The woods seem dead, dark and
growing colder, with a slight breeze filtering through the woodlot over
frost-covered oak leaves. In minutes,
the morning sun breaks the horizon, casting warm shadows as it graces towering
hardwoods. The woods come alive, freed
from the nocturnal wind and chill.
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| A Bushytail suns on a branch before beginning the morning's activities. Photo by Matthew Reilly |
Deer begin to
move, without worry—the deer season in Virginia has been closed for two weeks. One trots to within view, shaking off the
wintry night in the woods with every sprightly step.
When the sun
emerges from the rolling ridges in its entirety, another woodland creature is
awakened by the warming of the tree trunks.
A gray squirrel scrambles out of his den in an ancient oak and suns for
a spell on a branch soaked in sunlight.
Before long, the bushytail abandons his perch, and scuttles to the
ground to feed.
But his descent
is intercepted by the tapering bark of a .22 rifle. He tumbles from the tree and lands with a
thump on the forest floor. I left my bed earlier than even the
whitetail to begin my vigil, tucked in a grove of oaks and hickories, and now
recoil back, behind cover, memorizing the location of my first squirrel of the
morning.
Deer season may
be over, but squirrel season is in full swing.
A New Season
Historically,
the rabbit season has outlasted the squirrel season just as the squirrel season
does deer season. But this year,
biologists have discovered reason to extend the season on red and gray
squirrels to match the rabbit season’s close on February 28, while the close of
the season on fox squirrels remains January 31.
This allots small game hunters three months (September, January, and
February) to chase their bushy-tailed quarry without being considerate of the
meticulous activities of those hunting bigger game.
The
reason for this change, as stated by Marc Puckett, State Small Game Biologist,
is “more [hunting] opportunity without negative impact.” All of Virginia’s border states set squirrel
seasons ending in late February.
Virginia is a regional holdout.
A Different Game
Early
in the squirrel season, food supplies are abundant, allowing squirrels to be
easily patterned by the location and presence of hardwood trees. Foliage still clings to tree branches,
shielding the still-hunting hunter from the vision of game feeding in the
treetops.
In
the late season, hunting is not quite so easy.
Most of the mast has fallen from the trees, as have the leaves, making
stalking, and sometimes locating, squirrels a difficult game.
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| The author with a stocky Bushytail. Photo by Matthew Reilly |
Squirrels
feed primarily on the ground during this time, rooting up acorns squirreled
away in the ground in the fall, and eating up the last of those gone
unclaimed. For this reason, I’ve found
creekbottoms to be particularly profitable places to hunt in the winter. Gravity naturally concentrates acorns in
hilly country in creekbottoms, where squirrels produce much racket perusing the
forest floor for them. The soft earth
and often-wet leaves that are characteristic of creekbottoms permit me to stalk
a noisy squirrel while minimizing my own noise.
I have also observed squirrels feeding on
ferns in the winter, which grow predominantly in damp soil, making creekbottoms
a prime late season squirrel magnet.
However, even if
you know where to search, squirrels can be reclusive in harsh weather. Schedule hunts for warm or seasonal days
without precipitation or wind. On days
forecast as windy, hunting the morning may allow you a few hours of calm
woods.
If you must hunt
windy or exceptionally cold days, hunt protected areas. In such cases, squirrels will readily assume
perches amid the lush, evergreen canopy of pine stands. Pines are excellent protection from the elements. Especially when insulated with snow, the thick
crowns of white pines retain more heat than skeletal hardwoods, and also serve
as a wind block, allowing squirrels to feel more secure at a time when they
would have to sacrifice their sense of hearing elsewhere.
Still, the
hunter’s best chance at bagging squirrels may exist in the morning as squirrels
rise from their dens. Scout your woodlot
for hardwoods with holes—dens—in the trunks, or bunched, leaf nests in the
forks. Take a stand in an area dense
with such trees at daybreak and wait for squirrels to awaken. Because morning temperatures often recede
into the teens and 20s this time of year, squirrels will emerge later in the
morning, after the sun has warmed the woods significantly; so being in place
well before light is unnecessary.
Squirrels often peer out of their den holes for threats before emerging,
so wear camouflaged clothing, and remain still and observant. If you kill a squirrel, retain your cover,
mark its location, and wait for another opportunity.□
Originally published in the Rural Virginian
