John K. Flores: For many, squirrel seasons is introduction to the outdoors

Squirrel season opens tomorrow and if you did your homework by scouting out a few prospective locations whether on a private lease or public land, odds are you’ll do well, perhaps even get your limit.
Personally, I love squirrel season. Maybe it’s because squirrels were the first game animals I hunted as a boy. Maybe it’s because there’s nothing quite like sitting on a bucket in the woods listening to the morning come alive. Or maybe, it means fall has officially arrived. Whatever it is, I try not to miss opening day.
This year’s season runs from the first Saturday in October through Feb. 29, 2024. And, over the course of the long season roughly 50,000 hunters, give or take a couple thousand, will harvest something close to 700,000 squirrels.
What this means is there is no shortage of squirrels to hunt. In fact, Louisiana hunters could probably harvest a million squirrels and it wouldn’t hurt the overall population.
In St. Mary Parish, there are two species of squirrels, the gray squirrel and the fox squirrel. The majority of squirrels that will be harvested south of the Intracoastal Canal in the marshes will be gray squirrels. Fox squirrels tend to reside in forest habitat with sparse understory.
I like to be in the woods a good 30 minutes before sunrise. It’s amazing how many squirrels are already moving about in the upper canopy. You can hear their claws scratching the bark as they leap branch to branch and chase each other around the trunk of the trees. Not to mention hear the leaves rustle as they gorge themselves on live oak acorns.
You can see the branches in the twilight and even the movement of squirrels, but you better not shoot. Shooting at shadows too early risks losing your quarry.
Early season squirrel hunting has its drawbacks. Usually, it’s still warm. The morning may start out nice and cool, but this is still Louisiana. By mid-morning, it’s time to go home and watch college football.
Another thing is there are critters like chiggers and mosquitos to contend with. You can mitigate some of this by using insect repellent that has high DEET content. You may not prevent all of the redbugs that thrive in the warm temperatures from biting, but at least you’ll have reduced some of the itch later on.
You also must contend with a lot more leaves on the trees. There’s a big difference hunting squirrels early in the season versus hunting them late in the season. Squirrels trying to escape in the upper canopy in the fall can challenge the best marksman. A 12- or 20-gauge shotgun loaded with a 1 to 1 1/8-ounce load of number 6 shot can level the playing field when the trees are full of foliage.
Unlike deer and ducks, where most of the prime hunting ground is behind locked gates, there is an abundance of public land that hold above average populations of squirrels. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries maintains more than 1.6 million acres of land. Locally, nearby Attakapas and Sherburne WMAs provide public opportunity to hunt small game.
A Self-Clearing Permit is required for all activities conducted daily on state WMAs, refuges, and conservation areas. Both residents and non-residents are also required to have an annual WMA Access Permit that costs $20, or a 5-day permit that costs $5 for any activity.
Kisatchie National Forest offer 604,000 acres of hunting opportunity for squirrel hunters. I once floated the Dugdemona River for wood ducks and squirrels that passed through a portion of the Kisatchie Forest with a friend from West Monroe. From the waterside of the forest, we snuck right up on those squirrels that had let their guard down.
With a generous bag limit of 8 squirrels per day and a long season that runs through February 2024, there’s plenty of time and opportunity to get in a hunt or two.
While you’re at it, take a young person hunting. Louisianans are all about firsts. First squirrel, first rabbit, first duck, first deer. There’s nothing quite like it. What’s more, it’s a memory they’ll never forget.
John Flores is the Morgan City Review’s outdoor writer. He can be contacted at gowiththeflo@cox.net.