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Unread 09-21-2018, 03:29 PM   #11
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I admit I am biased and nostalgic when it comes to squirrel hunting, but when CWD takes the deer and WNV and habitat loss take bird hunting from the next generation, we’ll need to have some way to keep hunting alive.

Charlie, shoot one for all of us!!
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SQUIRREL MIGRATIONS
Unread 09-21-2018, 07:18 PM   #12
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Default SQUIRREL MIGRATIONS

In the book Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose there is one thing that sticks out in my mind forever and that is the massive squirrel migrations. I believe what we see with so many killed on the road is that in a smaller version. Lewis had his dog Seaman, a Newfoundland, catch them and they feasted on them. I can just see him in the water now catching squirrels as they swam the big rivers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaman_(dog)

https://www.deltafarmpress.com/massi...-north-america

Massive squirrel migrations recorded in North America

Wayne Capooth Freelance Writer wcapooth@gmail.com | Jul 21, 2006

September 1803, Meriwether Lewis and his faithful dog, Seaman, traveled down the Ohio near where it joined the Mississippi. He recorded: “I made my dog take as many [squirrels] each day as I had occasion for. I thought them when fryed a pleasant food.”

He assumed they were moving south because of the weather as they were swimming from northwest to southeast. He observed the phenomenon of migration for several days.

In 1811, Charles Joseph Labrobe wrote in The Rambler in North America of a vast squirrel migration that autumn in Ohio: “A countless multitude of squirrels, obeying some great and universal impulse, which none can know but the Spirit that gave them being, left their reckless and gambolling life, and their ancient places of retreat in the north, and were seen pressing forward by tens of thousands in a deep and sober phalanx to the South …”

Squirrel migrations across the upper Midwest, New England, and the Carolinas were observed in 1809, 1819, 1842, 1852, and 1856. In southeastern Wisconsin in 1842, a gray squirrel migration lasted four weeks and involved nearly a half billion squirrels.

Robert Kennicott in his article “The Quadrupeds of Illinois” in The Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents for 1846 stated during one of these peak population occurrences when the squirrels were on the move that “it took a month for the mess of squirrels to pass through the area.”

As a boy, squirrel hunting was my obsession, and when I killed some squirrels, I always called it “a mess of squirrels” as my Dad had taught me. Now, I know where that “mess” word comes from.

Because of the numerous squirrel migrations, John Audubon and John Bachman were convinced that the squirrels on the move were a separate species from the gray squirrels and used the scientific name Sciurus migratorius.

One of the earliest referenced migrations occurred in 1749 in Pennsylvania. Records show the state spending 3 cents for each squirrel killed. Over 640,000 were turned in for bounty.

Sometimes, hunts were organized to control the migration. One hunt in 1822 killed almost 20,000 squirrels. These hunts continued through the 1850s. In 1857, it was reported a hunter killed 160 in one day.

The earliest recorded migration in the Mid-South I can find was reported in the Memphis Daily Appeal, Oct. 3, 1872: “Sportsmen may be seen coming into Memphis every evening from the Arkansas shore, loaded down with squirrels, which are counted by the dozen. They say the woods in Crittenden County are full of the little animals. Yesterday and the previous day countless numbers of them were seen crossing Marion Lake…”

September 1881, another large migration occurred near Reelfoot Lake: “Squirrels are crossing the Mississippi River south of Hickman in fabulous numbers. They are caught by the dozens by men in skiffs. They enter and pass through cornfields, destroying everything as they go….”

In the Arkansas Gazette, October 1885, it was reported: “Where the million of squirrels have come from, or what extent of country could ever produce so many, is the question…. A similar emigration of squirrels occurred in 1877…”

These migrations occurred mostly during the month of September preceding a year in which there was a large production of food (acorns). Many squirrels the following year had two liters in response. But nature threw them a curve ball when the year turned out to have low food production. Because of this, squirrels migrated trying to locate food. Even large rivers like the Mississippi were no deterrent.

