10/6/2010
October kicks off the bulk of our fall and winter hunting seasons. We will see our sportsmen and women running in different directions, depending on their heritage and traditions. Probably the greatest number of hunters will be out trying to arrow a nice fat whitetail – buck or doe. There will be others scratching on their various turkey calls just waiting for the chance to “bust up” a flock of fall turkeys. Grouse and woodcock hunters have waited all year for the opportunity to follow their bird dogs into the uplands at this most beautiful time of year. But for a handful of hunters, it is the bushytail that holds their attention.
Most of the hunters of my generation, I would say those 50 and older, started their hunting careers with a pain in the neck from looking up while sitting under a big hickory or oak tree. But for the past 20 years or so, the emphasis has been on deer hunting. With the explosion of deer numbers and the improvements in our guns and bows, it became much easier to kill a deer. With deer so visible, it is no wonder that there’s so much interest. But in reality, it is probably the small game hunter, and especially the squirrel hunter, who has the greatest knowledge that we will refer to as “woodsmanship.”
By this I mean the squirrel hunter will learn the stealth of making a sneak or stalk. They learn to walk softly and to move when their noise is covered by a rush of wind, or maybe a plane or other vehicles going by. The squirrel hunter, by necessity, will probably have a greater knowledge of the woods, its trees, shrubs and fruit trees. To be successful, the squirrel hunter needs to be able to recognize food trees such as white oak, red oak, beech nut, hickory nut, butternut, walnut and even dogwood trees. Point is, at various times of the fall and winter, and depending on what “mast” “hit,” the squirrel hunter will have to find these food sources to find the squirrels. Squirrels do move or migrate and they will go until they find a solid food source.
Why do I consider the squirrel hunter to be one of the better woodsmen, you ask?
To read more, visit http://wvcommerce.org/SquirrelHunting
Contact Information
Frank Jezioro
frankjezioro@wvdnr.gov