Yesterday I went out for a few hours of hunting and went straight to the top of the mountain. I had it in my mind that if I got 3 more I would call it a season. It’s been very dry this fall and a lot of leaves have fallen. It makes it very hard to stalk to within range. On top of that, after last years slaughter of 100 squirrels I was starting to feel like many more would be just greedy. I had already made this season my 3rd best, so I thought 30 would round it out.
As I got to the top, two were barking. I got them both within a minute. After retrieving them I waited around a bit. Usually when there is one or two there are always more. I started off the hill after a half hour and sure enough the third one started barking. I got close to where I heard it and it stuck its head around a tree not even 15 feet in front of me. I blew it’s head off and that made 30.
I am calling it a season at 30. Time to clean the 16 gauges and put them up for the year. This year was still a huge year. Last year was special for sure at 100 killed but 30 is still a yuge year. There has been many years when 15 would have been a helluva season.
Scattered Shots 
I felt a little bad letting a wounded one get away yesterday. Whacked a monster fox squirrel on top of a ridge at the end of shooting light. It hit the ground then, while I was reloading, popped up and went sliding down the hill…down…down…down. I just watched it go – would have had to climb back up that rocky, steep, knee-killing slope in the dark. I checked the topo map later and it was over 300 ft of closely spaced lines. Nope.
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Yeah when they hit like that then run off under their own steam you aint gonna find it. That would have been a wasted climb. He would have already found a spot and be hidden long before you got to it.
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