It’s an average autumn day in Northern Michigan, cold but the sun still warms you, and movement easily keeps you warm.. The breeze that flows through the air threatens you with winter, but not for a while yet. Today, while the raucous noise of birds and frogs have long gone, the sound of dropping acorns and the frustrations of Squirrels is all that I hear, perhaps even all that I desire to hear. I am not here for a casual stroll through the woods to admire the majesty of nature, no, I am here to procure food. Today I walk through these woods with a gun. This is a food that is often looked down upon. Mostly by the general public, but also by fellow hunters. Lucky I am then to be able to hunt these animals without much pressure from other hunters.
The Grey Squirrel is an amazing creature. Hunting the grey squirrel is a challenge that many people will never understand. As a non hunter squirrels are almost everywhere one goes. Squirrels occupy a place in our hearts and minds as these non-domesticated pets, and to kill one would be sacrilegious for many, relegated to the desires of hillbillies and hicks, not civilized folks, not sensible, kind people. How confusing it is then when upon your first venture into the woods to hunt squirrels, after a friend finally talked you into it, there is not a single squirrel in sight. Every now and then you think that you saw one scamper, but it is only out of the corner of your eye. How can this even be possible? Are these squirrels somehow smarter than I ever gave them credit for?
In my area there are two color phases of the Grey Squirrel, the typical Grey, but also Black.
I did not grow up hunting squirrels. In fact I did not grow up hunting at all. I am what is known as an Adult Onset Hunter. People like me took an interest in hunting mostly through the desire to rid our freezers and refrigerators of store bought factory farmed meat. Primary desires often morph and change however and what began as a desire to eat healthier for me turned into a love for hunting anything and everything I could legally hunt. Do not misunderstand me, I still thoroughly enjoy the meat aspect of the hunt, I would not partake of the hunt were it not for the food at the end. But the hunt itself is also its own reward. The hunt itself is sacred time, quiet time, a time to study the landscape for signs and sounds that betray the whereabouts of one’s quarry.
Let’s talk about squirrel predation for a minute: Squirrels and Muskrats occupy a scary place on the food chain. These two animals are heavily preyed upon by predators from both the land and the sky. This means that squirrels are in a headspace of constant vigilance. They do not let their guard down very often, and when they do let their guard down they are usually very high in a tree. It is also safe to assume that the majority of the “dumb” squirrels are killed and eaten by predators(including us humans) by Thanksgiving at the latest. The squirrel population that remains after that point is like the Green Berets of squirrels. They have better survival skills and instincts than the previously killed bushy tails. Assigning intelligence like our own seems disingenuous, but I swear these Green Beret squirrels do have an intelligence that is extremely admirable.
The hunt, as many of us learn painfully, is a difficult endeavor. This is made all the more difficult by the fact that these beasts are generally not that easy of a target to actually hit once you have them in your sights. Squirrels are small, often move quite a bit and they find ways of hiding the majority of their bodies. The tail is the thing that most often betrays their presence. Last fall my son Nettle and I spotted a squirrel tail in the crook of a giant Oak tree probably fifty to sixty feet up; the only thing giving it away was its tail. As long as you can take your time and shoot accurately these squirrels that think they are safe are actually some of the easiest squirrels to add to your game bag.
When I shoot a squirrel I get flooded with an intense feeling of happiness and of accomplishment. Non hunters think that this sort of sentiment is wrong, that I should feel sad or remorseful, but I do not. A long time ago before I began hunting I felt that hunters must feel sorrow for the kills they make. This sort of thinking was surely borne out of ridiculous Hollywood propaganda. But that has not been the way my hunting history has unfolded. I feel thankful for the life that the animal has given so that I can eat, and with each and every death I always remember to say “Thank you for your life”, but this is always accompanied by a feeling of joy, not sorrow. If I had to guess I would say that this feeling that floods my body is the same feeling that flooded the the bodies of all of my hunting ancestors. Being able to feed your family, your friends, your village should create an extreme feeling of happiness, because if it were the opposite no one would have ever wanted to hunt and I would not be here to even type these words out on this screen.
