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⚡ Quick Answer: Squirrel hunting is the best entry into hunting, period: long seasons, animals everywhere, cheap licenses, and real skills learned (stealth, marksmanship, patience). Hunt mature oak-hickory woods early morning, either sitting still until the woods forget you or still-hunting slowly. A .22 rifle teaches precision; a 20-gauge forgives movement.
Before long-range rifles and cellular trail cameras, nearly every hunter in America learned the craft the same way: in a hardwood bottom, waiting out a gray squirrel. It remains the best classroom hunting has — everything that kills squirrels consistently (wind, stealth, patience, shot discipline) transfers straight to deer and elk. And squirrel camp makes fine table fare, too.
Why Start Here
- Seasons run months long in most states with generous limits and cheap small-game licenses.
- Squirrels live in every county — the back 40 beats a destination hunt.
- High action: a good morning offers a dozen chances; a deer stand might offer none. Reps build hunters.
- Low stakes, real lessons: a spooked squirrel costs five minutes; a spooked buck costs a season.
Find the Food, Find the Squirrels
Squirrels are food-tree animals: oak, hickory, walnut, and beech. Preseason, look for “cuttings” — piles of gnawed nut shells on logs and stumps — the squirrel equivalent of a campfire ring. Creek bottoms with big mature hardwoods are classic; a woodlot with a hickory grove in September is a sure thing.
Two Ways to Hunt Them
- Sit still (the classic): settle against a wide trunk in good woods at first light and go statue for 20–30 minutes. The woods forget you and resume business — ears first (claws on bark, cutting rain from treetops), then eyes.
- Still-hunting: move painfully slow — three steps, stop, scan a full minute. Damp mornings after rain muffle your feet and get squirrels moving. This is the deer-stalking apprenticeship.
- Spooked one into hiding? Sit down and wait ten minutes; squirrels have goldfish patience and will re-emerge.
Rifle or Shotgun?
The .22 rifle with a scope is the purist’s tool — head shots only, meat unspoiled, marksmanship sharpened with every squeeze. A 20-gauge with #6 shot forgives moving targets in leafy canopy and suits beginners hunting with a mentor. Many camps carry one of each. Whatever you carry: know your backstop — .22 rounds travel far, and treetop shots need sky-safe angles.
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Rules and Table Notes
- Blaze orange where required (and smart everywhere in fall woods).
- Check season dates and limits — some states split early (leafy, hard) and late (bare-tree, visible) seasons.
- Field-dress promptly and chill; young squirrels fry like chicken, older ones want the slow cooker. Squirrel and dumplings is heritage food for a reason.
Squirrel woods are where hunting instincts get built — take a kid, take a .22, and take your time. When the lessons stick, they scale up: deer season prep, upland birds, and license basics are the next chapters.
Written by Tom Rivera · Fishing & Hunting
Tom has spent four decades outdoors — on lakes, rivers, and treestands — and still fishes most weekends. These days his favorite catch is watching his grandkids reel in their first bluegill.
