What are the odds?

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outdoorman

outdoorman

Member
Nov 20, 2016
355
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Maryland
Every day on my trek through the woods, I always stop and scope a small hole far up one particular tree. I've seen squirrels in that area and have seen them on the tree so I suspected it was a squirrel den. The tree is about 32 yards away from the trail. So today I stop and scope the hole which I usually do for a minute or two and to my surprise, a squirrel poked his head out of the hole. I couldn't believe my eyes! What are the odds of that happening? I just had to take the shot and nailed him with my Diana 34 .22 Unfortunately, I had no way to retrieve him but that's one less pest on the property.

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I don’t look at any animal in a natural wooded setting as a pest as they all have a role in the ecosystem. Having said that I pest for three dairy farms, but the pest birds are in barns and animal feed, however when I encounter them away from the farm while I’m hunting and I hunt a lot, I leave them alone. Just my thoughts, I am not impugning outdoorman in any way. 
 
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I feel you. I chased a grey squirrel last year for damn near 200 yards up a hill. a 45 degree hill. When i finally felt comfortable taking the shot I settled in and pulled the trigger. Perfect head shot. Worth the trek for sure. Felt good. But he did the "freeze and squeeze" then rolled off the tree to a V branch and got caught up. I never got him. I actually tried shooting the smaller limb off but stopped after i realized my pony bottle was in my truck far far away.
 
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I choose to be proactive with squirrels as I am with termites, ants, crickets, spiders, mice...etc. I don't wait until they are in my home before I take action against them. They are pests whether they are inside, outside or anywhere when they cause annoyance to humans. The definition of pest does not include that they be in your home. Squirrels are generally considered pests and I choose to eliminate them around my property before they engage in their very destructive activity around the property or take up residence in my house and vehicles and start chewing wiring. That has already happened in my attic in the past.
 
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First , I don't judge other hunters on what they do. After all, we all are killing animals. I do agree with TiredRooster & Cahill-2, my thoughts in their words. I never shoot a squirrel that is in a hole. Saying that, I said "never", as in "never anymore". When I was younger I probably did. I eat the squirrels I kill or give them away to people who do. But I am not a perfect hunter , sometimes I take a shot that is risky & to be fair to the game I am hunting, that is not right IMO. But sometimes I just can't help myself and feel bad later. As I have aged I do that less. As to hole in trees I have shot squirrels and wounded them and they ran into a hole. I always walk away and come back an hour or so later and on several occasions have found the dead squirrel at the foot of the tree. I think if possible they will try to get out of the tree to die. Has any other squirrel hunters experienced this? As Crittahitta says, I have spent a lot of time & effort to retrieve a dead squirrel that did not make it to earth when he was shot dead. To me the tree squirrel in the woods is a game animal & I love to hunt them , they have provided me many of decade of hunting pleasure & sport. I like to say they even enjoy it too, but that is just a bit of redneck humor. Happy huntin, live hunt, live learn & live to hunt some more. 
 
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I guess some people are more easily bothered by native wildlife than others. I’ve lived in the suburbs with tons of squirrels about and never condsiderd them pests and I know tons of other humans who agree. I don’t believe in being “proactive” to something that may never bother me. That said if a squirrel got into my attic, at that point it is a pest, and will be treated as such.
 
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You might change your mind about being proactive if it almost happens to you. I just happened to notice one day that the distance between a couple of the louvers on one of our attic gable vents was opened up more than the others. Something was trying to get in or had already gotten in. I went up into the attic and found the squirrel was still in there. I scared him out and found that he had easily chewed through the screen of the vent. I noticed that he was nesting down in the eave above the soffit and had chewed a section of romex that fed a receptacle in the bedroom. He completely chewed the outer covering off, completely chewed the white insulation off the neutral wire and had attempted to chew the black insulation off the hot wire. Guess he was getting a little tingle while doing that. I covered the inside of the vents with heavy duty galvanized hardware cloth. Shortly after that as I was going out to get the mail, I heard a rustling noise coming from my car. I rocked the car and banged on it but nothing came out and the rustling continued so then I popped the hood and found a squirrel sitting on top of the engine among some nut debris. I went online to find out ways to keep them out of the car and read lots of stories about people spending thousands of dollars on getting wiring harnesses replaced due to squirrels chewing them up. It seems squirrels love to eat plastic. That's when I decided to eradicate these destructive and potentially house fire causing critters from my property. They cause thousands of house fires annually. Now I'm not advocating that everyone with squirrels around needs to do what I do but I had a close call so I'd rather be safe than sorry.
 
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 Outdoorsman, thank you for a detailed description of your experience with squirrels. I grew up in Silver Spring, I swear the squirrel capital of the world, but never had your negative experiences with squirrels, thankfully. That said, twice they got into my screened in porch and my cats got after them, the chase was amazing and hilarious. I have to give the squirrels credit on their escapes. I also had a bird feeder on my deck and of course the squirrels came to it. Well I’d release my cats and the squirrels would just barely get away, but they kept coming back risking their lives to do it. I came to admire their everyday courage. I also have seen some spectacular acrobatic moves by them jumping from branch to branch.

Finally, they figured out how to get to almost every bird feeder I put out including the weight triggered feeders. The only way I outsmarted them was by suspending the feeder on a clothesline between my deck and a tree. As you can see, I don’t mind them at all, but I would kill the transgressor, If I caught it doing to my house what yours did to your house. But only the transgressors, the other guys get a pass, unless I’m really hungry😉
 
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Since we are relating stories I will add my two ;)

In 1983 we towed a 1978 Ford into the shop that wouldn't run. The electronic module and front engine compartment wiring harness ran between the right inner fender well and outer fender. A squirrel family had not only destroyed the wiring, but I pulled enough squirrel nest material out between the fenders to fill two 55 gallon trash bags. They did it in a weekend.

When I bought my house in 1989 I had 3 dobermans. They have been dead now for 19 years. I am just now getting squirrels, and neighborhood cats back in my yard. I wish the field rats had staid away as long. Those bad boys are seriously destructive.

Anyway, you get what you pay for. My stories are free ;)
 
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