Have all the squirrels died of Covid?

[Slickfins]

Hi guys. I have gone out 5 times since Sept 1, on multiple different pieces of public, sometimes for the whole day, and have seen exactly one fleeting glimpse of a squirrel. Other hunters downstate have told me they’re having the same experience. Has anyone here had luck with squirrel this season? Or did they all die of Covid? The only place I’ve seen squirrels on the regular is in my yard in the city, and so my freezer remains empty.

 

Anyone have any hot squirrel spots they wouldn’t mind sharing in Orange / Putnam counties? Or fuck, just lukewarm squirrel spots?

 

Anyone tried Stewart for squirrels this season?

 

Thanks guys, hope y’all are having more luck than me.

 

Ryan

 

 

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[Hock3y24]

I never see a damn squirrel till deer season. I don't even bother with them anymore. 

[mowin]

Pretend your deer hunting.  You'll have squirrels after your nuts. 

[crappyice]

Funny you say that. Wife and I took a long hike through Ward Pound Reservation up in Pound Ridge last weekend and saw exactly zero squirrels the entire time there. And yet, most people I know stomping around the woods are talking about good acorn crops.
Maybe they are hanging in the still-thick
Canopies dropping nuts remaining unseen.
Good luck and welcome aboard


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[Slickfins]

Pretend your deer hunting.  You'll have squirrels after your nuts. 

@mowin I normally do just this. Find a squirrely looking spot with lots of hard mast on the ground, and sit tight. Normally after a few sits like this I’ve got two or three squirrels in my pouch but have yet to see a tail flicker with this strategy this year.


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[Slickfins]

Funny you say that. Wife and I took a long hike through Ward Pound Reservation up in Pound Ridge last weekend and saw exactly zero squirrels the entire time there. And yet, most people I know stomping around the woods are talking about good acorn crops.
Maybe they are hanging in the still-thick
Canopies dropping nuts remaining unseen.
Good luck and welcome aboard


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@crappyice It’s bizarre, right? Thanks for the welcome.


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[Splitear]

I went out last Sunday. I saw several, but they were all high in the tree tops and moving fast. I saw a couple on the ground as well. I was out with my open sights .22 with shorts, so I never got a good shot at any.

[Cabin Fever]

Up until 4-6 weeks ago, we had 7-9 squirrels at a time at our birdfeeder. Since then, not one! My wife has been commenting about not seeing any. I told her when I'm out checking cams in the woods, there's nut hulls all over the ground, so they just shifted their food source. I've been seeing a couple at the back of the yard in the walnut tree and carrying walnuts off, but they have no interest in the birdfeeder anymore. 

[Nytracker]

September you hunt Hickory nuts .. October  acorns and corn field edges 

[mowin]

11 minutes ago, Nytracker said:

September you hunt Hickory nuts .. October  acorns and corn field edges 

Agreed. They are hitting the hickory's hard. Had to move one of my cams because I was getting tired of getting  notifications on my phone only to see a tree rat. 

[PraiseDiana]

I got a couple squirrels in 4A with my .410 last weekend - just sat under an oak tree for 15 minutes

Anyone have good squirrel recipes? I'm trying to get to a half dozen squirrels (I only keep the back legs) and try making a Brunswick stew.

[mowin]

4 minutes ago, PraiseDiana said:

I got a couple squirrels in 4A with my .410 last weekend - just sat under an oak tree for 15 minutes

Anyone have good squirrel recipes? I'm trying to get to a half dozen squirrels (I only keep the back legs) and try making a Brunswick stew.

Only the back legs? Decent amount of meat on the torso.  I made squirrel sausage once. Took the meat from 15-20 squirrel's and mixed it 50/50 with pork. IIRC I think I had around 3lbs total, lol.  It was delicious. 

[Splitear]

11 minutes ago, PraiseDiana said:

I got a couple squirrels in 4A with my .410 last weekend - just sat under an oak tree for 15 minutes

Anyone have good squirrel recipes? I'm trying to get to a half dozen squirrels (I only keep the back legs) and try making a Brunswick stew.

Nice. I certainly wouldn't pitch the other meat, I usually split out the back legs, torso, and front legs. The only way I've ever had it is in chowder (for the old squirrels) and the best is breaded with flour, salt and pepper, fried, and then use the pan drippings to make some of the best white gravy in the world. 

