Indiana’s squirrel season began August 15 and will run through January 31, 2024.
The “bag limit” according to the Department of Natural Resources, is five squirrels a day.
Poo on government regulations.
My granddaughter, Zoe, and I have been known to track down 15 to 20 squirrels before lunch. And we never have cared what month it is. In fact, our favorite time to hunt squirrels has been in early spring. That’s when the squirrels get a whiff of warm weather and chase each other up and down the trees, soaring from branch to branch in the city parks of Columbus and Franklin.
We took up the sport when Zoe was about 4 years old.
Back then we often hunted together, but when apart I hunted near my home and she roamed the wild back country near her home 25 miles away.
We kept in touch and compared our bag count via her mother’s cellphone.
Our rules for competitive squirrel hunting were not exactly set in stone. Zoe mentally authored the guide book and empowered herself to alter the details at will — sometimes on the spot, in the middle of a particularly heated contest.
I once was ahead of her bag count 11 to 7 during a wild hunt on the Franklin College campus when I spotted my 12th squirrel running up a tree near the old well house.
At that point, Zoe noted the little fuzzy-tailed rodent had a walnut in its mouth. Without pause she revealed the previously unannounced official rule that spotting a squirrel with a nut in its mouth was an automatic loss of five points, causing me to lose by a margin of one.
A couple of weeks later, when the situation was reversed, she announced she was exempt from what became known as the “Grandpa-Nut-Rule.”
Amazing as it may sound, over about six years of competitive squirrel hunting, I never won a single event. She proved to be a master hunter with spotting abilities and keen eyesight I could never match.
A few times I was unkind enough to suspect she was counting a single squirrel several times as it changed directions and scampered hither and yon while we walked. Of course, duplicate squirrel spotting is hard to prove, so I always passed on the possibility of filing a formal inquiry with the referee. (Probably just as well, since Zoe was the referee.)
Zoe is now is older and retired from squirrel-hunting competition about three years ago — undefeated and at the top of her form. I retired as well, no wins, no ties — lots of errors but certainly no regrets.
Zoe and I have remained close in retirement. Out of the glare of ESPN, the Fox Sports Network and Animal Planet TV, we still take walks together, enjoy an ice-cream cone or two and talk about school.
Still, I can’t say I don’t miss those days on the hunt. They will remain magical in my memory — and I am confident, in hers.
Magical times and opportunities for magical moments in the lives of children, parents and grandparents come often, but leave too quickly.
When they do materialize, we best grab onto them and hold tight. Many of them never come again.
The good news is that the opportunities change but can be just as good as time moves on. If we look high up in the trees, there always is a squirrel up there somewhere.
Bud Herron is the retired former editor and publisher of the Daily Journal in Franklin. Contact him at [email protected].
