last Friday and Saturday my wife completed her hunter safety course. When I got done at the range on Saturday with my pistol match I called her to ask if I needed to pick anything up. Her response was a good 410 shotgun, pump for less than 225 and some ammunition.
I picked up a Mossberg .410 full choke shotgun with a 24 in barrel  chambered in 2.5 and 3 inch. She wants to go bag 6 squirrels on Sunday.
I have access to over 80 acres of land that has 2 large ponds and plenty of critters on it, my question is how do I assure she fills her bag?

Get out there early, right after sunrise.  

Look for hardwood trees.

Sit still, look for nests and movement.

When you get a shot, if it is dead, leave it lay and wait for the next one to pop out.  Sometimes a second or third will show its self within minutes.

Bug spray, maybe a face mask if its real bad. Water.

Move slow, real slow.

Only move when the squirrel moves. If you can find a creek with a sandy bottom and hardwoods growing along the sides it's extremely easy to get a limit

Listen for which trees they frequently call from.
Identify several locations where you have a good spot, with a good backstop, to watch several trees with fresh piles of chewed nut hulls at the base.  Squirrels move around to their different stashes every few days.

Lots of good advice here.  Make sure to cook them before you eat them.

take a couple rocks,  sometimes you can toss a rock to get a squirrel to move to your side for a shot.

 That brings back memories, a small stone tossed at the tree where the squirrel is hiding usually results in his popping his head up to see what the noise is, just before the last thing he'll ever hear is a rifle or shotgun going off.



 

Make a recon to identify where they maybe cutting nuts. tell her to not freak when she get face planted with a cob web from hell it's that time of year in KY. Go do it sounds like fun.

Those spiderwebs will turn you into a ninja in a split second. Especially if it's dark.

Lots of good advice here.....but there is one piece missing....




Post Pics of your successful outing!

This time of year they will be eating buckeyes and hickory nuts. The might be starting on Walnuts too. buckeyes like to grow in creek bottoms and you'll find Hickory trees just about anywhere. Alot of times you'll find walnut trees at the very edge of a woods. Chances are you wont find many in older growth. Walnut trees of any size are prized and will have been logged out, and they dont compete very well with the fast growers like the maples and poplars.

Find the trees they will be eating from this time of year
Take a seat, you can talk, but be quiet enough so you can listen.
Watch for limbs moving and listen for any odd movements in the trees
Watch the ground too. Listen for anything moving on the ground. Alot of times you will hear them on the ground or in the trees before you see them.
Listen for the squirrel cutting,  the sound of their teeth cutting into nut hulls.
Listen for stuff falling out of trees regular.
Listen for them barking. chances are that means they know you are there. They will eventually get tired of it, and come for a look see.

Thank you all for the advice.

My wife has patterned her 410 and its squirrel killing within 20 yards with no issues as far as I can see. Outside of 20 and the patterns aren't dense enough to guarantee some pellets in the head. With some luck we will walk away tomorrow with some squirrels, or if that fails we will have a great time in the woods anyway!

good luck! If the squirrels come in close tell her to aim an inch or three to one side of the head so just the edge of the pattern catches it. even a 410 inside 5 or so can absolutely destroy a squirrel. by catching the head with the edge of the shot patttern you can kill them close without ruining the animal.


I have had squirrels get really close to me, so it pays to have a plan.

well there is a reason it's called hunting.

We each saw one and took shots.

I saw one as she was looking back at me that ran on the ground in front of her, I missed it at 10 yards or so as my GD eotech batteries died. I hit near it but no dice.

Later on she spotted one in a tree, went to the base fired, it ran higher, fired again as it jumped and it dropped out of the tree mid jump  and we lost it so it either got snagged in the canopy or it was playing possum as it fell and ran off in the 30 seconds it took us to pick through the woods where we thought it would be.

I was concerned she didn't have it in her, I stood back and watched her go from nervous to " I am gonna kill you and eat you" mode in one shot.

I am quite proud.

I am ditching a match next Saturday to go back out and try again.

