If the young hunter in your family missed the Oct. 11-17 Youth Squirrel Hunt, there’s still plenty of time. The regular season runs from Oct. 18th to Nov. 29th, and the late season runs into February. But the best time to get out there is now. And the ideal game to pursue with a learning hunter in the fall is squirrels, because of the animal’s abundance throughout the state, the beauty of the October squirrel woods and the leisurely hunting methods that facilitate teaching about wildlife and wild places.
If possible, choose days that are free of high winds, which cause bushytails to hunker down and disappear, or heavy rains, which will just make your hunting buddy miserable. A light drizzle is okay, because it can soften the ground leaves in the woods and help your young hunter move quietly. With any luck, though, an October Saturday should provide good weather, beautiful scenery and lots of game, whether you visit public lands or secure permission to hunt private property.
From the moment I walk into the woods with a learning hunter, I think about sharing knowledge and teaching skills. Lesson Number One is “slow down, be quiet and listen.” This is the sacred forest, not the riotous city, I try to convey, a place where we can leave behind the busy schedules and conflicts of civilized life and pay close attention to the same compelling sights, sounds and smells that our ancestors once knew.
Lesson Two is “safety first, always.” I reiterate the gun-handling and safe-shooting skills we have already practiced on the range and make sure the learner is committed to the how and why of hunter safety.
Lesson Three is “safety assumed, we’re here to relax, enjoy and have fun.” I remind the young hunter that we’ll focus on interesting sights and happenings. We’ll talk in low tones, but we’ll share the observations and experiences that will make our day in the outdoors special.
The next decision is “where shall we hunt,” which might provide an opportunity to teach something about nature, such as tree identification. We might spot some easy-to-identify sycamores along the banks of a river and perhaps willows or hemlocks nearby in the lowlands, then maples, oaks and shagbark hickories on higher ground. We’ll appreciate the scarlet foliage of the red maples, but we’ll pass on them and the silver sycamores and select hunting grounds near golden shagbark hickories for their tasty hickory nuts and bronze-colored white oaks for their large and nutritious acorns. These natural foods may attract squirrels and other wildlife into our sight lanes.
We’ll probably choose Stand Hunting (sitting still at the base of a tree in a selected area and watching for game) over Still Hunting (walking very slowly through the woods while carefully searching for telltale movement or sound) as our method. By sitting quietly side-by-side, we’ll increase our chances of observing wildlife such as deer or wild turkeys, which can provide more educational opportunities. For example, when observing a deer herd, I might point out characteristics of a yearling deer (compact body size and shorter muzzle) versus those of a mature doe, information that may pay off for the learner during a later antlerless deer hunt.
I personally prefer to hunt squirrels with a .22 rifle, because of the challenge and the shooting practice for deer season, but I recommend using shotguns during a mentoring hunt, because they make it easier for a learning hunter to make an instant kill. A 20-gauge is often the best choice for a smaller-built youngster, because it will likely exhibit less recoil than a 16- or 12-gauge. I don’t recommend the tiny .410-gauge, because I don’t think it has the firepower to clean-kill squirrels, which have much tougher hides than rabbits and other small game.
If the learning hunter and I have any success on squirrels during our day, I’ll get the chance to demonstrate the skinning and field-dressing of the game, which I often do right in the woods rather than later at home, because the tough hides are fresher and easier to work with there. And of course that evening I can demonstrate the preparation of savory wild game recipes. The lesson here is that modern humans can still engage directly in the food chain just as our ancestors did and that not all edible meat comes plastic-wrapped from the grocery store.
Good luck out there. And have a great week outdoors.
Don Feigert is the outdoors writer for THE HERALD and the ALLIED NEWS. He can be contacted at 724-931-1699 or dfeigert@verizon.net. Visit his Website at www.donfeigert.com.
