So I looked at the weather forecast for this weekend at the beginning of the week. Sunny all weekend , with a gentle breeze, high of 71, and that was the perfect forecast for small game hunting!
I did some additional research and found that Ohio gives tons of info for hunters which can help them determine where to hunt. One of those resources, is the Ohio 18th Annual Acorn Mast Survey, which I attached to this post. This shows the percentage of trees that are producing acorns broken down by public hunting lands over the last 18 year's.
I used this information to find a public land location close to me to do some squirrel hunting, and boy oh boy, was that survey accurate!
At the end of too many work meetings, I decided to get back out and this time be prepared to hunt, even though most squirrel activity is in the morning, I grabbed the Messenger (my FX Maverick VP .30 cal), and went to see if I could get lucky. Even at 6pm, I was able to see several large gray and fox squirrel running along the forest floor like hippies at Woodstock! Squirrel fever set in, and I took a shot at a squirrel on the move, and hit branches instead of prey .
But that's okay, I'll come out in the morning, and have a blast right!?
Well, no! And that's because this weekend andnext weekend is OHIO YOUTH SMALL GAME HUNTING! I know I feel young at heart, but I doubt if I could pass for 17 years old to an ODNR officer!
And now you know why if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all!
In any case, it was great to see such beautiful Ohio fall colors on such a beautiful day!
View attachment acornmastsurvey.pdf
I did some additional research and found that Ohio gives tons of info for hunters which can help them determine where to hunt. One of those resources, is the Ohio 18th Annual Acorn Mast Survey, which I attached to this post. This shows the percentage of trees that are producing acorns broken down by public hunting lands over the last 18 year's.
I used this information to find a public land location close to me to do some squirrel hunting, and boy oh boy, was that survey accurate!
At the end of too many work meetings, I decided to get back out and this time be prepared to hunt, even though most squirrel activity is in the morning, I grabbed the Messenger (my FX Maverick VP .30 cal), and went to see if I could get lucky. Even at 6pm, I was able to see several large gray and fox squirrel running along the forest floor like hippies at Woodstock! Squirrel fever set in, and I took a shot at a squirrel on the move, and hit branches instead of prey .
But that's okay, I'll come out in the morning, and have a blast right!?
Well, no! And that's because this weekend andnext weekend is OHIO YOUTH SMALL GAME HUNTING! I know I feel young at heart, but I doubt if I could pass for 17 years old to an ODNR officer!
And now you know why if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all!
In any case, it was great to see such beautiful Ohio fall colors on such a beautiful day!
View attachment acornmastsurvey.pdf