The scent of hemlock drifted down the steep grade as my cameraman and I attempted to surmount the seemingly gigantic mountain. It was late morning, and the damp conditions and light mist added to the excitement of scouting a new piece of public land. As always, I was carrying my favorite Remington 541-T, and we were climbing a steep hill to reach an area filled with hemlocks and oaks. Finally reaching the top, we sat down to catch our breath before plodding on. As we were walking a fence line, suddenly I heard my cameraman say, “Gray!” and pointed toward a gray squirrel running away from us. Immediately we began the chase until we ran the squirrel up a large oak tree. As I set up for the shot, my cameraman began to walk around the tree, trying to get the squirrel to present me with a shot. Nothing happened, indicating that there was a hole in the tree.
“Let’s set up further down the ridge,” I said, and with that, we moved thirty yards down the ridge. After a forty-five minute wait, the squirrel showed itself again, but unfortunately, because of the cold weather, my hands were too cold to execute a safe shot. Therefore, we went home empty-handed.
The next two attempts at that squirrel and that spot were the same results.
But the last day we had to hunt that area, both my cameraman and I took a gun. It was the perfect day – warm, sunny, and no wind. And on top of that, we bumped two gray squirrels as we came in, one of which was huge.
After a half hour of hunting, without a squirrel sighting on my end, I heard my partner shoot, and again, and again. I didn’t know what to draw from what I had heard, but I listened intently. After ten minutes, I heard him call for me, and with that I began to jog in his direction. As I reached him, he was walking around the base of a hemlock tree. Quickly telling me that there was squirrel up the tree, he began to walk around it as I set up. Finally, the gray squirrel showed his head, and I popped him. With one gray squirrel in the bag, I realized that, so far, it had been an incredible morning – we had seen four gray squirrels, one of which was now in my hand. And it was about to get better.
After another hour of hunting without another squirrel sighting, we decided to make a long loop around the ridge. Walking along, with my partner in the front, I suddenly sighted a squirrel perched on a stump, watching us. Stopping my partner, I pointed it out, and he raised the gun and fired, dropping the squirrel. As my partner walked forward to retrieve the squirrel, I suddenly spotted another squirrel trying to hide from my partner, who was walking by. My initial thought was that the squirrel my partner had shot was not dead and was hiding from him as he walked past. What later transformed into a comical memory was, at the moment, a very tense conversation; for I still believed that the first squirrel was not finished. When I finally understood that this was another squirrel, I threw up the gun against a tree and looked through the scope. The squirrel was slowly climbing down the tree, so I let it creep into my crosshairs. I jerked the trigger, sending the squirrel to the ground and bumping up the squirrel harvest count to three.
Walking from that ridge with three gray squirrels from public ground, and four more still on that ridge, the lesson I learned that day still remains a valuable one to all those who hunt public ground – go where no one else goes. It truly pays off, though you will potentially encounter tough situations. Remember, people, as a rule, are lazy. They are usually not willing to walk up steep hills or cross deep creeks; the most easily-reached area is almost always the hardest hunted region. If you give a little more of an effort, most likely you will be rewarded with the benefits of an untouched hunting area.