Feb 3 shows to be the end of season until the May season opens.

Cool.It's gonna have to be a shotgun or scoped .17 HMR (head shots only I guess) for these older eyes. Both my current .22s are open sighted. Hope I can still remember the one man skinning method-pretty sure I could never forget but it's been over 30 years now.

Used to eat them fried but I think squirrel dumplings will be on the menu this time.

You could put a scope on your 22s. The only one I have that's iron sights (front it actually tusk) is an old 1904 model crackshot. You know how far you can kill them things with a scope cranked up on 9x

Too much trouble at this point. I'll just blast a couple with the scattergun and call it a day I imagine. I'm always sitting in the bowstand thinking "You little suckers don't know how lucky you are I started bowhunting." Time to turn the tables on a few. I know where some old fat pet foxies can always be found but think I'll look for the wiley cat squirrels. Don't want to kill too many though as they are invaluable "deer sensors".

I would think a 12 ga would be
Other way around - fox and cat = game
ground and flying = non-game

Ok, I don't know what a cat squirrel is. I've only seen fox squirrels in person. I've seen pics of flying and ground squirrels but that's it. We can shoot year round in the counties I hunt. One thing for sure though, bird shot in a 12 gauge shooting at a running squirrel 10 yards away will not stop it right there. Happened during dove season and I shot the little guy 3 times. The shot surrounded it so I know I hit it. 22 and my 22 mag work great, the mag with hornady ballistic tips are devastating.

Cat/gray squirrels are smaller than fox squirrels and about 100x more hyper. Always moving and nervous as heck. Gray on top and white on the belly. They kinda wheeze/whistle instead of really barking like a fox squirrel.

Wow, now I feel like going after some bushy tails.

I love to squirrel hunt mostly Fox, but I have shot some Cat squirrels. My dad always wanted to have a squirrel dog and he had several. He always hunted with single shot 12 ga. I have a Savage model 24 22/410. I mostly use 3 in. #6 shot but if he is out shotgun range I use the 22 LR hollow point. My gun was made back in the 50's. I am retired now, so I have used this gun a number of years. Now that is a squirrel gun.

Yes sir. Perfect.

what kind of dog do you use to hunt squirrels?

Any dog will work really. Growing up most every house had a dog that could tree squirrels. They were just mutts/Heinz 57s. I have heard that feist dogs and JR terriers are really good at it. Beyond that IDK if there is a particular breed of squirrel dog.

Feist, that is what he always wanted, but they all looked like Heinz 57 to me. After you kill a few squirrels they will start watching the trees trying to find them. When the dog goes to the other side of tree the squirrels will move to the other side and that is when you shoot them. That is a lot of fun.
I also have Stevens 219 Hammerless 410 that is a very good gun for squirrels.

^^^^This^^^^ That's all we used growing up.

I meant "non-game...

Big cat squirrel (no black variety exists in Texas):

Yes...the black ones do exist

You trazy, Cameron!

My step Grandpa had a German Shepherd that was a fine squirrel dog. He also had a really fine rat terrier. My dad and mom have a dachshund that will tree. Any dog can learn to hunt squirrels. Most people who have a good dog let their dog train another dog. Just take the pup with you and the trained dog will teach it.

As far as people hunting with dove loads, I don't want to say BS but where I hunt squirrels will laugh at you if you come into the woods with some low brass 7s. It simply doesn't have the powder to push the lead way up into the tops of some of the trees in deep East Texas. A cat squirrel is extremely tough for such a small animal. My primary squirrel gun is a full choked pump 20 with high brass 6 shot, nothing smaller than that.

My buddy yrs. past w/Leon Compton who was reared in Weches, Tx..he hunted Cat Squirrels w/a Win Mod 12 in 20 ga. w/a full choke and usually got 6 to 8 each day..I helped him clean them and noted that the shot was mostly in their heads..He said he used No 6 shot and shot just past them while they looked at him
from behind the tree or over a limb..I killed quite a few w/a 22
when younger, but they really limb out quickly unlike Fox Sqrls.
No 6 shot is plenty big..8.5 or 7.5 will work also..but try to hit them in the head if you are planning on eating them..DD

my squirrel gun is a full choke 410 and I shoot #4's

that's what I started out with...old mossberg pump .410 shooting whatever Pouland's Feed Store in Diboll carried.

I have a Feist, but the are a type of dog not an actual breed. Sweet and gentle till he sees something. While he will chase anything he is best at treeing squirrels. Not much of a digger, prefers to chase things above ground. Seems to have a hatred for rodents, especially squirrels, but he has drug up more than his share of field and barn rats. He found a big 'possum one year, right about his same size. I make sure I give him what he wants after seeing that. It was one of the most viscious fights I'd seen.

Back when ammo was affordable I used a 30-30 to "bark" squirrels a few times. But that was when I was walking the riverbank looking for hogs and wanted some stew for supper.

Up here we just have red squirrels which are quite small in comparison to the ones you guys shoot. Not good for eating either, but they do a lot of damage around farm building and are always getting into grain storage and such.

I usually prefer using a .410 to nuke them. I just have a thing about shooting stuff out of trees if bullets are going to pass through.