When was the last migration? One occurred in 1968 in most of the eastern U.S. The last I can find for the Mid-South was in the fall of 1998. Many drowned squirrels were reported on the shores of Bull Shoals Lake, Ark. The incidence of road kills was several times higher than normal.
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Unread 09-21-2018, 07:35 PM   #13
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Jerry, I can see your reasons for the squirrel migrations, but this year in NH I really think it is as simple as a very high squirrel population and a very high acorn crop, which is dropping acorns on our highways and the vehicle crushed nuts being fed on by our grays. For some reason our mouse population is out of control also. Everyone has had there homes invaded, included me, with mice this year. And it began in mid August.
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Unread 09-21-2018, 07:55 PM   #14
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Dang Jerry that is the first time I have ever heard of a squirrel migration being mentioned so prominently. I always thought squirrels were like deer and maybe born lived and died within a very small area. But I guess it would make sense if big populations would be on the move for food.

There was a time when squirrel and rabbit was a mainstay for table fare in some parts of the country.
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Unread 09-21-2018, 09:56 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephen Hodges View Post
Jerry, I can see your reasons for the squirrel migrations, but this year in NH I really think it is as simple as a very high squirrel population and a very high acorn crop, which is dropping acorns on our highways and the vehicle crushed nuts being fed on by our grays. For some reason our mouse population is out of control also. Everyone has had there homes invaded, included me, with mice this year. And it began in mid August.
I think they don't migrate very far like they did in the story but they still migrate to the food and we have the same thing with them being run over here. Some years I have none around my house and recently I've had tons of them.

But can you imagine this from the story: In southeastern Wisconsin in 1842, a gray squirrel migration lasted four weeks and involved nearly a half billion squirrels.

A half billion, 500 million squirrels? They would eat everything in sight.

They probably helped all of my families during the depression, and when I was a kid my mother could fix them to taste as good as anything one could eat. Man was the squirrel gravy so good. The old timers would take the handle of the table knife and bust their heads open to eat the brains. I never was that hungry though.
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Unread 09-22-2018, 10:01 AM   #16
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I know what you mean about squirrel for dinner. Looking at a family photo taken in front of the old family cabin in the hills of Eastern Kentucky. I know for a fact my kin did not cull much and ate as much wild game that was available. Cabin is long gone but we still own the land and just this year had it timbered at same time as some of the neighboring properties. It had not been timbered in last 40 years. I think it a few years time that area will be good for grouse hunting hopefully again. We used to hunt it back when I was a kid but even then the woods were way too big and old.

Unfortunately I think the resurgence of Turkey's the last several years will mitigate grouse comebacks in the Appalachians. All I can say is eat more Turkey.
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Unread 09-22-2018, 10:32 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerry Harlow View Post
I think they don't migrate very far like they did in the story but they still migrate to the food and we have the same thing with them being run over here. Some years I have none around my house and recently I've had tons of them.

But can you imagine this from the story: In southeastern Wisconsin in 1842, a gray squirrel migration lasted four weeks and involved nearly a half billion squirrels.

A half billion, 500 million squirrels? They would eat everything in sight.

They probably helped all of my families during the depression, and when I was a kid my mother could fix them to taste as good as anything one could eat. Man was the squirrel gravy so good. The old timers would take the handle of the table knife and bust their heads open to eat the brains. I never was that hungry though.
Jerry,

Thanks for all of the information regarding squirrels and their migration. Last year we had an extraordinary hard mast crop in Northern Missouri. All of the oaks produced strong crops, and so did each of the several species of hickory we have. It was the heaviest crop I have seen in over 38 years. Squirrels are thick this year as a result. I have seen more in the roads, although I don't sense any migration, but will be looking more closely now that I've read your posts.

Good shooting to every squirrel hunter out there!
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Unread 10-01-2018, 09:57 AM   #18
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Reading these posts brings back a lot of memories and makes me want to go squirrel hunting again.
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Unread 10-01-2018, 01:18 PM   #19
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It's hard not to believe that many Parkers were choked for squirrel hunting. Those nice tight chokes and 30 inch barrels will bring 'em down from some very tall trees.

Mike, you should hit the squirrel woods soon.
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Unread 10-01-2018, 09:22 PM   #20
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i got mixed up on my squirl season opening for several years it always opened on a saturday be it the last saturday in september most of the time...guess what it opened today yes on a monday...i had to be in memphis tenn..to the v a hospital for a routine checkup so the old 8 ga sets unfired at the moment i think us squirl hunters need to have a talk with them fellows that set the seasons openings....on top of my other dutys my daughter ask me to help her this weekend....maybe i can get in some hunting time in the afternoons this week bow season has started have helped cole my grandson with feeders and tommorrow got to fill them up again....oh well....charlie
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