I hunt with a .22 caliber rifle as I like to shoot precisely, and I like for my shots to kill instantly. Head shots or upper body shots are preferable over maiming shots like those even the best of us have taken where the squirrel ends up walking around on its front legs completely immobilized in the rear legs. There are places however that a .22 is not legal to shoot with, and in those instances I would use a shotgun. In the past I have shot squirrels with both bow and arrow and blowguns, but these methods injure more squirrels than they kill so I hunt with a gun. It is quick and humane.
If I could trap most animals instead of hunting them, I most definitely would. All sorts of trickery would be employed to passively procure meat. But not squirrels. I can do without sitting down as still and silent as I can be for hours while I pray a deer comes by. But I could not at this point in my life pass up a small game season without at least making a few voyages out to hunt squirrels. The activity alone makes that trip worth it. The casual nature of hunting squirrels makes it approachable by just about anyone, and the difficulty level is just high enough that most people cannot become squirrel hunting Jedis.
I am not a master hunter of this species, I am in fact very much right in the middle in regards to skills on the hunt. Our limit here in Michigan is 5 a day, and most days I come back with 2-3. Last season (2019-2020) I came back with my limit on only 2 occasions. But regardless of skill level, there is still hiking through wooded areas for hours at a time when most other humans are at home. Add in a friend or two and you get camaraderie and time well spent in nature regardless of the hunt.
I scan the woods with eyes not set directly on any one thing, I move through with my eyes looking for motion. Any motion. A single branch of an oak suddenly moves upward causing the leaves on it to erupt into dance. This is not just a random wind, this is a squirrel. I can feel it in my bones. I do not yet see it, but I wait until the forest has calmed down long enough to forget my presence. It is in this moment that I feel the forest come to life once more, and I see a number of squirrels in a number of trees that I did not know were there moments before. As sneaky as I can possibly be I slowly move into a better position to hunt the closest squirrel. My footsteps are slow and methodical, I will not snap a branch. I lean my gun up to a White Oak sapling to steady it for my shot. I put the crosshairs as close to the squirrels head as possible and I take a few deep calming exhales before I pull the trigger.
When I began hunting something awakened in me that I never knew was there. We have all come from thousands upon thousands of years of evolution in which the majority of our ancestors killed animals for survival. This genetic memory flowed through me and I was unaware of it until after my first squirrel hunt. My ancestors left for me a very strong desire to hunt. This desire is the same desire that caused some of our population to choose instead to raise livestock instead of chasing them around: Hunger.
Hunger is a great source of motivation to procure food of any kind at all. But almost overwhelmingly in the days of the past that meant looking for something more substantial like meat. It is telling of the extreme privilege we all have in the US when we can never feel hunger at any real level, and instead of eating meat we choose instead to eat the agricultural crops that on the surface appear to require no death. When put into a position of near starvation most anyone would gladly eat a Grey Squirrel.
What I love most about hunting squirrels, but in a broader sense small game in general, is that it allows us to practice a more ancestral way of hunting. It is unrealistic to believe that hunters in the past only consumed deer or elk. Their objective was to bring home meat, even if that meat was from a critter that did not have a lot of meat on it. These small animals probably made up the majority of the animals killed by hunter gatherers in the past. Focusing all efforts on one species of animal seems out of touch with what it means to be a hunter. Look at the records of what meats were on the menus of indigenous people here in North America when Europeans first got here and you will start to see that a hunter has a much more diverse set of skills than the oft portrayed deer hunting skills.
Squirrel numbers are high in some areas and relatively low in others. This is based more or less on the composition of the forests through which you are walking. Generally I would say that as the proportion of evergreen trees increase the amount of Grey Squirrels decreases. Trees like Oak and Beech are responsible for raising populations of these animals whenever they are masting, and lowering their numbers when the mast is not available. When you are looking for good public land hunting spots the best trees to look for are always the Oaks. Of course depending on where you live a good place to look might also be a Hickory forest, a black walnut forest, or maybe you could luck out and find a remnant patch of American Chestnuts to hunt your squirrels in.
