Squirrel season opened Friday the 15, the 15th is when the season opened since a long time ago as a boy hanging on dads knees as he waded the deep grasses of fence rows and other places small game he hunted hung out. The 15th is also the opening day of fire arm deer season in November here so there is some thing about the 15th Me thinks. As a young 10 year old I was allowed to hunt small game alone, back in those days the Partridge was on a huge up cycle. I really believe it was because of the clear cutting all the wood lots back then for timber and pulp wood for the rest. That resulted in berry bushes to come up like crazy and small popple trees and others providing cover and food. Any way opening day from 1960 to 1989 would find me in those same woods hunting Pats as we called them. About 1975 the populations we found were dropping and we didn’t get as many flushes a day as we once did. We had sections of the wood lot clear cut again and my brother says he is flushing pats nearly as often as we once did in the mid 1960. But today I look forward to small game season, not for those pats as I once did but for the squirrels. Squirrels were on the slim side last year but so were the Acorns, and Hickory nuts, the farmer also had planted Soy beans in the fields around me so the stand by corn wasn’t there to support the squirrels. I have joked I saw squirrels by the hundreds with a vagabond pack heading across fields to wood lots near corn fields last year. But that was only a joke but I didn’t see near as many squirrels as in the past. This year it is different lots of acorns and hickory nuts so heavy in the trees some branches are breaking off and falling. Many are saging really bad too, due to the amount of nuts in a tree. Friday I had to do some work, Saturday we attended a car show so Sunday was the first chance I could get out. I chose the Hornet with my hand loaded 22Lr speed ammo for the hunt. OH was not really a hunt more like a sniping session, go find a spot and sit. Half an hour and I had my limit of 5 and had not moved from that one spot. Hope to have bacon wrapped baked squirrel for dinner today. I have to tell all the people who are city slickers and have taken up city slicker ways that dinner is the mid day meal at home, Lunch is the mid day meal at work or out fishing or hunting away from home and the evening meal is supper. . Al
Hey Al, I remember when they changed the opening date and it really ticked me off that they did change it. The opener used to be on October 20. Back then we still hunted deer with recurve or long bows and it was nice to have almost 3 weeks before the small game hunters came in because once the guns start going off and hunters wandering around, the deer are much more jumpy. Not so good when you are trying to get close for a shot. And back then we were not allowed to hunt from trees either.
I only remember duck and Phesant season opening on the 20th of Oct. I can't remember small game season ever opening after Sept 15th. I guess I always had private land to bow hunt on. . Al
I don't remember when it changed but thinking it was sometime in the 70's. All small game seasons opened on the 20th.
