You remember it: The first time you took to the woods, be it with your father, grandfather or some other mentor. The leaves crackled a touch as summer began its slow fade into fall. The insects buzzed. The sky turned fresh shades of crimson through the trees. But most importantly, the canopy was alive with your quarry and your hands trembled with every shot. This was your first squirrel hunt. For many, this was first contact with the thrill of the chase.
I was recently reminded of what an incredible experience a first squirrel hunt is during a jaunt over to Will and Michelle Brantley’s annual squirrel camp near historic Kentucky Lake. It wasn’t my first squirrel hunt, of course, but it was my first proper one in quite some time. As time marches on and the hours you can spend in the woods become curtailed and divided between endless responsibilities, you sometimes find yourself shifting priorities. The once awaited squirrel opener becomes another day for chores, so you can have a little extra time in the deer woods later in the year. But as I stalked the woodlots, hearing the solid thwack of bullet on hide and the satisfying thud of falling quarry, I began to recall exactly why this is the perfect start for novice hunters. Of course it’s also great practice for those of us who have been afield a while, and simply good fun all around.
An Exciting Introduction
Let’s be dead honest. Unless you’ve got a junior shooter who is reared on outdoor tales and champing at the bit to get into the woods, it can be a challenge getting kids started with deer hunting. Long sits, low temps and enforced quiet can make even the least energetic child wonder what all the fuss is about, and why he can’t move his foot like that. Not so with squirrel hunting. On a squirrel hunt, the action never stops as you scour the canopy looking for squirrels, and stalking is near mandatory.
A spot-and-stalk squirrel hunt can be superior to a deer hunt as a kid’s first experience because it involves constant movement and many shot opportunities.
Marksmanship Mastery
This leads to the next great aspect of squirrel hunting: It’s a fast-track to proficiency. Targets abound. Shot opportunities are fast and fleeting, and rests tend to be improvised at best. Luckily, I was shooting a CZ 457 American Synthetic in laser-flat .17 HMR, a combination that is both confidence-inspiring and fast-handling.
Teaching a kid to shoot a rifle generally starts on a bench, so you can drill down on safety and fundamentals. Once you take to the woods, though, it’s a whole new game. Without a solid bench beneath him, a sight picture can get shaky for a youngster, and shots go awry. A squirrel hunt is the perfect time to dial in the next step. From how to use a tree or stick as a rest to how to make a treetop shot offhand (and what an acceptable range is for such a feat), pursuing bushytails lets you teach all these skills in real time, with a real reward. Bonus points if you’re hunting suppressed so you don’t blow out your spot with the first shot.
I was particularly reminded of this on our second evening. As I inched through the woods, I closed with a squirrel that had been evading me for nearly an hour. It had been an uncharacteristically slow day. The heat had soared into the high 90s, but the evening had brought a slight reprieve and some movement. After losing an opportunity on some squirrels that stayed very low—a shot too low to take for fear of hitting someone on the ground—I had finally caught sight of one high in an oak, headed toward a hickory.
I eased my way over some two-strand and closed with him, circling to keep other trees in between us until the last second. Finally, I was in range. I rested on a tree, raised my gun and sighted, but the shot was no good—there was brush in the way. He must have sensed danger, as he started moving quicker, hopping limb to limb in a slowly building crescendo of movement. We were close now, and I knew it was time for some offhand fun. I slung my left arm with a practiced motion and waited for a pause. It came on a main limb far above, the squirrel’s head fully in view, his eye staring right at me. I held my crosshairs steady and squeezed my Timney trigger, which broke like a glass cylinder under the pressure. Down the squirrel fell, head blistered, meat intact.
I know what you’re thinking: It’s just a squirrel. But in that moment, with the excitement of a successful stalk and a good shot behind me, it might as well have been a trophy muley—that’s not just a surface-level comparison either. Simply learning to keep a solid sight picture, to make a smooth trigger press and to properly place your shot are skills that will translate seamlessly to far bigger game—really all that’s missing is recoil control. Shooters of all ages and experiences would do well to take to the squirrel woods more often in service of their craft.
Well-Honed Woodsmanship
As with most squirrel hunts, this one took place on woodlots loaded with hardwood. Moving too many hunters through these environs at once was a tall order, so we split up into singles and pairs to scour the hills and hollows, working our way across the loud, dry ground with care. As I moved, ears open for cutting and barking, feet on autopilot, forever seeking dirt patches and avoiding dried sticks, it hit me. Long before treestands, target bucks and daylong sits, and even longer before I ever dreamed of stalking game out West, this was where it all began. Moving through a forest, ears open, learning to identify my surroundings to up my odds—many of the skills I’ve taken through my hunting career started right here in the squirrel woods. And what’s more, it’s still just as fun.
