Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot by watching.” Nowhere does this venerable Berra quote come into play more than in squirrel hunting.

Sixty-five years ago, Darwin Willet, of New Castle, let me accompany him on his forays into the hardwood river bottoms hunting squirrels. Darwin already knew what the squirrels were feeding or cutting on. Slipping slowly through the woods, we would quietly take a seat near a tree where the squirrels were foraging.

Darwin was my old squirrel hunting mentor, and he told me a lot of times, “Just look Jackie Bob. Watch for the squirrel!”

Back then, Darwin’s mode of dress was pretty much what he wore to work… a blue work T-shirt with a pocket, blue jeans and a pair of off the shelf, cheap pull-on tennis shoes.

To look at Darwin, one might think he wouldn’t be a very good shot. Draped across his nose was a pair of black framed, thick lensed, prescription safety glasses. From the looks of him, most people might think he would have a hard time seeing across a room, let alone be a crack shot with a rifle.

Never judge a book by its cover! Darwin was deadly accurate with a .22, and seldom if ever missed… one shot… one squirrel. The only thing more amazing than his accuracy with a rifle was his patience waiting out a squirrel.

Darwin’s mode of dress, you would think, would stand out and be really easy to see in the woods. I can testify that’s not the case. When Darwin was sitting motionless in the brush dressed in the light shades of blue, you could almost walk by him. It also seemed squirrels didn’t see him.

Darwin explained his phenomena of “squirrel invisibility” to me.

“They react to movement and sound, Jackie Bob. Squirrels are constantly looking for movement to warn them of danger, or sound from an approaching threat. If you stay still and quiet, it’s just like you really are ‘invisible’ to them.”

Getting a hyper-active 10-year-old to take on this newly explained cloak of squirrel invisibility of “no movement and no sound” was at first a challenge… to say the least.

My inattention and constant fidgeting can best be described as being as inconspicuous as a baby lizard in a hot skillet… at first I was constantly jumping, twitching and scratching.

Finally, I began to get a handle on this sitting still thing when squirrel hunting after five or six hunts with Darwin. I have to admit, Darwin had the patience of Job. Never do I remember him raising his voice to me or speaking to me unkindly. He always talked to me just like I was another adult, and in turn, I replied like an adult. When I asked a question, he took the time to explain things to me about hunting and fishing and all things outdoor in general. Sometimes, if it was important, he would explain something to me even before it came to mind.

I think his patience was only overshadowed by his accuracy with his pump action .22 rifle.

His choice of ammunition was interesting. Most hunters using a .22 for squirrel opt for a Long Rifle Cartridge with its heavier powder charge and solid 40 grain bullet. Darwin used the diminutive .22 Short with the 27 grain bullet. What set his cartridges apart from ordinary .22 Short ammunition… they were hollow points.

The sound of the tiny powder charge of the .22 short barely made a noise much louder than a pellet gun. Hunting by watching the forage and mast the squirrels were feeding on, most of Darwin’s shots were close.

The first time I was with him when he shot a squirrel out, I started to get up and go retrieve it.

Before I could get to my feet, Darwin whispered, “Sit still Jackie Bob. They’ll be more squirrels feeding in the tree.”

Sure enough!

Darwin said, “Listen real carefully and you’ll see there are more squirrels in the same tree!”

Straining my ears and being quiet for a change, I listened intently.

Darwin was right… I could hear the sounds of tiny pieces of nut shells hitting the ground. The squirrels were cutting hickory nuts, and the little pieces of shell were falling to the forest floor, sounding just like very faint, tiny drops of falling rain. I thought I could even faintly hear the squirrel gnawing on a nut.

“Look up at the tree and you can actually see the cuttings falling.”

Flashing through the streaked sunlight shining through the forest canopy, I could see tiny bits of debris falling to the ground.

“Now, look on up the tree and imagine where the cuttings are coming from.”

“Now, do you see him sitting there on the branch holding the nut?”

Holy crap! I did see the squirrel. It was a huge Fox squirrel and it was in the same tree where Darwin just shot one not five minutes ago!

I flung my arm up, pointed at the squirrel and loudly whispered, “I see him!”

The squirrel, seeing the movement of my arm, stopped cutting and looked intently at me, then dropped the nut.

As the partially shelled hickory nut hit the ground with what sounded like the crash of a bowling ball, I froze.

Watching the two huddled hunters for two or three minutes, but what seemed like an hour, the Fox squirrel slowly moved down the limb, chewed off another nut and began to gnaw the shell away to get at the kernel.

Slowly, Darwin raised the Model 61 and the “POP” of the .22 Short and a head shot brought squirrel number two to the ground.

Looking wide-eyed at Darwin for permission to retrieve the two squirrels, he whispered, “There may be another one, Jackie Bob.”

Thinking this must be the “Golden Hickory Nut Tree!” I dared to imagine we might get a limit of squirrels sitting right here in one spot.

Listening intently for the next few minutes, I heard the faint sound of cuttings hitting the forest floor again.

Scanning the hickory tree and watching to see the source of where the chips were falling, I leaned over to see around Darwin and strained my eyes, looking for a glimpse of red fur.

I saw the squirrel the same time as Darwin. Darwin slowly raised the rifle and POP, the third squirrel hit the ground.

Yes… you can observe a lot by watching!

‘till next time,  

Jack

Readers can contact the author by writing to this publication or e-mail Jack at jackspaulding1971@outlook.com 

Spaulding’s books, “The Best Of Spaulding Outdoors” and “The Coon Hunter And The Kid,” are available from Amazon.com as a paperback or Kindle download.