Squirrel Hunting: Tips and Tricks for Success

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

In the hunting world, firearms, bows, and cutlery get the press. That is what ultimately puts food on the table and what you get the most practice with during the off-season. In a previous entry, we discussed the different categories of squirrel guns. Also, how budget, physical limitations, and environment affect the ultimate gear selection. But putting emphasis on killing and processing gear presupposes a successful hunt in the first place.

Squirrel hunting, and small game hunting more generally, does not get the media and game buzz that the pursuit of larger game does. The season is longer, the game is more plentiful. You can take liberties with guns, camo, and the peculiarities of scent control, scouting, and tracking. Ever the exhibitionist, squirrels are easy to spot in your public urban park during the offseason. However, can be surprisingly wary and elusive when the time comes to hit the woods. Here are a few tips and tricks to get ahead while squirrel hunting:

Squirrel Hunting Gear Tips: The Long and Short of It

Small game hunting means smaller stakes in many ways. The game is more plentiful and more available in places where larger game can’t persist. You can hunt squirrels with just a basic hunting license and minimal gear. But hunting is still hunting. You can find yourself frustrated if what gear you use is not used correctly. That is compounded by the fact that we are part-time hunters. Squirrels are squirrels full time. The hunter needs to employ their gear correctly. They also know how to use the terrain to hunt smarter, rather than harder.

Guns and Ammo

In Squirrel Hunting Guns, I go in depth about the most popular squirrel hunting firearms and the benefits and pitfalls of the ammunition that they use. While knowing the terrain and exercising proper scent control and clothing practices is essential, you do have to match the gun with that terrain. If you are a shotgun-equipped hunter, but hunt in open terrain, it can be hard to stalk for a shot.

The hunter armed with a .22 rifle or a muzzleloader might hesitate to discharge their rifle unless a clear shot with a good backstop for their bullet can be found. You might have to pass on shots that would otherwise be an easy kill out of safety concerns, while the spray of birdshot from a shotgun would be a safer option. To make a long story short, it pays to study where you anticipate hunting and tailor your firearm selection to it to get that shot and get it safely.

Scent Control

Whitetail deer are renowned for their ability to smell out predators long before they can see them. They have close to 300 million olfactory receptors, while we humans have about 5 million. As such, we have detergents specifically formulated to remove human odor from the human body and from hunting clothes to increase our chances of success. And still, deer give us the slip. Squirrels do not have the nose of a deer. However, they have adapted a sense that is far greater than our own. On the hunt, I have made the mistake of going fresh out of the shower, finished with scented soaps, onto the trails only to hear a squirrel trample and get up a tree and out of sight before I ever caught sight of them.

There are a few good scent control clothing detergents and soaps out there to take advantage of before you head out. I have Dead Down Wind and Scent Killer brands of detergents. These are perhaps the ultimate in scent removal. But there are a few tips for naturally covering the human scent on the fly while squirrel hunting.

Natural Scent Control Tips

In the past, I had good luck with breaking up evergreen needles and harvesting cedar bark to rub on my coveralls, face, and hair. That is messy, but it is better than nothing at all. I have had better luck simply washing my clothing in plain water before the hunt. More recently, I’ve had the habit of kitting up in my full hunting outfit and bathing in campfire smoke.

Smoke permeates fabric and gives off a non-human odor that is found in nature. I have managed to use smoke bath-treated clothes and a kit to sneak on a squirrel at the stump even when squirrels are upwind and able to smell me coming. No matter what scent control you employ, it need not be as sophisticated as with big game. But some control and some knowledge of the wind as you make your approach on likely squirrel grounds, bears remembering.

Squirrel Hunting Clothes

Ghillie suits and face paint look cool and work well to break up your outline and make you invisible to prey animals and much of anything else. But you would be surprised how well you can do without camouflage as long as you dress for the weather and know your wind. For stand hunters, it does not make much sense for deer hunters to be fully clad in camouflage clothes since most of it is not even visible to game animals. Although deer are color blind, they can make out solid colors whose patterns are not broken up. Despite that, hunters have hunted in flannel and blue jeans since those clothes were invented. Those hunters know those animals and know how to stalk and keep their scent downwind of any animal.

Calls

Like scent control and clothing, calls can be a helpful tool during squirrel hunting, although selection need not be fancy in order to succeed. The main objective of a call is simple: to call squirrels from their hiding spots to a point of attention. Squirrel calls often consist of a whistle that can be used to signify distress, like Haydel’s Mr. Squirrel Whistle. Tangential to whistle calls are mouth calls that can mimic chattering and barking. Bellow-style deflating calls don’t use the mouth or lips but are manipulated in the hands to mimic distress whistles and chattering.

