The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1900-07-26
HUNTING SQUIRRELS.
BY ERNEST M'GAFFEY.

3 fGTTls Idu dklttu W ~ WIN hlihI
and the boys were to do the hunting with
rifles. Ferris had his own little rifle, just
: the thing for squirrel shooting and John
had furnished up his unces big rifle and
nodded lot of bullets for it. This rifle was
so heavy that he expected to use some kind
of a rest when shooting, either by support.
ing it over a branch or against the side of
tree. 1t was a powerful heavy old cannon
to carry, but it was good shooter and war
ranted to kill anything the bullet hit The
boys started out early one Wednesday morn
ing, for early in the day is one of the best
times to find squirrels running about in
the woods; the other favorable time to find
them is along as the sun goes down.
The woods on Mill creek were heavy
enough in certain places to afford good squir.
rel timber. There were clumps of tall oaks
and hickories, with here and there a tall
elm, and the brush was pretty well cleared
away about these big trees.
The boys hitched their ponies to fallen
tree on the east side of the creek and then
took the woods down, one on each side of
the creek and close to each other. Hunting
squirrels in the woods when the leaves are
on the trees requires the greatest posi-
BILE care and the keenest kind of eyesight.
The boys went along very slowly as soon as
they reached the belt of timber where the
big oaks and hickores were As they came
into the edge of this part of the woods John
saw gray squirrel plastered to the side of
an oak, with his feet stretched out, for all
the world as if squirrels hide had been
fastened there. He raised the big rifle with
an effort, but just as he got it leveled trem-
blingy toward the target the squirrel darted
around the tree and was out of sight.
He was about to call to Ferris when he
heard the crack of the little rifle, followed by
peculiar soggy thump on the ground near
by. 1t was a big fox squirrel, shot through
the neck which had tumbled from an ad-
joining elm Ferris came over when he
heard John call softly, and went around the
oak when he had loaded his rife. John
stood still and watched the tree. Presently
the tail of a gray squirrel hoated over a
limb and the squirrel came after, keeping
a sharp lookout for Ferris, who was on
the other side Of the tree. John noiseless,y
raised the big rifle, steadied it against a
tree, and, sighting at the squirrel, fired.
The bullet bored through the squirrels
shoulder and knocked him far from the oak.
lie came down in heap as dead as a mack
erel.
The boys went down the creek to another
clump of big trees. Here they found three
squirrels on one big oak. Ferris killed one,
a monster old fox squirrel, quite the biggest
either boy had ever seen, and John got a
smaller one. The third squirrel though
fired at by both boys, got away with safe
hide and managed TO reach a hole in a hol-
low tree, where he promptly deposited him
self. 1t wasn't very high up to this hole,
and John proposed that they try smoking
the squirrel out. They had brought paper
along for this very purpose, so, putting the
big gun down on the ground, John started
in to shin" up the tree. 1t was big tree,
and he needed all of his chum's help to
reach the first limb, where he halted to be-
gin operations. He had carried up some dead
leaves and grass that he had dug out from
under log, and as soon as he set fire to
the paper he stuffed this down on to the
paper, and soon had a great 'smudge"
started He worked on it diligently stuff
fng in the fuel and working it down into
the hole, but no squirrel appeared. The
hole was too long, So he crawled gingerly
down, scratching his hands some in the de-
scent. Then the boys started for a neck
of woods mile down the creek
At bend in the creek they came to the
edge of the big timber and here they rested
and ate some of the grub" they had brought
along. 1t tasted good, and was washed
down with water from pool in the creek.
They now were in timber that presented a
grovelike appearance, being very free from
underbrush and all of the trees large and
some distance apart. From where they first
entered they saw two squirrels gamboling
over the ground, and Ferris said: Lets
wait awhile and watch EN-" They sat quiet
IL I 1nr -, IL
couple of fox squirrels came running over
the ground, very much like couple of pup.
pies at play. They raced along and around
lodging over logs and around trees, and
occasionally running up a tree trunk for a
few feet. They had not seen the hunters
and they were as frisky as kittens. One OF
them finally ran right up on the log the boys
were sitting on. When he caught sight OF
them he scampered away with hirt of his
long red tail and was up the first tree that
he came to. His mate was not long in dis
covering the cause of his alarm and started
down the slope toward the creek Ferris
fired at this squirrel as it ran, but the Bul
let went over its back and it got away
Then the boys started in to get some more
game. They separated and walked slowly
and silently among the trees, keeping a
sharp outlook for squirrels in the branches
along the fallen logs which lay here and ther,
in the timber and along the slopes and in
the shallow little valleys below A fox squir
rel is not so hard to see as a gray squirrel
for the fox squirrels tail is such flaming
/ sign that it is much more easily seen thar
the modest color of the gray squirrel.
brush. But a squirrel is past grand mas
ter at keeping on the other side of the tree
from you, and it takes woodcraft to cir
cumvent him. By waiting a little while anC
, then walking, by listening for noises in tn,
: leaves and by making as little noise as pos
,, sibe themselves the boys got good many
shots as the day passed. During the middl,
Of the day they got very few chances bu
as the sun began to drop lower in the wes
the squirrels commenced to show themsevel
, more freely.
Ferris got two or three shots to john
ane from the fact that either his eyesgh
was naturally keener, or, his experience il
, the sport being much greater than his com
. panions, he knew where to find the animal
. better The crack of the little rife cam,
o very much oftener than the heavier repor