Hunting season opener is near.

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Get your small bores ready, Aug 1 is the squirrel hunting opener here in Illinois. Less than three weeks away.
Not only a chance to get in the woods to hunt, but also to scout for deer sign, and hone your woods skills.
I'm ready for a break from work.
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The hickory trees and blackberries are loaded this year.

When does your season begin?
Do you have your gear and your license....and your bug spray ready.?
What will you be using for squirrel hunting.?
 
We re Sept 1st for small game up here. Good luck to you! Hope fully you can still thumb back a hammer when that nail falls off!! What do you plan on using?

I'm hoping to use my single six with the mag cylinder this year of we get out lease property figured out. Really hope we do, ain't going to spend much time in the woods for bow season on account the little girl will be arriving sometime in October. So the more time I get in for tree rats before than, the better.
 
Haven't hunted squirrels in years, but if I did, I would probably use the scoped Ruger 10/22 or my old Marlin Model 80DL with scope. I might even carry the Ruger Mark I that I recently acquired. A young squirrel, fried, with some gravy and homemade biscuits is mighty good.

Have a blessed day,

Leon
 
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Sept 15 in MI and Ill be there the weekend of Sept 21. Probably go out with my dads Stevens 311 12ga since he doesn't have a .22 that I would trust I could make a decent shot with on a squirrel.

Other than that I will probably only be doing some post deer season squirrel/hog hunting with the .22 Mag down here. Too hot for early season rats.
 
I've always heard it's best to wait till the first frost to kill the worms. I've seen squirrels eat up and having fits with 'em. I've never understood what possessed Georgia DNR to open for squirrels on/around August 15. When I was a kid, IIRC, it was some time in October.

If I were going to hunt squirrels, lately I like the idea of using a Single-six.
 
are opener is sept 1, i got my rossi 62 and my rem 33 99% sighted in. both are 1/2 guns at 15 yards standing. that 62 pump is very quick to. are hickory nuts are like tennis balls this year, there good eating to. looked today some black caps are about ready, i like making pies with them. the hunting gets real good after the first frost of the years, i used tick spray. i wish there were some guys by me that small game hunted, some of the best funny memories i have is from squirrel and rabbit hunting. good luck to you wish i could join.
 
We re Sept 1st for small game up here. Good luck to you! Hope fully you can still thumb back a hammer when that nail falls off!! What do you plan on using?

I'm hoping to use my single six with the mag cylinder this year of we get out lease property figured out. Really hope we do, ain't going to spend much time in the woods for bow season on account the little girl will be arriving sometime in October. So the more time I get in for tree rats before than, the better.
we should see how fare we are from each other, hard finding people in ny that small game hunt.
 
Dove season opens in September here. We can shoot squirrels year around. And then there's teal season, but hunting the WMA has gotten too strenuous for me. I can no longer claim to be a duck hunter. Oh, at heart, I'd 10-1 rather hunt ducks than deer, just can't anymore.
lucky you can dove hunt, it looks like good fun. i never went since it's illegal here in NY. never duck hunted either, tho we have lots of mallards
 
What do you plan on using?
I have a few guns in mind. If I get to go hunting six times, I would probably choose six different guns.
Last year I took my AR pistol with .22lr conversion kit.

That was fun and satisfying. Since it is my go to HD gun, I liked putting it to use in the field.
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This year I plan to take my .22mag Ruger American.
Then probably one of my small caliber BP rifles.
At some point I must take my Savage 24 .22lr/.410
And probably make a hunt with my MKll/red dot.
I'm not too bloodthirsty for squirrel. I like to take a few to my dad every year. He's in his 80s and doesnt hunt any more, but still loves his annual squirrel and gravy meals.
 
Evidently our deer season began last week. I found two dead deer on my property line since then. The buck was minus a head. The doe had simply been shot and left. October is when most of the rest of us begin hunting. I’m putting up two game cameras in hopes of finding the SOB. Local warden isn’t inclined to help.
 
Evidently our deer season began last week. I found two dead deer on my property line since then. The buck was minus a head. The doe had simply been shot and left. October is when most of the rest of us begin hunting. I’m putting up two game cameras in hopes of finding the SOB. Local warden isn’t inclined to help.
I would think the bucks would be so thick in velvet that they arent much of a trophy.
 
I've always heard it's best to wait till the first frost to kill the worms. I've seen squirrels eat up and having fits with 'em. I've never understood what possessed Georgia DNR to open for squirrels on/around August 15. When I was a kid, IIRC, it was some time in October.

If I were going to hunt squirrels, lately I like the idea of using a Single-six.
Ohio opens Sept 1 but I don't go until it frosts. I shot one with a warbler and said never again. Sept 1 around here its still 70 degrees.
 
Ohio squirrel and Dove starts September 1st. I don't pursue them until mid October-January. My buddy has a mountain cur that is a squirrel hunting machine. We usually hit a big farm and he gets us 4-5 a day. I used to use a Savage Mark II 22lr with cheapo Walmart special scope or a Stoeger 20ga O/U but this year it will be a Savage Mark II heavy barrel w/accu trigger and 4-12 AO Bushnell rimfire scope. That guns a tack driver with CCI standards. After Rut and deer gun week Dec1-Dec7 my buddy and I plan on doing a couple day trips to a 5k acre state forest and get our 6 squirrel limits. Lots of walking in beautiful country.

Now for something impressive-My buddy uses a Ruger Mark 5 I believe it is, target pistol with a 3-9 rifle scope attached and plucks squirrels with headshots out of the trees when the dog trees them.

He wants to dove hunt Sept 1. I went last year for the first time and had fun, but I cant hit diddly. I don't know if its my shotgun sucks or I suck?
 
Most of my squirrel guns are chambered in 22LR and are ready for Sept. 1st... I take whatever I feel like on any particular day, depending on mood. First one this year will probably be the CZ-455 which has yet to harvest a squirrel. It's only been out squirrel hunting a couple times and the squirrels weren't showing up. They probably knew how good that thing is dialed in at 50 yards and they were too terrified to appear.
 
Skeeters too brutal when squirrel opens.

Used to hunt dove or nuisance geese Sept 1. But my hunting bud moved away yrs ago.

Hunted doves w another bud.....but ever since the F&W areas went non toxic......ive not been happy. Have to let em get closer now and even then.,....not enough dead when they hit.

Love the shooting....not the killing. Sold my dove gun.

Getting soft in my old age
 
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