SquirrelZilla -UPDATED WITH BETTER PICS-

[abqjoe]

Those new pics really show how big and thick he really is! Thanks for taking the time to take the pics!

You're welcome. Kinda weird, this is the first time I've shot a squirrel with a camera and not a rifle. Maybe because he's old and I'm getting older I choose to leave him be. Life's not easy........

 

[Franklink]

So I got a better look at SquirrelZilla today through a pair of binoculars from within 20 yards and yeah, this guy is big and old. He's actually really cool! As I observed him, and he observed me lol, I couldn't help but notice how covered in scars he is! I mean this guy has probably survived cat attacks, dog attacks, hawk attacks, and maybe even escaped a coyote or two in his life. I'm gonna leave this one alone, I think he's earned it.

He looks like the same species we have here, which makes sense, considering I'm only about 4hr drive from you. They ARE destructive little dudes, digging down under and around foundations, etc. They like to sit up on top of brush piles and old tire piles on my uncles farm. They camo so good laying along a tree branch in a brush pile! The older/bigger ones around here are also all scarred up, and even start to lose hair around their face as they get old. They also get more gray, like humans, as they get old. I've always assumed the scarring was from battling other squirrels, for mating rights and such, but I don't have any proof of that.

The oldest, crustiest dudes like that will have a set of balls on them that look like two big human big toes. They're loaded, relative to their body mass.

In the spring they have a small litter that hangs close to mom til they're more than half-grown. Seems like it's always 3 young ones. She teaches to be cautious very early in life. More than once I've been surprised to find (in the scope) a tiny little head with an even tinier eye looking at me with only that eye and the top 1/2 inch of their head visible.

These ground squirrels, (rock squirrels) are mean little cusses too. My farmer uncle will trap em cuz they're so destructive. He's always had a couple jack russell terriers around and he'll turn the squirrels loose from the havahart and the jack russels take care of them. It's usually a big dust ball of commotion, the dogs usually get bit up around the face but they'll run in, grab the squirrel, give it a vicious shake or three, and then let go and yelp when the squirrel gets a chunk of dog in his incisors. Then it'll repeat. For as mean and vicious as the squirrels are, the jack russell terriers hold true to their breed being great ratters and always win the war, despite losing a battle or two on the way to victory.

They'll sure mess up gardens and crops too. I've seen them run up corn stalks and ride it down if it's not strong enough to support them, either way they'll neatly snip off the cob and carry it back to their dens.

My buddy Rex used to do a bunch of farming before becoming a taxidermist, so he dealt with these little punks on a regular basis too. He put it best when he told me that "ground squirrels are a true airgun trophy." He was of course alluding to the fact that they're VERY cautious and VERY tough. Takes a perfect shot to anchor one, strong will to survive they've got. I've popped em solid in the vitals and arrived at the site of the pellet/squirrel interaction only to find enough blood that you'd think something got slaughtered, yet no squirrel in sight, just a voluminous trail of blood to their nearest hole (again, relative to their body size). Head shots if you want to see your prize, with these tough sons a guns.