes them move. Then I saw the squirrel, opened the window and picked up and loaded the gun. I almost got a shot when it was vertical headed down but it moved as I started to squeeze. It went to the ground where I could not see the body and then up on a small log where I got the shot. It hit the front of the chest a little off center and stopped under the skin on the top. I saw it, snapped a picture and recovered the pellet. Looks new. The squirrel collapsed immediately.

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