Black Squirrel

[Gordon Jabben]

Tsalt, you are a lucky man to have a friend like David to teach you about bow hunting.  David and Eugene Wolfenbarger were just incredible squirrel hunters along with Larry Duncan.  It just doesn't get any better than hunting squirrels along the Illinois River with them.  Fifteen squirrels in one day was not unusual for the three of them.  I know most people won't believe that but it's true.  I'm sure David has taken many black squirrels as they are fairly common where he hunted.  They would buy a thousand cedar shafts and three thousand feathers at a time.  The only problem I had with them was that they didn't look long for a lost arrow.  Would like to see them again.

[stagetek]

I've got quite a few on my property in central WI. As a matter of fact, I see them all the time. Very easy to spot.

[dragonheart]

That one is a pope and young!

[RedShaft]

Neat thread. Thanks for sharing the pics guys. I have never seen one though I hear we have them in northern pa. I would love to shot one.

[Robyn Hode]

I wish we had them in Indiana. How do they taste compared to Fox and greys?

[Warden609]

Very nice!!

[Arcobsessed]

We never had these in northeastern Ontario until a couple years ago. Now it's polluted with them. I have 5 red oaks in my back yard and they produced lots of acorns this year so these black beasties invaded. I've shot 4 of them so far but it hasn't made a dent. They are very hard to get close to and never stop moving. It's good practice. Unfortunately they got into one of my sheds and made quite a mess.

It's interesting that our native red squirrels run the big black ones off all the time. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it.

[Tsalt]

Originally posted by Gordon Jabben:
Tsalt, you are a lucky man to have a friend like David to teach you about bow hunting.  David and Eugene Wolfenbarger were just incredible squirrel hunters along with Larry Duncan.  It just doesn't get any better than hunting squirrels along the Illinois River with them.  Fifteen squirrels in one day was not unusual for the three of them.  I know most people won't believe that but it's true.  I'm sure David has taken many black squirrels as they are fairly common where he hunted.  They would buy a thousand cedar shafts and three thousand feathers at a time.  The only problem I had with them was that they didn't look long for a lost arrow.  Would like to see them again.

Gordon, yes I am lucky to know David and I'm thrilled that you know him as well.  Larry Duncan went with us once and we hunted the Illinois river bottom just as you described.  I was hunting with a compound at the time and David was talking about shooting rabbits and squirrels with his long bow.  Honestly,  I thought he was exaggerating.... boy was I wrong.  

You are right about them killing 15 squirrels in a day... In fact, Traditional Bowhunter Magazine (I think that was the magazine... not positive)  did an article on David, Eugene, Larry and some other guys.  The writer of the article showed up with his 45# bow and couldn't believer those guys were squirrel hunting with 100# bows!!
David showed me the pic from the article.  I'll have to see if I can get a copy of it from him and post it on this thread.

David is not only an incredible bow hunter, he is one of the most generous guys I know.  When I showed up to squirrel hunt with him he gave handed me a longbow, a leather arm guard, and a back quiver full of arrows and said, "here, these are yours!"   I was hooked!!   He later gave me a hand me down recurve that I took my first trad deer with. He has been a great mentor.  And incidentally, he is one of the most faithful members of the church I pastor...which is how I met David.

[Jayrod]

really cool!!great shooting!

[monterey]

We don't have any "grey" squirrels here in CO.  At least I've never seen any.  We have Fox squirrels but have never seen a black one.

We do have these Aberts Squirrels that are black
 

Funny thing is the only Squirrel that I ever saw in CO that was grey was one of these Aberts that was light grey for some reason.

[awishanew]

On Vancouver Island, the west side of Canada we only had Red Squirrels until a few years ago. They now are considered an invasive species and the Dept. of Wildlife says try to eradicate them. Impossible.

[AkDan]

They are way cool.  I remember the first one I shot.    Now the woods is full of them.    I need to head home one of these years I'd like to get one mounted.

[KentuckyTJ]

Very cool. I have seen them in Florida and Colorado but never here. Nice trophy, I'd get him mounted.

[Tsalt]

Monterey - those Aberts squirrels are cool.  Need seen one of those either.  That must be related to bats with those ears!

Kentucky - thanks... Not getting a mount but I am tannig the hide.

[monterey]

Tsalt, they are cool.  There is a relative in AZ that looks much alike called a Kaibab Squirrel.

The Aberts lives in poderosa pine environments and can be tough to hunt.  If they can be spotted on the ground and "tree'd" they tend to go to the very top of the tree.  A tough shot.  Often they can be spotted on the ground but somehow manage to dissapear even in a relatively open stand of pines.  

Season opens tomorrow!  Maybe should make up some hide stretching boards.

[Blackhawk]

I found it interesting that there is quite a large colony of black squirrels in northwest Washington state near the Canadian border.  

My daughter attends Western Washington University in Bellingham and has reported numerous blackies on campus with some of these squirrels being overly aggressive toward students.  

A bit of searching says these are a "morphed" eastern grey which was introduced here in WA about 100 years ago.  Our native Western Gray has been nearly eliminated by these greys.  

Some say the black color phase is nature's way of helping survival of the species since black fur helps keep the animal warm.  If that's the case, then why is the polar bear not black?

I also remember seeing lots of black squirrels when I was in southeast Georgia.  The locals told me they were just a color phase of the fox squirrel down there.

[Liquid Amber]

I sat one of my stands for the first time this past week and would you believe I had a nice, black fox squirrel come by and eat an acorn about five yards from my tree.  I did my best to make it into a black gray squirrel but it didn't work.     It spent a great deal of time in the area and later I plan to move a camera there and hopefully get a photo or two.  

We raised a few litters of southern fox squirrels when I worked in south Georgia many years back and typically a litter rarely contained two of the same color.  It is interesting at the variety of color combinations the southern fox squirrel comes in.

[Zbone]

Black phase grey squirrels are quit common in NE Ohio now-a-days, in fact more common the the greys in towns...

Mojostick - "Black squirrels are a color phase of grey squirrels".

Not necessarily, many mammals come in melanistic phases, including the fox squirrel which Liquid Amber explained and wanted to ask Tsalt if he knew if his was a grey, or fox squirrel species? Viewing from the photos, it looks more like a melanistic fox squirrel to me too...

ceme24's is a black grey squirrel, which we have around here...

I have a few photos of different colored phased grey squirrels but don't know how to post pix on this site...

[Lowrider]

Saw one on our place in Arkansas Saturday.First I have ever seen there. The property borders is bordered by the Red river. Lots of fox squirrels which I understand the black is a color phase of the fox here. As stated we see a few here in Louisiana.

[Prairie Drifter]

Originally posted by monterey:
We don't have any "grey" squirrels here in CO.  At least I've never seen any.  We have Fox squirrels but have never seen a black one.

We do have these Aberts Squirrels that are black
   

Funny thing is the only Squirrel that I ever saw in CO that was grey was one of these Aberts that was light grey for some reason.

Actually the black ones are Kaibab squirrels, the grey are aberts. Same squirrels, just different color phases. They live on opposite sides of the Grand canyon, but there is some overlap in the areas they live.