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O.K. Woody, deadeer and I went out squirrel hunting today. These should count. He's got the picture on his phone. Every squirrel today was a male.

I own up to the one that has all the inside on the outside.... Fingers were cold, trigger is LIGHT on the 17 HMR. I had my gloves on and couldn't feel it. It went bang before I wanted it to and the squirrel died right quick, but it wasn't pretty. I was surprised that I hit it actually. The rest were glove off, keep my hand in the muff with the chemical "hot hands" pack to keep the fingers warm. It was COLD out there today. IIRC 20°F or close to it when we hit the woods, then the wind started and it only warmed up to around 25-26 degrees.

I saw another 4 or 5 that were only about 150 yds away chasing each other up and down the trees, but no way to get near them, the snow and ice is way too crunchy.

Only seen a squirrel when I walked in, got lined up, and missed a long headshot attempt. A minute later a crow swooped in, but I didnt miss him. Cha ching.

Not belonging in the squirrel contest, but I guess it could go here in the small game section anyway.😂

Managed one gray squirrel for Team Fort Nuts. Saw 2 others way off but no shots. Was snowing pretty good, so dont know if that kept them holed up?

It was actually better today than last week when it was colder and windier.

That grey that deadeer shot looks like a crossbreed between a Fox squirrel and a Grey squirrel (it's got a bit of red fur on it, and it's not red from blood), and is the first Grey squirrel that I have seen in Starke County EVER.

Next time I will dress in white. Seems that dressing in camo when the woods is all white doesn't work so well, I was busted by some birds @ 50 yds and they spooked the first squirrel that I saw, then when it finally started moving again, it spooked for good when I tried to get the gun on it.

I figured that since I see a LOT of squirrels from the tree stand when deer hunting, just do the same thing except bring the 17 HMR and hunt squirrels.

Add 5 for Team #1 LCB.

I waited till our dusting of snow melted off and took the 17HMR to a private woods I haven't hunted in over 10 years; maybe 15.

It's a small wood lot next to a creek that I over-hunted one year and it didn't seem to ever fully recover. I only saw 3 more today. I'll hit it early next season and see what it looks like.

4 males this trip and 3 of those were probably grandfathers!

Did see a massive muddy deer trail through the middle of the wood lot. Jumped 4 deer right as I got to the edge of the woods. May not be a bad spot to hunt archery and muzzleloader season.

Personal total is 57.

Thanks esshup. I like eating them as much as I like hunting them!

Way back I used to average 25-30 a year. For the last several years I average twice that. I know a local guy that used to hit the 100 mark every year. He shot a sweet little Weatherby .22 semiauto. He always said that he had another new one in the closet for when he wore out that one.

My biggest change in squirrel hunting has been to SLOW DOWN! Hard telling how many squirrels I have walked past in all my years hunting them. Now I take multiples from the same tree or the same shooting position.

Funny you should mention that Weatherby .22, I have one that I just pulled out and was thinking of putting a scope on it. No value in it, it's one of the ones that they shipped with what they call (now) the "Salt wood" stock.

Please tell me your procedure for skinning the Fox squirrels. Those always give me fits.