First black squirrel

[outdoorman]

Got my first black squirrel this morning. Saw him run up about 15' into a pine tree, run around the back side but then peeked only his head out to the side. Bad choice on his part. Nailed him from 25 yards with my Diana 34 .22 15.89 JSB pellet. Dropped like a rock, did a little dance and done. Got three squirrels overall this morning. Gotta keep at it as I'm not letting them back in my 2 acre no squirrel zone. Destructive little buggers that they are.

 

[Anthony Jarvis]

I think your color blind my friend that there is brown

 

[Hunt4Dinner]

Id have to agree that by the looks of it in that picture it’s not a black squirrel. Looks to be a normal fox squirrel. Black are a solid color from what I’ve always seen. 

 

[outdoorman]

Could be bad camera setting. Much more black on the top of his tail, back and top of head although not deep black like your photo. I looked through a lot of black squirrel images on Google and determined it to be a black squirrel. 

From Wikipedia: If a black squirrel has two copies of the mutant gene it will be jet black. If it has one copy of a mutant gene and one normal gene it will be brown-black

 

[Hugo619]

Good research outdoorman.

 

[stoti]

Jeesh, why you gotta rain on the guys parade? He was excited he shot a black squirrel. Looks black to me! 

(I helped a little. lol)

Stoti

 

[Anthony Jarvis]

Why does everyone want it to be a “BLACK” squirrel? Black lives matter

 

[Nutcracker]

We don't have all black squirrels here. I do occasionally kill a large old fox squirrel that has a total black face & black legs. However in a town 50 miles from here they are lots of black squirrels. The only place close I ever see em.

 

[stoti]

Outdoorsman, where do you live or where do you have these black squirrels running around? I live in Nor Cal, all we have is gray squirrels and digger squirrels. I've never even seen a black squirrel.

Dark brown or black color phase, who really cares, it's all good! I've seen black bears out here in California that are light golden brown, dark brown, reddish brown, light beige, dark brown and even plain old black! There are many variations and most are not jet black like we think of with the stereotypical black bear. Whether it be squirrels, bears or humans, there's going to be every color/shade variant possible.

Have a great day! Stoti

 

[outdoorman]

I'm in Maryland. We have black squirrels and white ones. They are just gray squirrels with melanism (black) or albinism (white). The squirrel I shot is definitely not a fox squirrel. It's a gray with melanism, i.e. a black squirrel. Here's a photo I found of a black squirrel that looks very much like the one I shot.

 

[Anthony Jarvis]

I’m in Columbus and I have seen them all Brown, Black, White, Grey and Red squirrels galore

 

[Jon86]

Great shot bud, especially with a Springer. I have n RWS 34 .22 that was my go to field gun. Since I bought my Flash QE, it's collecting dust, but I know I can count on it, if I need. 

Jon86 

 

[Hunt4Dinner]

The squirrel in your second pic definitely is a black. It must be my phone or the pic quality of your original that makes it look all brown like a fox squirrel. The black/brown would make a cool mount!

 

[TitanFlyer]

Up in Canada where I am from originally there are TONS of pure black squirrels. I live in NC now and have only seen one or two, to the point that even my wife notices a black squirrel and mentions it. That one in the picture is not what we called black squirrels, but I am no expert on species of squirrel. Good shot either way I am sure. Wonder if they taste different.. lol.

 

[fuznut]

Mississippi. The sypress forest of the mid state have a very high number of black fox and grey squirrels. Hit the woods around yazoo city you will see some. But far more fox than grey.

 

[cferinga]

Black squirrels are a variant of a grey squirrel. Fox Squirrels and Red Squirrels are different species. ( if anyone cares ... )

 

[fuznut]

Fox, red, grey, flying and ground

All diffrent species, most species 

And the variants within are know

to often have higher than normal levels

of melatoman resulting in a darker

often black coloration. Not just the

grey. Doubt or care reserch.

 

[davidsng]

I saw one, but never got a shot off. He has been haunting me now. They are a prize if you can get one.

 

[BeachGunner]

Good shot. We don't have them around here, but they have very pretty pelts.