I saw the squirrel running, gotta lead, pulled the trigger....

[newdumdum9825]

And watched him fall about 30 feet, he hit the ground about 10 yds in front of me and he fluttered in a ball of furry madness. i started walkin towards him racked a new shell in the chamber and put my mossy on saftey. Still havent taken my eyes off where he landed. Got over there and found nothing! I searched for about 15-20 mins covering about a 50ft radius around the tree, where I shot, and I saw him drop. Still nothing..


So the point of this post is, should I have kept looking, maybe i got him and was he maybe still alive and ran off and died or maybe I hit the branch in front of him and he fell out and hit the ground and ran of stunned


I feel bad because If I did hit him I wasted a squirrel. What should I have done, and what would you have done?

 

[printcraft]

Any blood?

 

[metaldog]

Any blood?

There you go with that vampire obsession, again.

 

[grasshopperlegs]

THIS is when you use a good squirrel dog. It could find your lost squirrel. I used one for years when I was young.

 

[newdumdum9825]

Nope nothing at all, I had a second set of eyes with me, my girlfriends dad, we both looked and found no trace..

ghost squirrel maybe?? Lol

 

[Dead Duck]

Did you on the bottom of your shoe?

Squirrels are sneaky.

 

[pwoller]

Maybe you just knocked him out of the tree and the fall stunned him?

 

[comanche]

lots of acorns this year..you missed, he dropped his load and you heard the 'flutter' of his nuts.

 

[patience0830]

If you're using a shotgun, there's your problem. If you insist on biting bb's use at least #5 and 3" high brass shells.

 

[Hookeye]

He used a Mossy. Squirrel probably heard that word used and simply refused to acknowledge any effect it might have

 

[trophyhunter]

THIS is when you use a good squirrel dog. It could find your lost squirrel. I used one for years when I was young.

If it's wounded and in the area the dog will find it. Our eye's aren't nearly as effective as a canines ability to track scent.

 

[Tnichols00]

What load shot are you using? I just started hunting with a shotgun this year after many years of .22 hunting and I have been using 20ga with #4 shot.
I found that I like the #4, it doenst take too many bb's to kill and does not bruise the meat too much.

 

[kcw12]

I use a 17 hmr when the leaves off and a 12 ga when the leaves are on. I normally try to use number 5 shot. 4 kills well, but not enough pellets, and 6's not have a little lack of umph at longer ranges. (when im in the bottom of the ridge and he's on the top in the top of the tallest darned tree). I personally hand load shells, and found that if your not using at least a 1 1/4 of shot (I normally do 1 3/8). It doesn't get through the leaves and such. I need to get another bag of 5's to load up my squirrel/rabbit shells. Also I killed 5 squirrels last night, with a box of shells i bought at the store. 1 OZ of 6's, just gotta get close to em.

 

[printcraft]

Nope nothing at all, I had a second set of eyes with me, my girlfriends dad, we both looked and found no trace..

ghost squirrel maybe?? Lol

Zombie squirrel is coming for you...............

 

[monitor51]

Zombie squirrel will get his REVENGE!!!

 

[huntall50]

Don't sweat it too much, after you have given the search a fair effort, because it happens sooner or later and at times often to all of us at some point.

 

[7.62]

Zombie squirrel is coming for you...............

that made me laugh!

 

[nascarfantoo]

Rocky, the flying squirrel, got away?!?!?

 

[AmericanBob]

Look for moose, find squirrel.

 

[LUVn40]

This might sound silly but it helped find a squirrel my husband knocked down last week and initially couldn't find. He hunts with a .22 magnum and always shoots for the head, which generally results in a dead squirrel before it hits the ground. However, at times they do spasm some after they fall and if on an incline, as was the case the other day, the squirrel can roll downhill. Or sometimes the area under the tree has a lot of weeds or whatever that makes spotting the dead squirrel difficult. Anyway, after hunting we went back to the tree where he shot and lost this particular squirrel and I listened and looked for blow flies. It doesn't take them long to find and swarm over a dead squirrel and it's sometimes a give-away as to the squirrels location. It's helped us in the past and might be beneficial to you in the future. That said, sometimes you just can't find them for whatever reason. It's part of it and as long as you made a good concerted effort that's what counts. Keep hunting and enjoy!