‘Person-al’ Secrets

Squirrel hunting on Person County’s Hyco and Mayo game lands is usually top drawer this time of year.

Squirrel hunting has fallen down on the list of popular hunting pursuits, but it wasn’t always so.

In the 1950s, 60s and early 70s, before the resurgence of whitetail deer, wild turkey and black bear in the state’s hinterlands, hunters hunted small game, and the top game animal was the gray squirrel, which inhabited every backyard woodlot.

Access to squirrel hunting was closely guarded, with the best woods leased along with hunting rights for quail, doves, rabbits and other small-game species. Hunters with access to good public squirrel woods often kept their hunting territories a tight-lipped secret and posted any property under their control against trespass.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is attempting to increase hunter recruitment and retention through expansion of the hunting season dates for gray and red squirrels. Whether that will help in recruiting and retaining hunters remains to be seen. But for some hunters, squirrel hunting has always been a way of life.

One of them is Basil Watts, a retired Cape Fear River pilot who combs both Carolinas in his quest for bushytails and other small game.

“I’d a whole lot rather hunt squirrels than just about anything else, including deer,” Watts said. “When you kill a deer, the work has just begun. It’s a lot easier to carry a limit of eight squirrels out of the woods than it is to drag out a deer.”

Watts discovered squirrel hunting on the Hyco Game Lands by coincidence. He was participating in a winter turkey hunt there and saw squirrels everywhere.

“They were virtually attacking me,” he said. “I’d be sitting there with my back against a tree, calling to a turkey, and squirrels would appear from everywhere. They’d come out of the hollow trees and nests and move to the ground to dig up acorns and hickory nuts they had buried for the winter. It was hard to let all those squirrels go while I was waiting for a turkey to come to the call. They were used to turkeys calling and didn’t pay my calling any mind whatsoever.”

Turkey guns also make good squirrel guns. Switching out heavy turkey loads for light charges of No. 6 shot is all it takes for the hunter to switch game species. But when Watts hunts squirrels intentionally, he takes along two long guns.

“I prefer shooting squirrels with a .410 shotgun,” he said. “I use No. 6 or No. 7½ shot in 3-inch shells and try to find ¾-ounce loads instead of the 11/16-ounce loads. Winchester is one company that still makes a ¾-ounce load. I like the .410 because it makes you stalk close enough for a good shot, which is about 20 yards, and it doesn’t ruin the meat by putting too many pellets in the squirrel like a 12-gauge or 20-gauge.”

Watts’ backup gun is a single shot Thompson Center .22 rimfire loaded with a long-rifle solid. As with the lightweight shotgun, the solid .22 bullet destroys little meat compared to a hollow point bullet.

“I carry the shotgun while I’m walking through the woods or sitting beneath a hollow tree,” Watts said. “If I see a squirrel too far away, I use the .22 rifle. I carry the rifle across my back, and I don’t use a sling. I just tie a piece of quarter-inch line around the barrel and stock and put it over my shoulder.”

Watts has an interesting way of hunting squirrels during the day. He finds and shakes vines that climb into trees; honeysuckle, Virginia creeper and grapevines are the best because they snag and hold many leaves from deciduous trees. Some are home to squirrel nests that are readily apparent, but others simply hide squirrels as temporary shelter when they spot approaching hunters.

“I learned about shaking vines when I was a kid,” he said. “I went with an old-timer, and every time we would find a vine going up a tree, he would grab it and shake it. I would be ready with the shotgun, and the number of times a squirrel would be hiding in the vines, waiting for us to pass by, was amazing.

“Now, I stalk and sit during the morning and afternoon, but when I’m scouting for cut acorns and hickory nuts — or nests and hollow trees — during the day, I shake vines. You can do it by yourself, but it’s best to have a buddy along. When the squirrel takes off, your partner is the one most likely to get a shot. Shooting a squirrel running through the vines and limbs with a .410 is pretty tough shooting, especially if you’re the one tugging vines. The vines and tree trunks always seem to be between you and the squirrel.”

Watts said the Hyco After Bay area holds the most gray squirrel habitat. When the lake level is low, he can walk the lake shoreline with ease, looking for hardwood trees.

“It’s mixed pine and hardwood habitat,” he said, “but there are creek drainages that run into the After Bay. If you follow them upstream, you will find they are covered with hardwoods and full of squirrels. Another good place to try are the two northern parcels along the Virginia border. There’s been some logging activity that thinned some of the hardwoods, but it actually opened up the woods so you can see better than before.”

Jason Allen is crew leader for the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission at the Caswell Wildlife Depot. He said there is a lot of deer-hunting pressure at both Hyco and Mayo game lands, but a small-game hunter may never see another squirrel hunter.

“The smaller Person County game lands are open six days a week,” Allen said. “There is a restricted firearms zone where you can still use a .22 rimfire rifle or shotgun and an archery zone. These zones are on the Dunnaway Rd. near the main body of Hyco Lake and are clearly marked on the game lands maps and with signs. The best hunting is probably around the After Bay. There are lots of mixed hardwoods and pines, but there are also plenty of oak-hickory ridges, which are even are better for squirrels.”

Allen said a paved roadbed that used to cross the After Bay area before it was flooded is at the western side of the bridge across McGehees Mill Rd. Hunters can launch boats at the impromptu ramp and park out of the way, but it is not a maintained access. When the water level is high, boats offer better access opportunities than walking the lake shoreline.

“The game land areas along John Merritt Rd. are good places to hunt,” Allen said. “There are some really great hickory-oak habitats there, and squirrel hunters may want to concentrate their efforts there. We don’t do much management there.

“There are some agricultural fields along McGehees Mill Road and right behind them are some nice hardwood areas that should hold plenty of gray squirrels.”

Chris Teague is another Commission employee who worked at the Caswell Depot before moving to the Butner Depot recently.

“Caswell is a hard-hunted game land,” Teague said, “but if you hunt squirrels at Hyco and Mayo, you may not see another squirrel hunter. I posted boundary at Hyco Game Land, and I saw hardwoods all over, with the most promising for squirrel hunting along the bottomland hardwood areas and the upland ridges.

“There is a power line right-of-way that gives good access, and there are good roads for access throughout the game land. You don’t have to walk very far from a road to find a good place to hunt squirrels.”

Teague also mentioned the restricted firearms zone and archery zones, due to their proximity to housing developments. Of its total area of 4,229 acres, much of Hyco Game Land is water surface of the After Bay and Hyco Lake.

Teague said hunters could also find some good squirrel hunting at Mayo Game Land, which consists of 7,128 acres, much of which is the surface of Mayo Lake.

“The majority of Mayo Game Land is water,” Teague said, “but there are several tracts, and some of them have a northern border along the Virginia line.”

These tracts are accessed from Mayo Lake Rd., High Plains Rd. and Epps-Martin Rd. A large portion of Mayo Game Land was removed for subdivision construction during recent years, therefore, hunters should be careful about using .22 rimfire rifles around the edges of the game land where there are houses nearby.

“The best area for hunting a larger tract is to the west of the power plant,” Teague said. “There is a safety zone around the power plant, but there is some good walking access along a railroad grade to get to the bigger chunks of territory. Everything along Bowes Branch has some good squirrel habitat, and you can get to the branch along State Road 1374.”

Other tracts are accessible from Lawson Chapel Road, and there is also some good lake access to several tracts for those who have boats.