As I moved, I mused over trees, “Is that a pignut hickory? Nope, can’t be, the bark is too tight, definitely a bitternut. But hey, squirrels love those too!” When hunting in a pair, I’d hear things like, “Hey David, get a rest on that cherry tree and you’ll be able to see him.” Without a clue what bark or leaves to look for, you could get lost in a hurry (or at the very least be watching all the wrong trees for squirrels), and there’s no better way to burn these crucial natural signposts into your skull than tying them to a successful chase. This is a great way to train younger hunters and freshen your own knowledge as well. That was certainly true for me, as I found myself dredging up a few florae from the depths of memory.
Camp Camaraderie
Back at camp every night, swapping stories from the day and reminiscing over past hunts, it was impossible not to feel the sort of comfortable camaraderie that can only be found among those who share a passion. As I looked around the cabin, watching Realtree’s Mike Pendley whip up culinary delights, while listening to guide Ryan McCafferty regale us with hysterical stories of a (slightly) misspent youth, it crystallized how large a part this plays in bringing many hunters back to camp year after year. Most nights, Will’s son, Anse, would also join us, bringing his trophies from the day to show off. I hope you won’t find it suspiciously self-supporting when I tell you that Anse’s squirrels prove the primary premise of this piece—kids raised in the squirrel woods can shoot. So, whether your goal is to train the next generation, or to improve your own skills, or just to have an all-around great time, grab your buddies and take to the squirrel woods. The bushytails are waiting.
CZ 457 American Synthetic
What an absolute hammer. I never thought I’d speak in such terms about a rimfire, but for this rifle it’s simply true. Some context: All the squirrel hunting I have done in the past has been with .22 LR and air rifles. So right off the bat, shooting .17 HMR felt like the difference between calling in an airstrike and small arms fire. It was more than just the hard-hitting, flat-shooting chambering, however. The CZ 457 is a masterwork of rimfire performance. While it does come in fancier wood-grain or precision-minded variants, the American Synthetic is exactly what a squirrel hunter needs and nothing he doesn’t.
Durable, lightweight and dependable, the CZ 457 Synthetic comes with an anti-corrosion finish on its metal parts, and a soft-touch finish on the polymer that shakes off moisture and extreme temps with ease. (My sweat-covered face in 100-degree heat bears true testament to this.) The bolt runs short, fast and easy, and never even threatened to hang up or double-feed. The rifle is fed by a five-round detachable box magazine, which is handy for hunters as they can keep several on hand for fast reloads. Its sporter-contour, 20-inch barrel is threaded to 1/2x28 TPI at the muzzle to accept a suppressor. A safety, back right of the bolt, is easy to toggle for fast-flying shots. All this combines into a rimfire capable of MOA accuracy. Squirrels beware. MSRP is $679. czfirearms.com
Timney CZ 457 Trigger
The only thing I can’t write about is the rifle’s factory trigger. I’m sure the factory offering—adjustable from 1.8-3.4 pounds—is a solid offering, but we had something much better on hand: Timney’s CZ 457 trigger. Set from the factory at 1 pound—though it is fully adjustable between 10 ounces, 1 pound, 1.5 pounds or 2 pounds when it arrives—the trigger lives up to Timney’s sterling reputation for some of the easiest to install and cleanest-breaking triggers on the market.
In addition to pull weight, over-travel is also adjustable, and I can tell you for a fact that mine had absolutely none. I never even bothered moving my weight from its factory 1-pound setting because it just broke so cleanly. This is the beauty of Timney. No parts are metal-injection-molded, there is no stamped steel, and in this case the sear and trigger shoe are precision machined, heat treated to a 56 RHR (Rockwell Hardness Rating) and finished with a black-oxide coating. From there, the sear is additionally coated with NP-3 for lubricity. The result? A trigger that breaks so clean, it doesn’t really even matter what weight it’s set to—that shot will feel as crisp as shattering ice. If you’re looking at a CZ 457 for next squirrel season, go the extra mile and snag a Timney, available in either curved or straight profile to suit your tastes. You won’t regret it. MSRP is $174.99. timneytriggers.com
