Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Fox Squirrel meet 16 Gauge

Well , I finally shot a doe 2 weeks ago to put a close on my most frustrating deer season in a long time but getting in the woods and not killing something beats not getting in the woods. After this deer I knew I may go deer hunting a few more times(twice to take Otto hunting and maybe a News years day hunt in Moore Co) but the rest of the winter I was going to concentrate on small game hunting and predator hunting.

So, on the 18th I headed to my Fox squirrel hotspot and for the first few hours I scouted around awhile to check things out, and then before dark I planned to settle in to a good spot and wait. During my trek though the woods I found 5 fox squirrel nests in an area where I could sit in the middle of those and be within 50 yds of every nest. Now, a fox squirrels nest is pretty easy to identify from a grey's as it is almost twice as big and due to that size it is usually in a fork in a tree instead of away from the trunk. All of these nest were like this with plenty of other sign around. Bout, 4pm I decided to head back and sit near these nest and I notice my camera has fallen off my belt. Crap, its in a camo pouch and I have walked alooong ways! To make matters worse , its not easy to find a camo camera pouch when the woods is full of wiregrass clumps and Longleafs in the grass stage plus I had zigzagged through the woods. I finally found it just before dark so I didn't get the chance to hunt the cluster of nests.

Fast forward a few days later and I get to this spot at 3 pm. Sit down and plan to wait it out. This is where I will see one. 5 minutes later this jet black one comes back and my new to me 16 gauge barks and I am limited out. Not the biggest Fox squirrel I have shot but still a lot bigger than a grey. Gonna be some good eating and the tail will be used for tying some flies. I have 3 pumps but would rather hunt squirrels with a single shot. I guess it reminds me of my younger days.

Date- December 21, 2013
Quarry- Fox Squirrel
Location-  Sandhills of North Carolina
Gun used- Winchester 37A 16 Gauge, 28 in Barrel, full choke
Ammo -  Remington 2 3/4 inch gameloads #6 shot




Fox Squirrel Hunting in North Carolina
Mack

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