doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Favorite Game/Gun Picture - 2019 Hunting Season

Lots of grays is an understatement. Yes, Anoka county, but, I seldom, if ever hunted squirrels in Anoka county, Sherburn and Mil Lacs county, mostly, with some forays into Kannebec and parts south of the greater metro.

Minnesota got the first and most of the Hmong boat people, who were perfectly happy to hunt small game with little regard for the laws until a major effort was put into teaching those laws. I do believe there was perhaps a decade that put extreme pressure on all furred small game species around and in the Metro. A side note, the Hmong initially encountered Destroying Angel mushrooms, and, until the word got out not to eat the mushrooms that looked just like the ones back home, we would see stories of Hmong families that needed three, or four, or five liver transplants after a meal. I would bet the last time I read one of those stories was about the time I saw the last fox squirrel.

I have often wondered why the fox squirrels never seemed to bounce back. The bunnies cycle up and down, just like always, the greys are at nuisance level, most of the time, and the fox squirrels are gone.
The little red squirrels are here as well. Not as many as greys, a good thing.

Best,
Ted

I guess they're too Foxey for you Ted considering their brain is as big a peanut....

I used to hunt deer in Anoka - long before your time I suppose.

Not sure what the mushroom sort was about but western squirrels I know love some of the most toxic of the Amanita mushrooms.

Reds may have some say in the fox's disappearance, but more likely it is due to habitat change. The world does not stand still, even for squirrels.

Reds are pushing into northern Indiana and others are being pushed out.

Damn. Barnum was right when he said "There's a sucker born every minute". Sounds like above the Mason Dixon line it may be more often than that. Maybe that's part of the answer to low cotton prices.

SRH

Lived here since 1968. Yes, the habitat has changed. But, I would have guessed if the greys can do well, you would at least see some fox squirrels.

The mushroom story just details that the Hmong had some things to learn on this side of planet earth. They were excellent, if lawless, small game hunters when they arrived, to be expected of a people who did the same thing for subsistence where they came from. Of course, now ed and bill will likely call me racist, ignoring the fact I am an honorary member of the Vang green clan.
Best,
Ted

Favorite pic of our season!

I lived in New Brighton from 59 to 73. Greys are all I remember. No reds or foxes in the timber behind the house.

RA,
Fantastic photo, looks like the dog really has something nailed!
Karl

The Hmong did a good job helping us hunt the VC and sacrificed a lot for us. As far as I'm concerned, they can have my share of the Greys.
Mike

Great pic Rick!