Mileage will vary with your use of squirrel calls as you perfect the sound to match how squirrels communicate in your area. That includes both how squirrels interact with each other and potential threats. In my particular area, I tried out a whistle call without success before realizing that the environment simply had few effective predators of squirrels. Instead of jump scaring them with a whistle, I had better luck mimicking the chatter I was hearing in the trees. I took to using a versatile Primos Squirrel Buster to mimic chatter. I even had success rubbing the outer edges of two quarters together to get a facsimile of squirrels talking in the trees.

In The Field Hunting Tips: Go Where the Squirrels Are

While squirrel calls, both simple and sophisticated, can help, one would be surprised how easy it is to bump a squirrel by walking where they happen to frequent. But the quarry can be surprisingly few and unwilling to reveal themselves, despite all the talk you might hear in the trees. A detailed pre-season scout for potential hiding spots and food sources is the key to continued success. Also, hunting strategically at times when squirrels are most likely to be.

Homes and Hiding Spots

Ground squirrels frequent burrows, but most species frequent trees. But to reverse a popular phrase, it is easy to miss the trees for the forest. That begs the question: What kind of trees would a squirrel prefer to live near?

Nut, fruit, and seed-bearing trees like oak and pecan trees are a logical location. Like any other animal, squirrels don’t want to travel far to forage. To compound this, squirrels need shelter, and the larger and older the tree, the more hollows to build a rainproof nest.

But finding the trees squirrels are most likely to frequent may not be enough for a harvest. Your quarry might already be up the tree and not present a safe shot, particularly if you are hunting with a rifle. Or they might make for the safety of the nest. It is just as important to focus on the ground as much as the trees.

Like deer, squirrels like to forage where they can see and perhaps smell predators coming. My tip is that I have found deadfalls and even thick brush to be excellent features from which to hunt squirrels. With a deadfall concealing them from view, squirrel can use their sense of smell to cover that direction while their eyes can worry about what is upwind of them in the open. Deadfalls are an even more compelling feature as they serve as a fast highway to get out of dodge and to the safety of the nest.

Water Sources

The home range of your resident squirrel is deeply tied into sustenance, as aforementioned. Finding nut-bearing trees and even nuts on the ground in your scouting and hunting probes will likely be a tell that squirrels are in the area, even if you can’t see or hear them. Water sources can be an overlooked, but an even more vital consideration.

We can go surprisingly long without food, but without water, we have only hours to live. Thankfully, nut and fruit trees take up more water to function, so often, they will be near a source of water like a stream or creek. Squirrels have to drink as well. But you could be miles from the nearest body of water and still see squirrels thriving. Saddles and depressions on ridges and flatland retain water for longer, particularly later in the season, where leaf falls allow puddles to form.

Timing for Maximum Movement

Squirrels are full-time squirrels. We are part-time hunters. We have a watch, while they have the time. You can map out the trees, terrain features, and sustenance sources. But if you are not hunting when squirrels are active, your chances of success are limited.

If squirrels live under severe hunting pressure over weekends, your chances of seeing one are lower. The answer: try a weekday. But if you arrive at midday on that weekday, squirrels will be less active. Squirrels, like deer, are crepuscular animals. They are most active at dusk and dawn, with a few hours here and there. Even this is not a guarantee. After particularly rigid cold fronts, squirrels in my area tend to stay in their nests for longer but go out on sunnier and somewhat milder days. Squirrels are also more visible and less rational during their rut. Yes, that’s right. Squirrels have a mating season like deer. There are two distinct squirrel ruts: one in the early summer (offseason) and one in the winter. Depending on your location, the winter rut can run anywhere from November to February, peak squirrel season.

Squirrel Hunting: Part Art, Part Science, Part Good Tips

Squirrel may not be the most adventurous or most high-stakes game to pursue, but hunting it has its benefits. If you are just starting as a hunter, squirrels are plentiful, and the gear can be as simple as a basic hunting license and a small-bore rifle or shotgun. You do not have to ransack the local sporting goods store for the latest camouflage and scent covers either. Squirrel hunting tips, such as sensible clothing, operating with the wind, and perhaps a good call, certainly help. But the most important aspect of squirrel hunting, aside from meat for the pot, is that it hones your ability as a woodsman in a relatively low-stakes environment. That comes down to the tips of appreciating the game, learning where they are likely to be, and perfecting the ability to sneak in for that one well-placed shot.