Red squirrels

[4onaside]

I realize why the game laws identify grays, fox and red squirrels as legal game to make enforcement easier(as in all squirrels), but do any of you far east tennessee guys actually hunt red squirrels? They are quite small(common in Colorado where I hunt), so I can't imagine them being much sought after due to their small size.

 

[mike243]

i havent seen any anywhere in Tn,the last i seen where in Michigan about 35 years ago ,the farthest east i have hunted for them was east of morris town i think, mike243

 

[easy45]

most people just see a squirrel and shoot

 

[InfoMan]

Red squirrels (boomers) are found in the higher mountains in East Tennessee.

 

[4onaside]

Red squirrels (boomers) are found in the higher mountains in East Tennessee.

Thanks InfoMan. I've always known where they were found in Tennessee, but was interested in knowing if any Tennesseans ever actually hunted them, due to their limited Tennessee range and small size. Do you have any knowledge of that?

 

[InfoMan]

Probably not a lot of folks that just hunt boomers. I would think they are more incidental harvest when hunting grays.

 

[easttndeer]

I live bout as far east in Tn as you can go...When I was a boy,there was more boomers than there was grays.So yes my buddy and myself would go boomer hunting.I never got a gray til bout 6yrs ago.Rumer has it that a boomer will cut the male parts off of a gray so that they will not reproduce.I have shot 2 male grays that their(twins) was missing.But I have never seen that happen.I have saw boomers chasing grays.

 

[4onaside]

I live bout as far east in Tn as you can go...When I was a boy,there was more boomers than there was grays.So yes my buddy and myself would go boomer hunting.I never got a gray til bout 6yrs ago.Rumer has it that a boomer will cut the male parts off of a gray so that they will not reproduce.I have shot 2 male grays that their(twins) was missing.But I have never seen that happen.I have saw boomers chasing grays.

Very interesting. So there are people in Tennessee who live in areas where these little squirrels are(or at least have been), the common, most abundant species, and are(or at least have been) hunted). Thanks for that info. Incidentally, on the castration deal, I can't confirm or deny it as being fact. However, I have seen several extremely young, early season, second crop grays in west Tennessee whose "(twins)" were not apparent at all.

 

[mike243]

what are boomers? are you talking about fox squirrels? red squirrels & fox squirrels are diffrent,the red squirrels are alot smaller than the fox sq.mike243

 

[InfoMan]

boomers = red squirrels smallest squirrel legal to hunt in Tenn.

 

[4onaside]

That's a great picture! It also kinda reinforces my question about hunting them, due to their small size.