[Enigma]

32 minutes ago, Splitear said:

Nice. I certainly wouldn't pitch the other meat, I usually split out the back legs, torso, and front legs. The only way I've ever had it is in chowder (for the old squirrels) and the best is breaded with flour, salt and pepper, fried, and then use the pan drippings to make some of the best white gravy in the world. 

This ^

And I'll add . . . parboil the 5 pcs till tender, reduce and save the stock, pan fry as above, add mushrooms and a very small amount of onion, make gravy from the stock with a little more flour. Simmer on low till you can't stand it anymore. Serve over spuds. Hands down the highlight dinner for us of the early fall.

Or parboil, dry, coat n fry, toss with wing sauce. Squirrel "wings" are killer. 

Or parboil, remove meat from bones. Substitute squirrel for the chicken in a good chicken n sausage gumbo. A great combo.

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by Enigma

[518BowSlayer]

I went out the first weekend of September and saw 1 Squirrel and shot it. See tons of them while deer hunting

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[Enigma]

4 hours ago, Slickfins said:

@mowin I normally do just this. Find a squirrely looking spot with lots of hard mast on the ground, and sit tight. Normally after a few sits like this I’ve got two or three squirrels in my pouch but have yet to see a tail flicker with this strategy this year.

Change it up then. Get up, go for a walk and find where they are. Hunting is hunting. Squirrels, deer, turkeys, they all do the same basic things. Find what they're eating right now. They'll be there till the next food source becomes ripe. 

In my area it's beechnuts then corn. I hunt one spot for only about 1 week a year. We call it the vortex lol. A flat top with beechnut trees, edge to a hemlock grove and bordering a corn field. Like finding the X when goose hunting. 

Keep at it. You'll find them!

[Slickfins]

I am going to do like you guys said and look for hickory nuts. Also try and cover some more ground. Thanks! Will keep you all posted.


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[Salmon_Run]

[First-light]

U usually have 4 or 5 of them hitting my bird feeder. I haven't seen 1 in two weeks. Have a ton of acorns hitting the ground. I'm sure they are stocking up on them. 

[cynthiafu]

Bern saying it  since last season the woods are quiet.  Barely see or hear chipmunks or birds it is like alot of the animals died off. 

[Nomad]

6 hours ago, Cabin Fever said:

Up until 4-6 weeks ago, we had 7-9 squirrels at a time at our birdfeeder. Since then, not one! My wife has been commenting about not seeing any. I told her when I'm out checking cams in the woods, there's nut hulls all over the ground, so they just shifted their food source. I've been seeing a couple at the back of the yard in the walnut tree and carrying walnuts off, but they have no interest in the birdfeeder anymore. 

Yep going back a couple weeks I’d have 6-8 at a time in my front yard burying nuts . Now few and far between , the mast crop in my yard is done .

[Salmon_Run]

I don't have grey's near me but last year was a boom year for mice and chipmunks; might just be a very down cycle for the species as mother nature does.

2020 I couldn't keep the mice away last year and they even ate holes through my screen windows and entered at night....it was like an invasion of them in mass numbers...

[mowin]

30 minutes ago, Salmon_Run said:

I don't have grey's near me but last year was a boom year for mice and chipmunks; might just be a very down cycle for the species as mother nature does.

2020 I couldn't keep the mice away last year and they even ate holes through my screen windows and entered at night....it was like an invasion of them in mass numbers...

2 yrs ago a client had a horrible mouse problem. I was there every day in the fall emptying the traps. Forgot exactly how many I got in a two week period, but it was a incredible number.  Old stacked stone foundation was the culprit. It's since been repointed and the mice have been manageable. 

Couldn't imagine having them chew threw screens though. 

[Nomad]

37 minutes ago, Salmon_Run said:

I don't have grey's near me but last year was a boom year for mice and chipmunks; might just be a very down cycle for the species as mother nature does.

2020 I couldn't keep the mice away last year and they even ate holes through my screen windows and entered at night....it was like an invasion of them in mass numbers...

Trapped 16 voles this year, this Chipmunk kept trying to cross the walk . It turns out it can easily dodge a brick thrown by me, but the water hose not so much .

[Salmon_Run]

8 minutes ago, mowin said:

Couldn't imagine having them chew threw screens though. 

It was like a science fiction movie, with a dozen traps baited with peanut butter in the first night I stopped counting at 2:00 am when I got to thirty and they still kept coming in and running all over, damaged lots of paper  products and we had to strip all bedding and towels and wash them in Clorox....NASTY little bastards....

I spent a day replacing screen in my windows where they chewed through and entered...