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Squirrels at Daybreak… “YOUR ADVENTURES” with Edwin Shirts

It was around 5AM  I woke up to get ready for a hunt that was more about my nephew then it was me. My nephew, Logan, was still asleep when I got to moving around.  My buddy Brad had already called and said he was on his way over to pick us up. He arrived and Logan was still in bed, I knew he would need his rest because we had a little bit of a walk in and to a 6 year old that can be measured in miles not yards.  Brad said, “Are you guys ready” I went back to his room, I gave him a jiggle and asked him if he was ready to go chase some squirrels, his eyes opened wide and he nodded in approval. I told him to get up, Brad was here and he wanted to get out there before daylight.

When we arrived, the sky was just starting to break, just how I like it when I am chasing the tree dwellers. We jumped out of the truck and got the guns ready, and off we went. Arriving at our first setup and Brad sat on one side of this pond and Logan and I went around and set up on the other side.  We had a ton of shag bark hickory trees all around us and I knew we had a great spot to find a squirrel.  It wasn’t long and Logan was back to sleep. I let him catch some shut eye when I noticed some movement off to my left.  I awoke the little man to tell him there was a nice big doe coming our way, we are not hunting deer but I wanted him to taking all of the experiences of the woods waking up.  I think the deer spotted Logan waking up, as he snapped his head around to take a peek. The deer just stopped in her tracks and then took off running the other way that was when Logan informed me, “There she goes!”

We sat there a little while longer and my new hunting buddy snuggled back up against me and it wasn’t long before he was sleeping again.  I noticed a couple of gray squirrels running around in a nearby tree, so I watched them closely. I picked up my Remington 1100 and I squeezed the trigger. Logan literally jumped to his feet and looked at me and said “That woke me up!”

I chuckled and said, “Hold on buddy, there is another one nearby.” We sat there for a minute and I could tell Logan wanted to go and get the squirrel that we just harvested. So I let the other gray run off and we went to find our squirrel.  We got back to the tree and we decided that a photo shoot was in order. Logan grabbed the squirrel and I snap a few photos of him holding the trophy. I cleaned the squirrel, showing the little man, each step of the process. He watched me with eager eyes and intent on doing it himself. He informed me that it was a good thing we brought his hunting knife. I was happy that he was so into this. I let him pour a little water on my hands help with clean up.

I pulled out the Primos Squirrel Buster call from my squirrel hunting bag tricks and told Logan that he would need to call the next squirrel. He started making the call squeal and chirp. I showed him how to use the call and we took turns call, every five minutes or so. I spotted another gray. “Logan you just called in another one and this one you get to clean” I said. The smile on his face and the gleam in his eye did it for me. This is what my father and my grandfather must have felt like when they taught me how to hunt. I was kind of choked up inside watching my little 6 year old nephew taking in all the sights and sounds of a day afield. We had a great day squirrel hunt; our final total was 3 for the day.  Logan wants to do all the calling when we go hunting again; I think it’s safe to say a new hunter was born today. When we got back home that day he ran off to show Grandpa, how to call squirrels and the big red squirrel he called in.

He then got out his turkey call and told me he wanted to go outside and sit in the driveway and practice some more for the upcoming turkey calling contest. How could I say no! I grabbed my turkey talking tools and headed for the driveway.  We finished the Sunday afternoon yelping, I made a corn cob striker just like mine for him.  He is going to be a great hunter someday, that alone was well worth the time spent taking a youth to the woods for their first squirrel hunt. Uncle Edwin could not be prouder of Logan.

 

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