squirrels and traditional pocket knives

Saturday opened our squirrel season here in PA and I had the chance to enjoy it with my brother and a very good friend. There are still a ton of leaves on the trees and I was thinking about taking the old scatter gun, but I decided to take the little 22. Rifle. The woods fall asleep a lot faster after a 22. goes off, VS a 12. Gauge. We bump hunted instead of picking a tree and sticking to it, I was able to bag three grays, but if I was a quicker shot I could have bagged enough to fill everyone's game pouch. The Squirrel population is really thriving here on the farm and I'm excited to see it.

I had a couple of knives on me, but the one that did all the work was my Lanny's clip made by Mr. Lloyd.
It's got a great 52100 carbon steel blade. I don't let the hunting knives get too sharp either, too many people need to borrow a knife out in the woods and I can't trust them to be careful.

I'll probably be going out on Saturday, if the weather is good I'll take the camera with me.
 
The BEST knife I had for skinning small game was an old WESTERN branded bird and trout somewhere in the late 60s. A fixed carbon steel blade of about 3 1/2", it was perfectly designed for handing small game. Excellent for rabbits and even fish, too. Traded it off for something else, and that was that.

Got a CASE regular stockman a few years later and it assumed all the small game duties.

Robert
 
Hey Guys, I got home from work yesterday and decided to try my luck at bagging a few bushytails.
The weather was perfect so I decided to be picky with my shots, but I had a great time getting out anyways.

The quality of the hunt beats the quantity of the game everyday.

I started down the hollow with about an hour's time left of daytime. Quickly on my heels was our old beagle dog Hawk, he had been great for rabbits since the day he was born, but twelve years is a long time for a dog and he no longer seems to remember how exactly the whole thing works. But, he's a great partner out in the woods and he is learning the ways of the squirrel hunt. I decided to do a combo of bump hunting and set hunting just to take in the day's beauty. As I reached the "good" woods I slowed down and readied the camera. I passed on a couple of grays as they scurried along looking for a freshly, fallen acorn or two.

As I headed up a little grade in the hollow I spotted this picture.
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This squirrel, I watched through the camera lens before taking aim with the old Weaver 4.
The 22. barked out another round and the squirrel landed in a dead heap.

As I walked on I spotted this guy as he made his ascent up a tree, I only shot this one with my camera though.
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I made my way to the old tree that just about every generation has hunted under and I enjoyed the evenings breeze. I passed on a few more little grays as they played on through the leaves.
A nice fox squirrel barked at me from above, but never gave me the moment to take a steady aim, so he is saved for another day.

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As I turned back and headed for home something caught my eye. Sitting just a few yards in from the field was a decent fox squirrel.
We seemed to notice each other at the same time and he made his way to a higher branch just as I readied my rifle. Finally he settled down and with the squeeze of the finger the 22. again sounded.

So, with two more added to the game pouch, Hawk and myself headed for home.
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I consider myself a shotgunner, waterfowl to be correct. Its hard not to enjoy squirrels,
.22's, headshots, and slipjoints.
Ken.
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Ken,

That some good eating you got there.
I usually just blast a couple with my shot gun when I'm out pheasant hunting and Kansas has some of the best bird hunting there is.
Of course I have to pick a few bee bee's out, but no big deal, have do that with birds anyway.....:rolleyes::D

Happy hunting guys - be safe.
 
Great to see all the slip joints. I hunted squirrels a lot as a teen. But I stopped when I realized we weren't eating them. Can't bring myself to hunt without eating what I kill.
 
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October is a great month for trappers, squirrels, and other hunting. The cv steel made quick work of this gray squirrel that I got while looking for a new bow hunting spot.
 
I don't hunt, but it's been said that having a less than keen toothy edge is best for skinning these animals. Has anybody tried a D2 blade for this task? You can get these toothy and a knife like a Queen Cutlery Teardrop liner lock would be good: sharp tip Zulu Spear blade or their Copperhead liner lock too. No corrosion problems with this steel and very grippy Amber Bone carved handles.
 
I don't have one yet but would think that d2 queen knives would be great for hunting applications because of their corrosion resistance and edge holding ability. You should be able to skin a great number of squirrels or other small game animals before touching up the edge. Eventually I will try d2 steel, hopefully in either trapper pattern.
 
I love squirrel (and anything else) hunting. I was taught to look for small brown birds while squirrel hunting and squirrels while deer hunting. If you look for things that are smaller, but the same color of the critter you're looking for you're most likely gonna notice small slivers of a deer or squirrel from between leaves. I almost never get a perfect view of the whole squirrel, I just notice a small bit of squirrel and wait for it to pop its little head up so I know without a doubt what it is.
As far as edges go- I've known people to use anything from serrated blades to scalpel blades. If it's razor sharp it'll work. I personally prefer an almost mirror convexed edge on my hunting knives.
 
we always cut a slit on the underside/base of the tail....stand on tail & pull up on the back feet to skin one...thwn cut legs off at the knee
 
bladeblabber said:
how do ya'll like to cook your squirrels? I've always liked em' fried, but have put them in a crock pot to.
Click to expand...

We fry then we put them in the crock pot with gravy and let them cook some more till tender. Makes me want some right now...
Ed J

Uh-oh!!!
vvv
 
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Hey folks. This is just a friendly nudge to get this "squirrelly" topic back on track.

squirrels and traditional pocket knives

Thanks!
 
I thought of this thread when I was out today and there were grey squirrels all over the place. They rarely get hunted here, which might go some way to explaining this sort of behaviour

 
I hunted squirrels starting at the age of 8 yrs. old. I was learning to hunt & shoot. My Grandfather used to clean them,he had a tiny Buck Lancer pocket knife & used the small coping blade on them. I learned from him. I no longer hunt squirrels,I do not carry a Buck Lancer,but I have one,kinda like a keepsake memory thing. I have these small fixed blade knives from Rick Menefee that I named the "Bird n Squirrel". Never used one to clean a squirrel, but when I do use them, all I can think about is how I wish I could get one to my Grandfather back then,you know like go back. I think he would've really loved that little Menefee knife.

This is a Menefee "Bird n Squirrel"
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I plan to field dress a whitetail with one in a week or so
 
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