Squirrel Hunting 1-21-06
Played a gig last night with Heather Stokes. Bass player was Jake - Clint Black's bass player. Drummer - Liz Figalaro. Harmonica - Mark Kunkel. Played at About Time Lounge. Gig went well. Got home at about 2:45
Getting home late got me off to a late start on Saturday morning. I stopped at Mapco and grabbed a cup of Jo and a honeybun. I made it to the iron gate on 249, the southern-most entrance to the Cheatham WMA at 7:30am.
It was grey and overcast and a bit windy. It looked like it would unleash a load of rain at any minute. This first picture shows the weather and also shows that most of the logging roads are now closed in preparation for Turkey hunting. It is difficult to make out, but this is a picture of Rider Ridge road. It shows the "road closed" sign and the road name. These roads are open for deer season providing additional vehicle access, but during turkey season the roads are closed - turkeys are easier to carry out when harvested.
It was warm. I didn't bring the dogs on this trip. I was planning to hunt in a ridge bottom were I spent alot of time deer hunting. I know there are squirrels here as I saw them while deer hunting. this seems like a very good funnel for deer. However, I saw no deer here during the season and spent way too much time trying. I did see two coyotes nearby and I did see a doe and a fawn during bow season. Dad got a shot at an 8-point buck about a quarter mile north of here.
No dogs would allow me to still hunt, which I did from the rock pictured...for two hours. My turkey vest, with the attached seat pad, was ideal for the day. The sporting good companies could make minor tweaks to a turkey vest and unleash an entirely new niche product - the squirrel hunting vest.
The woods was deadly quiet for the entire time I sat there. It could have been the impending rain storm - it rained all day Sunday (the day after this trip). I saw a chipmunk and that was it. Even the bird activity was nil. Usually, these woods are alive with woodpeckers at least. Not this time. It was dead quiet.
I headed out of the woods at 9:30. About a quarter mile from the main gravel road, I noticed a swarm of bird activity. So I stopped and remained still for about 20 minutes. I saw several birds - Downie woodpeckers, Tufted Titmice, a barrage of activity in this one area. No squirrels, so I moved on.
Would like to have tried out the 870 on a squirrel today, I put in the full choke this morning. This shotgun is great...very light, the length - 24 inch barrel- makes it easy to manuveur in the woods.
I am going to do another post detailing deer signs I found on the walk back to the truck. Had about a half mile to go. So on the way I tramped through briars and brush around the edge of a large (maybe 10 acres) food plot. There is a water hole in the center of the foodplot...check out the "Deer Sign on 1-24-06" post for more.
Getting home late got me off to a late start on Saturday morning. I stopped at Mapco and grabbed a cup of Jo and a honeybun. I made it to the iron gate on 249, the southern-most entrance to the Cheatham WMA at 7:30am.
It was grey and overcast and a bit windy. It looked like it would unleash a load of rain at any minute. This first picture shows the weather and also shows that most of the logging roads are now closed in preparation for Turkey hunting. It is difficult to make out, but this is a picture of Rider Ridge road. It shows the "road closed" sign and the road name. These roads are open for deer season providing additional vehicle access, but during turkey season the roads are closed - turkeys are easier to carry out when harvested.
It was warm. I didn't bring the dogs on this trip. I was planning to hunt in a ridge bottom were I spent alot of time deer hunting. I know there are squirrels here as I saw them while deer hunting. this seems like a very good funnel for deer. However, I saw no deer here during the season and spent way too much time trying. I did see two coyotes nearby and I did see a doe and a fawn during bow season. Dad got a shot at an 8-point buck about a quarter mile north of here.
No dogs would allow me to still hunt, which I did from the rock pictured...for two hours. My turkey vest, with the attached seat pad, was ideal for the day. The sporting good companies could make minor tweaks to a turkey vest and unleash an entirely new niche product - the squirrel hunting vest.
The woods was deadly quiet for the entire time I sat there. It could have been the impending rain storm - it rained all day Sunday (the day after this trip). I saw a chipmunk and that was it. Even the bird activity was nil. Usually, these woods are alive with woodpeckers at least. Not this time. It was dead quiet.
I headed out of the woods at 9:30. About a quarter mile from the main gravel road, I noticed a swarm of bird activity. So I stopped and remained still for about 20 minutes. I saw several birds - Downie woodpeckers, Tufted Titmice, a barrage of activity in this one area. No squirrels, so I moved on.
Would like to have tried out the 870 on a squirrel today, I put in the full choke this morning. This shotgun is great...very light, the length - 24 inch barrel- makes it easy to manuveur in the woods.
I am going to do another post detailing deer signs I found on the walk back to the truck. Had about a half mile to go. So on the way I tramped through briars and brush around the edge of a large (maybe 10 acres) food plot. There is a water hole in the center of the foodplot...check out the "Deer Sign on 1-24-06" post for more.
posted by Tim Baumgartner at
7:16 PM
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