How to retrieve ground squirrels after kill??

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BTW, 95% of my shooting is to eradicate ground squirrels. I have a 20lb bag of Black Oil Sunflower seeds ($10 @ Walmart), the squirrels love em. I'll lay out a small fistful about 5 feet away from their hole with a stingy trail from hole to the fistful. Then I just wait for them to find the seed JACKPOT before schwacking em. They RARELY make it back down the hole. Sometimes they just have the top of their heads showing from the hole & I'll take the shot. Most times they death flop out of the hole but if not, I don't even try to retrieve em.
 
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Great idea gerry52!! Bait the bstds!! The Only way I hunt squirrels. Real squirrels / eastern grey. Haha. 

Huge debate on whether ground squirrels are cannibalistic . They say they drag or eat the dead as to not attract predators. I don’t know. Time for a multi million $ gov study.
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Well ... having seen it over and over and over in recent years .. No study required !!

One specific species ( Beldings ) I've personally stacked 5+++ bodies on top of / next to one another many times as well. When the family unit and near by burrows occupants start feeding on the deceased ... Whack em & stack em ensues !!

This is FACT and not fiction !!!



Scott S
 
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I was visiting Black Diamond Mines Regional Park here in the SFBay. Hiked up to the old graveyard where there are a gazillion ground squirrels, burrows and big fat Rattlesnakes. I sat and watched Rattlesnakes go in and out of those burrows, and it was then I decided to never ever retrieve a dead ground squirrel, even with mechanical grabbers. My shots are always pass throughs and the pellets or slugs don’t break up. Critters that eat em won’t get lead poisoning.


Then as others have said, fleas and Bubonic Plague. Someone has already contracted the plague this year. 
 
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Wow, I just read this whole thread while trying to finish a sandwich (yeah, late supper...).

But, guys, I should have left either the reading or the eating for later.... GROSS STUFF!!
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Bubonic plague. — Getting fleas. — Eating ground squirrles. — Ground squirrels feeding on their family members.
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My own fault for going to the hunting section during supper....



Carry on. You're getting me in the mood to wack some pigeons tomorrow....! 😊

Matthias
 
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Humor is sometimes hard to interpret when body language is out of the equation.
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Tell me about it...! 😞 Thanks to Corona it's been 2 (two!) years that I had to teach via video-conference.... 🙄

Staring at a checkerboard of black rectangles with names in them — or in the best case, looking at tiny, poorly lit faces really get body language across...! 😖



THIS year will be better, I trust. 😊

Matthias








 
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Can I go back and say I am only kidding when I said that I eat them? lol

https://thewholeportion.com/can-you-eat-ground-squirrels/
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LOL!!! Yes, you CAN eat ground squirrels but we are suggesting you SHOULDN’T eat them. 😅



generally speaking try to avoid physical contact with any ground dwelling rodents due to the reasons we have mentioned. Thank god we are in America and chicken is still relatively cheap. 😝


 
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Be careful with any ground dwelling rodents as they are known to carry fleas that could carry the plague, there are few confirmed cases every year here in California. Retrieve with a long grabber and leave them out for the cleanup crew.
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The plague/fleas are an issue here in the southwest Idaho desert also. makes sense why you want to retrieve them, I would go for the grabber tool, that will keep you from direct contact. and you won't get bit. I don't know if dogs can get the plague but they will get the fleas and that could be bad for you. 

TODD
 
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Yikes! I would never touch a ground squirrel and I certainly wouldn't eat one. I have absolutely no issue eating tree squirrels and they taste just like,,,,tree squirrels (humor). As far as what happens to them after they are shot; coyotes and other squirrels will take them away and eat them from my experience. And no, I am not really concerned with the Plague. Haven't heard much about that for some time, but rabies are possible and fleas are a certainty. I just joined this forum and I wanted to share a recent experience that maybe you hadn't experienced.

So I live in far-northern Kali and yes, I have hunted the vaunted McDole squirrel fields and they are real. Benched on a table or sticks, I started with an open site 1936 Remington model 341 rifle, then moved to a .22 magnum Marlin for 125 yd shots and then to the 22-250 for beyond. It's all good, but with time, cataracts slowed me down. Today, I do my bidding with a .22 pellet rifle out my shop building to the wood pile that is maybe 35' away. 

Yesterday I was doing a dance with a brown and it knew the score so it wouldn't show after I opened the door. The Gamo was rested and the lites off, but it knew better. I have internet in my shop next to the woodpile and I had a thought; what if I Google squirrel calls and turn the speakers up? Well I did and sure enough, he rose up and stayed up. Lots of ways to skin a cat. I will add a cam to my CCTV system that will point where they show. It doesn't always have to be the quantity of kills to make my day. 
 
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