Squirrel hunting; Simple outdoor satisfaction

The special youth squirrel hunting season opened Oct. 11 wwas held earlier this month and general squirrel season opening on Oct. 18.
It’s easy to overlook this outdoor opportunity because hunting squirrels never gets the “hype” heaped on archery deer season and other hunting options soon to follow.
A cynical view would hold that such neglect of squirrel hunting is easy to explain. Outdoor marketers have never come up with a way to sell gear and gadgets to “enhance” this simple woodland pursuit. No technological aids need be applied to sitting quietly in the woods waiting for squirrels to forage within range. You don’t need calls, decoys, specialized sights, GPS, scouting cameras or even special clothes. The proven skills of moving quietly, remaining observant, shooting straight and knowing how to identify a few key tree species will yield success, as they always have.
Our region, with its extensive forests cloaking the eastern ridges, and patchwork of woodlots across the western hills is the ideal squirrel hunter’s landscape. Gray squirrels and fox squirrels are our two important squirrel species from a “game” standpoint, and each exploits a somewhat distinct habitat preference.
Gray squirrels tend to dominate the treetops across the deeper woods of the mountains, with fox squirrels more common in the lowland woodlots. But in recent years, perhaps as woodland has taken over more abandoned farmland, hunters do find both species just about anywhere.
The fox squirrel, arguably, is among our most handsome wildlife species. It’s our biggest squirrel, often twice the weight of a gray squirrel, and its rusty-orange coat shines with a warm gloss in the autumn sun. Interestingly, the fox squirrel shows amazing variation across its North American range. The same squirrel that sports an orange-red pelt here can be jet-black or silvery white along the Atlantic coast and across the Deep South. Scientists believe that fox squirrels retreated south before the advancing glaciers 12,000 years ago, then reclaimed territory as the glaciers melted back, evolving a variety of colors and patterns in the process. Gray squirrels, being less intimidated by the ice, held their ground to a greater extent and, thus, retained the same appearance throughout their range.
The much smaller red squirrel, often seen hoarding walnuts around homes and camps at this time of year, is not generally considered a game species of interest to hunters.
Nothing aids the squirrel hunter like knowledge of trees and where key species grow. Oak, beech and, especially hickory are squirrel magnets, at least in years when they produce heavy seed yields — acorns, beechnuts and hickory nuts, known to squirrel hunters as “hard mast.”
If you know a hickory stand heavy with nuts, there could well be a limit of squirrels in your future. Gray squirrels are also fond of wild grapes and can be found around the same thickets where you might flush a grouse.
When I was very young my grandfather often took me squirrel hunting.
He couldn’t hear well then but instructed me to listen for the patter of husk fragments that fell from high in the butter-yellow hickory crowns as squirrels cut open the nuts. When I’d pin-pointed a squirrel “cutting,” we’d sneak up quietly beneath that tree, then stand very still, waiting. Eventually the squirrel would show itself and offer a shot. Or, sometimes we’d employ an old ruse — one person moving noisily around to the other side of the tree while the other, holding the gun, remained still. Often the squirrel would evade the noise-maker and sidle around into the shooter’s view. To a kid inclined toward the outdoors, that was a simple, but satisfying, bit of teamwork.
Why hunt squirrels? Beside the pleasure of taking in the woods in fall, squirrels offer fine eating. Prepared with skill, their nutty, sweet flesh excels above other game, above domestic meat for that matter. Any simple stewing, roasting or frying recipe meant for chicken can be adapted to squirrels. Because nowadays we are so accustomed to slipping our meat out of Styrofoam and film, squirrels can seem somewhat tedious to skin and clean, but the rewards justify the effort.
Unavoidably perhaps in a more urban world, the number of squirrel hunters has plummeted in recent decades. According to Game Commission surveys, 350,000 Pennsylvanians considered themselves squirrel hunters as recently as 1991. That number had slipped to 150,000 by 2013.
The number of squirrels they bagged dropped from 1.6 million to 640,000 during that same span. Still, more state residents continue to hunt squirrels than any other small game.
Squirrel hunting remains the ideal avenue for introducing kids to the pleasures and satisfaction of safe, ethical hunting.
If there’s a youngster in your outdoor life, try and make some time to escort them into the oak and hickory woods this week.