David Blanton and Tyler Jordan looked a little frazzled. They were working the actions of their Gamo air rifles as fast as they could, aiming back to the top of a very tall oak tree and pulling the triggers. Unfortunately for them - and our team - they weren't connecting with their target: a very fast, very agile gray squirrel showing off with treetop acrobatics.
The squirrel was good, he was fast and he wasn't sticking around to get shot at anymore. This little tree-dwelling rodent was getting out of Dodge.
In full disclosure, I could have - and should have - been shooting, too, but I was trying to take pictures and video, so I was no help with the squirrel. Our dog handler for the day, Tim Cosby, stood watching the whole show with some dismay and offered words of encouragement such as, "Boys, will one of you please hit that squirrel!" The 4-H shooter in our group, Danielle Chapman, was on the other side of tree, no doubt thinking "Good grief, I could do better than these guys."
(And she could. I saw her shoot.)
This little vignette was playing out in a beautiful piece of Alabama woods not far from Montgomery. Once again, I was happy to be back at what has become the premiere small game event in the country, the Squirrel Master Classic. This event is the brainchild of deer hunting TV personality and Buck Masters originator Jackie Bushman. Seven years ago, he was approached by Gamo, the air rifle company, regarding how they could stage a hunting event focused on small game as a way of drawing more hunters, young and old, into the fold.
I have written many times about the drastic decline in hunter numbers and the need to find ways of bringing new hunters into the game. Now we have the three R's as a guideline for dealing with this challenge: recruitment, the finding and bringing of new hunters of all ages into our ranks; retention, holding on to the hunters we have; reactivation, bringing back people who were hunters in the past but for one reason or another have not hunted for some time.
So Bushman and Gamo settled on a squirrel hunt, which I have said many times is a great way to introduce anyone to hunting. Squirrels are often abundant, you may find them most anywhere and often landowners will permit squirrel hunting in places they would never allow you to hunt deer or turkey. The Squirrel Master Classic has the added feature of squirrel hunting with dogs, which is great fun if you have never tried it.
A dog barks to direct hunters to a squirrel he has treed during a Squirrel Master Classic near Montgomery, Ala.Any type of hunting that includes dogs is often the way to go. Everyone likes watching the animated squirrel dogs running through the woods, and once they get their prey treed, the good ones stay put and bark to direct you to the spot. There were a lot of good dogs at this year's Squirrel Master Classic, and I think the competition was as keen between the dogs as it was the hunters.
So here is how the event happens. Each team has an outdoors personality - such as Bushman of Buckmasters, Nick Mund, Travis "T-Bone" Turner or Michael Waddell of "Bone Collector" TV series fame, or Blanton or Jordan with Realtree Outdoors camouflage - an outdoors writer (yours truly, for example), a squirrel dog handler and a young person involved with 4-H shooting sports. The 4-H shooters we had this year were great kids (they always are), and Chapman, the young lady on our Realtree Outdoors team, was a real shooter!
We hunted this year with the Gamo Swarm Magnum, a new offering from the company. We found this .22 caliber air rifle had plenty of power for squirrels and any other small game you would want to hunt.
There is a morning and an afternoon hunt at the Squirrel Master Classic, and after lunch on the second day, a shooting competition is conducted with multiple targets at different ranges to test the skill of the 4-H shooters and the adults. I shot in the Daisy Red Ryder BB gun competition, and going against the TV guys was some kind of fun. By the way, I am told that Daisy will soon have an adult-sized Red Ryder BB gun available. I can tell you right now that I will have one.
At the end of the hunting competition, the number of squirrels collected by each team is counted and added to the scores from the shooting competition. The hunt is really about promoting small game hunting and encouraging the 4-H shooters, but just between me and you, the competition for that Squirrel Master trophy is fierce!
This year's winners were Waddell and the "Bone Collector" team. They hunted hard and deserved the win, but I guarantee you other teams are planning to take the trophy next year.
Lord willing and the creek don't rise too much, I will be back at Southern Sportsman's Lodge next year for another round at the Squirrel Master Classic. Winning the trophy is nice, but I'll be back for the all the hunter camaraderie at the lodge, the wonderful barbecue they serve there and just poking around in those Alabama creek bottoms while following a feisty little squirrel dog.
You don't have to go to the Squirrel Master Classic or all the way to Alabama to experience the joys of squirrel hunting.
You remember that, don't you? A cool fall morning, stalking a squirrel as he scatters hickory nuts on a limb - or maybe you followed a little mixed-breed dog who treed the squirrels for you.
You can do it all again. This time, take a kid with you.
Contributed photo / Larry Case"The Trail Less Traveled" is written by Larry Case, who lives in Fayette County, W.Va. You can write to him at larryocase3@gmail.com.