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A Squirrel hunt for the ages

D

Dan-MO

Well-known member
I remember having a hard time falling asleep the night before with the excitement of the next morning weighing on my mind.I was 10 years old that Mid-August night in 1965 and the next morning my dad was taking me squirrel hunting for the first time.

I was no stranger to the woods or hunting.God knows I ate,slept,and dreamed about hunting.Hundreds of English sparrows ,chipmonks,,lizards,frogs and,snakes had fallen to my deadly aim with my Daisy Red Ryder BB gun over the last couple of years and I developed my reading skills with the monthly copies of Fur-Fish-and Game magazines I pestered mom to buy for me each month a new issue was displayed at the grocery store.But tomorrow would be different. Tomorrow after months of begging,dad had agreed to let me hunt with a REAL gun and earlier that evening I had cleaned and oiled up dad
 
It reminded me of my Dad taking me too! We went pheasant hunting, and I started out using apop gun! LOL And the night before, I would be so excited that I would literally be sick! he would give me a shot of whiskey and honey and lemon, it tasted horrible but I guess it got me to sleep!
 
i bet you enjoyed being out with your dad as much as the hunt.it was kind of a rite of passage,you had stepped over a line of sorts.
 
and I'm sure your son will look back on his "First" hunt the same!

Dave
 
I envy your relationship with your father.

I enjoyed this post.

I now think of all the thousands of sparrows, blackbirds, frogs etc I killed as a kid and it bothers me now. Strange. At the time it seemed like the most natural thing for a boy to do but now I would just as soon watch and feed them.

Last summer a huge flock of Grackles came in and were swarming over my feed pile and I got my pellet gun out and killed one. That bothered me and it suprised me. I went out and tossed it over the hill but it looked so beautiful. A dang Grackle beautiful. Who would have thunk it? I must be changing in my old age.
 
For a large part of my life hunting was all I thought of,I truly loved to go.For the last several years I seldom go at all.Don't get me wrong,I have no problem at all with the legal harvest of game and still go turkey hunting and squirrel hunting with my son once or twice a year,but at this point in my life I get more satisfaction out of just observing and watching than shooting game.Thanks for your comments
 
game that is given me but I just don't have the heart to kill them myself. Oh I could probably shoot a deer but not one of MY deer. There were 10 in my back yard last night and wait until you see the picture I just took of the biggest bunch of turkey I ever saw up here.
 
What do you do with squirells? Up here, now, grey squirells are considered a pest and you can shoot as many as you want. I just let the raptors go and if the catch one, fine. Most of the time, they just get to bark and harrass the squirells. However, back in '65, were they pests? Did you eat them? Just never heard of squirell hunting!!

calm seas

M
 
We have Gray squirrels and Fox squirrels.The grays get to be a couple of pounds and I have seen old Fox squirrels that weighed close to 5.When I lived in Northern Indiana they have a small short tailed squirrel that they called gray that was considered a pest.We do not have them here.

Squirrel hunting has long been a tradition here in the Ozarks and most of the U.S.They are among our most popular small game-millions of people hunt them every year.A properly prepared squirrel from a hardwood forest is fine eating.I have taken them from pine forests that were unfit to eat due to the diet they had eaten.

I don't get them much these day but ate hundreds of them as a boy.My mother-grandmother cooked them many ways-squirrel & dumplings,and my favorite-fried with homemade gravy and biscuts
 
gives me pleasure too Dan. Ive been on many of those hunts with a savvy hunter like your Dad. I went with my Dad and you are right; only a whisper and you are up.

Thanks for a good story!

Lil Brother:)
 
n/t
 
rats with furry tails and good pr agents :)

fair winds

M
 
mom cooked them both ways, and I remember how good they were way back then. I have not eaten any since I grew up, but back then I must have liked them!

I have never eaten muskrat or possum, but in one of mothers cook books there is a recipe for both of them!

What a story! What wonderful memories! I'm sure your father smiled down on you! He knew he was "making memories"! I, too, remember going squirrel hunting with my daddy. And I was a girl!!!

I am ever so thankful for the memories! Thanks for sharing yours, because related to all the sounds and smells you did ! :)
 
Good one Dan. My dad never hunted but there was an old gentleman, Mr. Virde Pickle, who lived down the road that took me squirrel and rabbit hunting. Your story brought back some good memories.
 
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