Yes plenty of good advise here. Go be patient and enjoy time outdoors with your wife. I wish mine hunted. Even if she gets one or two squirrels as long as she is successful and has a good time. Like going fishing and hunting, as long as you have a good time. She will learn and you both will remember it for as long as you guys are around. Go and enjoy, it's a lot better than work. Ha Ha.

Always be still when they are falling and watch where they land, so you can find them, or put another one into them if needed.

I never pick up my animals until I am done hunting, or plan to move. I always keep them covered until I know they are dead.

A cheap 4x rimfire scope is a good thing to have for squirrel hunting. one guy has the shotgun the other takes the rifle. Take the shots as they come. Head shots are the way to go with even a .22LR. a 4x really shines in the fall when the leaves start to fall and they are in oak trees.

yeah she is using a 410 pump and I am using my suppressed dedicated 22 ar, I am gonna swap out this eotech for a 1x4 variable I have.

Centerfire scopes with parallax set at 100 yards can cause you problems at close range on small targets when you are in a hurry. Just something to keep in mind. You'll swear that you had a dead hold but that bit of wiggle can cost you the shot.

The height over bore of an AR optic will cause you all kinds of trouble at short squirrel ranges.  A hunting rifle with low profile sights or a really low profile scope mount makes for much easier point blank shooting at 10-50 yards.

What size shot was she shooting?

Not many things more fun than squirrel hunting with an accurate .22 !!

STOP,LOOK and LISTEN.

6 in 21/2 inch because it patterned much tighter than the 3 inch inside 20 yards.

I assume you are using a full choke?

You might want to try 3 inch shells with number 4 shot. fewer shot, but they will penetrate better.

A rimfire scope is a little better for close in shooting because they are set up for 50 yard parallax free.

Great advice so far, most everyone seems on point.  If I reiterate a previously posted practice, it's because it's one I personally use.

1. Find out what the squirrels are eating in your area at this time.  For example, right now they are cutting hickory nuts around here.  A couple of months ago they were concentrated on mulberry trees (that's the easiest time to get a limit around here), in the dead of winter you'll find them scraping the bottom of the barrel tearing into osage oranges/hedge apples. and so on.

2. Get out early--like deer hunting in a stand early.  Stop moving and they'll forget you're there and start moving

3. After shooting, If you stay still and they'll start moving again fairly quickly (if you use a .22 instead of a .410 this will occur more rapidly, even quicker if you use an air rifle).  Of course, keep track where the dead ones are and immediately pursue the wounded.  Edit: A suppressed .22 is the ideal squirrel killing machine.

4. Don't forget to remove the glands under the armpits after you skin them.  The table fare increases exponentially if you get that waxy gland all out.

5. Mosquito nets and DEET will really help you sit still enough to be successful at warm weather squirrel hunting.

my advice is to use something bigger than 410  especially this early in the year. or you are gonna see a lot of them run off

This.

22lr ARs are a lot of fun, but not ideal for hunting because of height over bore issues.  It is a real problem at 10-50 yards on a small target like a squirrel head.

An airgun scope with adjustable parallax would fix the issue.

Around here they keep shockingly regular hours from one day to the next, obviously make sure you there early in the morning when they're first coming out.

I always knew they were vocal animals, but I had no idea that those 2 dozen or so 'forest noises' that I always just assumed were some bird of some kind or distant rabbit or just gust of wind was actually all coming from the squirrels. Some of them refuse to ever shut the hell up, either in alarm or to give the all clear, or to keep other squirrels out of there territory. Use this to your advantage.


If your convinced that hey always just happen to climb the side of the tree opposite from you no matter how bedded down and out of sight you may think you are, its not a coincidence. I find them very receptive, not always hesitant, and not always curious just receptive to anything foreign that they come across. We always throw a couple pieces of clothing or a jacket or whatever on the far side of where we know there going to be munching on breakfast which genereally tends to spin them around to us.


Ive only ever shot the little suckers with pellets my entire life, and Im not certainly not any type of incredible rifleman, but I find heads shots not being terrible difficult to accomplish. If im close enough to to one I am generally close enough to take it. I almost wonder if going out with a .410 or 20 gauge like many people do might actually be more difficult in some strange way.