Because I am invested in hunting squirrels I am obliged to do what I can to continue to assure that their numbers are high. This is a crossroads where tending the wild for edible plants and tending the wild for animals meets. Fulfilling the needs of Squirrels has a miraculous effect on not just their population but also the populations of Turkeys, Deer and even historically our own human population. As a general rule if Oak trees are in the open they will produce more nuts than the Oak trees growing too close to other trees. So if you are able to remove trees around big Oak trees I suggest doing so. This same principle goes for nearly any other nut bearing tree. Think of nut trees as you would think of yourself: You thrive if given adequate space.
Just the simple act of planting nuts or planting trees can increase the habitat available for squirrels and will make your future hunts, or even the hunts of some future hunters better. If all of us sought to improve the health of the woods for better hunting/foraging the fate of our ecosystems would be much improved. This is a perfect example of how human beings can create a better world by simply doing something that benefits us. Beavers too alter their landscape, and while the changes they make benefit a wide variety of animals and plants the changes that they make are for the beavers benefit. When we live the way humans were meant to live it highlights the interconnectedness of all species. We’re not in this alone, and the decisions that we make affect the animals around us. This is both amazing and scary at the same time.
When thinking of “terraforming” most people think of turning other planets into paradise for ourselves, but the crazy part of thinking that way is that we have a perfect planet for turning into paradise right now, and we ignore it. This beautiful planet can be the mystical Eden once more with a little bit of forethought and planning. When Europeans first arrived on the North American continent there was astonishment in regards to the makeup of the forests and the amount of wild game on the landscape. Along vast stretches of the east coast it is said that one in four trees was an American Chestnut. Prior to the diseases that killed as many as 90% of the population it is said that the land was so packed with people that Europeans could barely find a place to start a community. I think with all of the evidence that we now have we can safely assume that the North American native people were transforming their lands to better suit it for themselves, which incidentally made it better for wild game.
Many people, mostly those that stay indoors, think of foraging and hunting as activities that involve taking. A flow of energy in one direction. This is not an accurate portrayal of hunters at all, and to a lesser extent foragers (although hopefully we can change this). Entire ecosystems are regularly improved to increase wild game in one area or another. Ducks Unlimited, an organization that “conserves, restores, and manages wetlands and associated habitats for North America's waterfowl” has planted Wild Rice here in Michigan that I myself have harvested. Their intention was not to plant rice for people, but it worked out that way because many species of animals and ourselves have overlapping desires.
When I plant nuts in the ground in suitable forest habitats I do so knowing that these trees are for the future generations of squirrel hunters. Acting in this was the land becomes a place that stretches through time. The generations long gone did what they could to preserve the hunt for the future. I hunt squirrels from the Oaks planted by the people that hunted squirrels before me, and my children will hunt squirrels from the Oak trees that I have planted. Hunters are people that care about making their land better for wild game, and these improvements, if implemented on a larger scale could have dramatic effects on our Earth.
In a paradoxical way, hunting, or being a hunter makes one a better steward and caretaker of the animals that one kills. Love for a thing is not increased by not interacting with it. In fact I would say it is the opposite. It is not hunters that are out building Wal Marts and parking lots over what was once prime animal habitat. It is not foragers either. The people that are plugged into their landscapes mourn the loss of these places as we watch the “death by a thousand cuts” slowly kill more and more land and make it unsuitable for foraging, hunting or even hiking. A place that once supported human health and wellbeing now has been turned into a place to buy things or to drive your car on so that you may go and buy things.
Squirrel hunting is at its most basic level just small game hunting, but in reality it is so much more. It is philosophy, a walk through the woods, a reflection on life and death, exercise, a journey through time, a pondering of how we should live, a way to feed your family, and so much more. It can truly transform you as a human being to spend time out in nature procuring wild meat for your self. In becoming a hunter one takes on the responsibility of caring for his or her ecosystem so that it exists in perpetuity for others, be they plants, animals or other humans.