Good news

Kentucky's fall squirrel season opens Aug. 16 and continues through Nov. 7. It resumes Nov. 10 following a pause for the opening weekend of modern gun deer season and ends Feb. 28.

I am going to be out in the woods Thursday "God willing and the crick don't rise."

My first love is handguns but my first gun was a Stevens 94 at age 8.

Every year I try to take out the old .410 and get a squirrel for supper... just for old times sake. Used to get several for supper when the boys were all at home but that is in the past. Now I just try to get one gray squirrel for me and Momma. I prefer them to the reds. They seem to be more tender... are always smaller and one is plenty for two old folks. Traditionally I fried them and made mashed potatoes, squirrel gravy and had a big bowl of peas. Just seemed to go together perfect for us. Momma can't eat peas or potatoes now so may have to modify meal a bit.

Chiggers are at their peak and probably the skeeters too but I lather on the diesel and get into the trees. (Deet kind of burns my skin but diesel has never bothered me to my knowledge.)

Leaves are mighty heavy on the trees and the squirrels are hard to see but I'll give it a try. Used to hunt with a .22 but gave that up because I quit shooting into the air sometime in the 70s. Too many people in too many places. So I stick to my old .410.

Daddy handed me that little shotgun for the first time back when I was 8 and he let me shoot a groundhog my dog had treed (yes they can climb.) I scored a hit... the dog grabbed the groundhog when it fell... and I handed the gun back to Daddy. He said, "Keep it... it's yours now." In the years following I killed every type of game an 8 year old can encounter in Kentucky including rabbits, squirrels, possums, hawks in Momma's chickens, foxes... you name it. I may have even shot an elephant or rhino back then somewhere in the woods. You know how memory starts to fade as you age.

Y'all have a good hunting season this fall when it starts in your areas. Hunting is therapeutic in dealing with this troublesome world. When I am in the woods with that little .410 I am a kid again... troubles are all far away somewhere else in the world and I know my old Pappy (RIP) is somewhere out there with me.

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I'm going to take my Grandfather's 1919 Springfield 12 ga. double out 1 day this fall for squirrels. He gave it to me in 1959 when I was 15, and I haven't shot it in years. Should be fun.

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Should get a chance to walk the woods of Missouri this fall. Will probably take the Boito 410 along as well as the Single Six. The squirrel season's been open since the end of May IIRC, but I prefer to hunt them when the leaves are down and they're rustling around on the ground. One of those little guys sounds like a heard of deer coming through, puts you on your toes during deer season. :-D

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Our first hunting season will be Teal and Geese the 1st of September, may just take my G-Grandfather's 97 out with some bismuth I managed to acquire. Squirrel season does not start here until Sept 15th and where I hunt is pretty remote so still use a 22, though do try to make sure and shoot them against the tree so the bullet does not go flying off anywhere, and I am hoping to use my Grandfather's Steven's Favorite for at least the first hunt. Most of the time I hunt arboreal rodentia with handguns and intend to keep it up as long as my eyesight permits.

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Back in '06 I was given access to an old abandoned farm to hunt. It was full of wildlife, a large number of fox squirrel and just a few grays. Plenty of turkey and deer. The Single Six took more squirrels than the Mossberg 43 did that year. The odd thing was that I did better at longer ranges with the handgun than I did up close. Couldn't seem to miss at 30-40 yards or so, but around 10 I couldn't seem to connect.

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