First Squirrel At Cheatham

Becki said "it's 5:50, why aren't you squirrel hunting?" Good question, I thought. Off I went.

Went to the same place I hunted last week. I knew there were squirrels here as I saw them during deer season.

It was 48 degrees, clear and on it's way up.

On the way to the squirrel hunting spot, I came across deer sign that I think may be related to rubs I wrote about from last week.

These first pictures show a well worn walking path used by deer. This path is heading into a field - the opposite side of the field containing all of the deer sign I wrote about.


Notice the well worn walking path. Also, the trampled, rotten tree. The picture of the pile of ground and branches I suspect is used by deer as a way to sneak into the field. Last year, I found a 4-point drop tine in this path.


Got to my hunting spot at 7:30. This is one hour earlier than last week. I sat for one hour and didn't see anything. It was beginning to feel like last Saturday. After about 45 minutes I caught a glimpse of a twitching tail. Couldn't see the squirrel's body, but he was in range.

I sat still and watched the same area for about 15 more minutes. I caught a glimpse of a tiny movement - can't believe my eyes picked it out. It was the squirrel sitting in the typical hunched position looking at me from off to his side. He was about 30 yards away through a lot of branches.

Someone at work commented on Friday that a 12-guage would blow away squirrel. I am glad I had the 12-guage for this shot, it would take a lot of pellets to reach him. I had to nearly lay all the way on my back to get a bead on him without branches in the way. Thought the kick of the gun might hurt from this position, but it didn't. The squirrel fell immediately. It was a clean kill.

It was 8:30. One kill, one hour. I had time to take a long walk back to the truck.

I headed north towards Buttercup field. About a 1/4 mile to go.

No drop tines, no deer, no turkey sightings and no humans...so far. It was hot. I took off my brush chaps and three sweatshirts and stuffed them in the game bag and started the 1 mile walk back to the truck.

I ran into another squirrel hunter by turkey field. He said he hadn't seen anything. His tag was from Knox County (which I think is Knoxville). We chatted for a minute - he called a chipmunk a "ground squirrel".

I walked on. Got to the truck by 10.