Western Squirrels
FUR-FISH-GAME|August 2017

Last I heard of the elk they were well over the ridge and had stopped bugling.

Hunter Bodenchuk
Western Squirrels

It would be a fool’s errand to follow them into the dark timber where they would bed for the day. Instead, I marked the spot where I would wait for them to emerge in the evening and started hiking back down to the truck. But my hunting for the morning was far from over.

Most Western states have a squirrel season that overlaps big-game hunting, and hunting these squirrels provides a midday option when the bigger game animals are bedded down.

About halfway back to camp I pulled over on a two-track side road and drew a scoped .22 LR from its case behind the seat. The ponderosa pine bench was littered with cut cones, sure sign that a number of squirrels were working the area. I spotted the first squirrel running on the ground, jogged to within .22 range and caught a glimpse of fur going up a 60-foot pine. At this point, my Western hunt was indistinguishable from a typical Eastern hunt. But along with the red, fox and gray squirrels found back East, a number of other squirrels are unique to the West.

In addition to Western gray squirrels, transplanted Eastern grays and fox squirrels, here in the Southeast we have the Abert’s and Kaibab. Both are known as “tassel-eared” squirrels due to the tufts of hair which extend off the tops of their ears. Abert’s squirrels are found across southwest New Mexico and much of Arizona, extending into southeast Utah. They vary from gray to nearly black with a rust-color saddle patch across the back of the darker phase. The long tail is white underneath and gray on top.

The Kaibab is found only on the Kaibab Plateau, which forms the north rim of the Grand Canyon . Kaibab squirrels are nearly black with a similar rust patch across the back. The tail on the Kaibab is white on both sides, an adaptation to extended snow cover at high elevation. Both Abert’s and Kaibab squirrels can weigh 1-1/2 pounds or more during the fall.

This story is from the August 2017 edition of FUR-FISH-GAME.

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This story is from the August 2017 edition of FUR-FISH-GAME.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.