Im bored i guess but the thought did cross my mind...
Whats your stickbow set up for squirrel and do you use any squirrel calls? I was on a call makers website and saw his bellows style squirrel calls and wondered if they'd work with bow ( being close to bottom of tree i suppose)
Any opinions?
Seldom hunt them anymore, but when I did, I used my standard deer set up. Used steel blunts for shots in trees, small broadheads for shots on the ground. Gave up using flu-flu arrows. Squirrels are tough critters, and the flu-flus often don't hit hard enough to kill. Never found it necessary to use calls, though I suspect they work in the right hands.
Yep, same. No calls, steel small game heads, and I just wander thru the woods until I see 'em, then just try to sneak up close enough to get a shot...
...Except when there's too many in the back yard under the bird feeder-then I just whack 'em from our kitchen slider, & haul 'em down to the pasture across the road to feed the turkey vultures ("buzzards gotta eat, same as the worms..." I once heard ;) )
I also use my carbon shafts instead of aluminum so they won't get bent up! :thumbsup:
I have shot squirrels before and my set up was wood shafts with single full feather spiral fletch for squirrels up to 30' to 40' in a tree, farther than that, a 6 fletch with heavy helical. For a head my favorite was an old TradGang invention called a ""nutter, a 3/8" hex nut threaded on the tapered end. I would thread it with about 1/4" of the taper protruding and soak that end with super glue to harden it up. The extended taper would give some penetration as the nut gave the thump.
Used to. One rig was a Dick Palmer Hunter longbow (basically a ML10 with the limbs reworked to trapezoidal) and wood flu-flus with GameNabber (I think that was the name - might have been TigerClaw) tips. Also carry blunts when deer hunting and have popped squirrel with them. One of the best shots I ever made was a red squirrel running along a felled hamlock trunk at around 20 yards. His tail was on my back quiver for years . . . until I left it where a cat could reach it. I also loke the glue-on Ace Hex Heads. Very effective.
Had a neighbor when I lived "closer in" who owned 200 acres behind our house. He was in his 90's and I had permission to hunt his land so long as I brought him four dressed grey squirrels annually. He made them into delicious pot pies.
Never had an official call, but at some point someone showed me how to attract them by clicking the edge of a quarter aganst another laid flat in your palm. Sometimes worked to get them in. Curiosity, or maybe it sounded like another squirrel chewing nuts?
I hunted them a lot when I was younger. Now I will take a shot when they venture close enough to my deer stand.
I use Ace blunts or a broadhead if I'm shooting toward the ground. Never cared for fluflu arrows as I felt they drained too much energy from the arrow. Squirrells are tough critters.
Otherwise I used to take a back quiver full of old, misc arrows with blunts on them and didn't care if they got lost. I have too many arrows.
In western WA the grey squirrel is protected. :biglaugh: They are a pest along with several other critters. When I had a few bird feeders, the squirrels, racoons and possums would raid the feeders and knock the feeders down, which resulted in a big mess. My two dogs, did not care for the squirrels and were able to catch a few trying to escape over the fence. After I took the feeders down they ceased to be a problem and their fleas were gone too. If I lived in Eastern WA, where there is no restriction, I would put out the feeders and shoot the squirrels. But, I would rather hunt rabbits. quail, grouse and other small game in season.
thanks everyone for the posts, I did go after them before I think I used 38 special casings an we"d put #9 lead shot inside first with some hot glue then put the un tapered arrow in. I think the casings bounced off trees better but at the time we were shooting pretty heavy bows,,,,, now I think anything I use would bounce off trees. I was more curious about the calls or the shaking the two nickles in the hand trick. someone else PM'd me and said just throw handfuls of corn and squirrel feed out a few days before going they'll be there just set up and wait like deer hunting.
I have used these "flared blunts" ( I can't remember what the correct name is) with some success . I bought them from Ted fry . I also have used broadheads, which seemed to work out better , in my opinion.
Bow wise, I used the same bow I hunt everything else with.
I think almost any call will elicit a response from squirrels and crows. If you have a predator call, or crow call to get a response. Squirrel chatter is mostly to alert others that a hunter is near. They will stay in the trees, but if you want to catch them on the ground put some corn seed at the base of their tree. I have also used blunts, or .38 special shells. If you drill to two holes in the .38 shell ( X ) for #10 copper wire you will have an inexpensive Judo point. Use some hot melt glue to hold the wire, and cut it at a length you like. At least you'll have an arrow you can shoot and find if you miss.
Longbow, heavy wood arrow and a rubber blunt will kill them every time and won't get stuck in tree trunks. Steel blunts work also but judos often don't. All the squirrel calls I've seen are for Eastern grays and fox squirrels. In New Mexico we have pine squirrels and Abert squirrels that sound different. You might get a shock response but won't be able to actually talk to them. I try to mimic their sound with my voice, with some success.
I'm originally from Mississippi where squirrels were more abundant and tastier, but we make do.
Squirrel is my daughter's favorite meat, and squirrel gumbo is our traditional Christmas Eve supper, so there's a lot of pressure to succeed in my house.
Squirrel Hunter X2. Rubber blunts will knock a squirrel into next week. I used to take a rubber blunt arrow or two (no flu flu) with me when I was preseason scouting for deer and I only shot at squirrels low or on the ground. Lots of fun.
I wondered about those rubber blunts and if they have enough wallop,,, i knocked a squirrel off a branch with a golf ball sized rock when i was a young kid,,, squirrel hit the ground and took off so i figured they were tough.
The northern squirrel is a much harder animal to kill than a southern squirrel from my point of view. In 1969 when was in the Air Force and stationed at Biloxi MS I hunted squirrels quite a lot. There were a lot of them and most were young and tasty. You could skin them very easily with a cut beneath the tail, stepping on the tail pulling up on the hind legs. Try that on a northern squirrel and you end up with a tail in your hand. I've knocked squirrels out of trees many times using hard rubber blunts only to see them run off. I now only shot them with steel blunts or broadheads. That's my experience.
https://youtu.be/4CQp8U9jOI4?si=GCF0roX5RIjLlfDr
I do. I use the same setup as I use deer hunting, except I use Judo points.
Nice one Gordon 👍🏽 I remember that episode
Rusty
That's a great video from Gordon. I've had it saved on my computer since he showed it to me years ago and I send it to people when they say small game hunting with a longbow won't work.
Great video,,,, thanks for the posts i will be out there opening day and during deer season im going to start shooting them.
You don't have to hunt squirrels in north georgia. You just go shoot em, they're everywhere.
Like so many others, I carry a Judo tipped arrow in the quiver while hunting. They make a good practice shot from the stand
I like judos and steel blunts and 3rivers hammer head