On fluflued arrows, which is better for squirrels on a 400gr arrow from a 50# bow? I'd rather use blunts shooting up into trees for both sticking and falling issues. But I'm worried about being able to kill a squirrel from the impact. Those spiral wrapped fluflued sure do make great parachutes. My arrows go about 35-40 yards when shot at a 45* angle from my 50# bows. I'm going to try getting some made up for my 70# bow at about 600-700gr so i don't have to swap bows to harrass squirrels while chasing deer. I'm not worried about those killing a squirrel with a 357 case.
Thanks,
Kyle
I've shot squirrels in the ribs at 5 yards with heavy banded slingshots and steel balls. If you don't break the spine or knock em silly, they just run off. I'd say broadheads.
I prefer shooting my squirrels on the ground. Everything gets a broadhead!!! Flu-flus work great, but I've had more than a few "hit" squirrels get into a nest, or hollow tree.
Blunts are no good on squirrels unless you hit em in the head. I knocked one off the side of a tree once with a steel blunt from an 80# longbow. He got up, went back up the tree and into a hole in the tree.
Game Nabbers will work, the shallow point will penetrate a squirrel but wont stick in the tree. My favorite squirrel arrow is a flu-flu with a 3 blade Bodkin with 1/2" of the point cut off.
This squirrel was shot with a Judo point from an 85# bow. It didn't come out the other side.
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/buckskin%20bowman.jpg)
Broadheads all the way.
(http://i.imgur.com/IGnD6LM.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/IJjGrTO.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/fIsHw08.jpg)
Yep, go with the broad heads. AND, good luck shooting at them with fluflus. They'll hear them coming and be long gone when the arrow gets there.
RFA talons. Kind of like a blunt and kind of like a broadhead. That said flu flu shots are HARD to land. They go dodging them like the actor on The Matrix most all the time. I only use my flu flus now on upland birds, rabbits, and some stumping shots. Squirrels are just too fast, small, and agile. They get only regular arrows.
Pink fletching and light up nocks are the key to recovery of squirrel arrows in my experience. I hunt small game mostly and loose quite a few arrows in daytime even with pink fletching. Come back at night and those $10/ea Lunenocks start to pay for themselves rather quickly.
Yep my .22 rifle was how I retrieved 2 Judos that were escorted to tree tops by those tough critters!
NO JUDOs for skweerls. I use bodkins cut off like Ron does. They are great for all small game and non walk or run away.
Mike
I shot one in the face with a blunt and regular fletching, maybe 8 yards. He flopped a bit, so follow-up shots missed. Then he regained his composure as best he could and ran off into the woods. Im sure he either bled to death or starved because the shot busted his face pretty bad.
Either way, he ran off and suffered, maybe a broadhead would have prevented this.
I think their reflexes combined with strength, flexibility and light weight allows them to react upon impact of an arrow, or maybe absorb the impact rather than the arrow passing through. They are plenty tough though
Shot squirrels with everything from a Wamo slingshots to a 20 gauge shotgun. For bows and arrows we used field points with two holes drilled through, insert and glue nails. Kind of like a judo. Trouble with broadheads is they would stick into the tree. But know doubt tough little critters.
Squirrels ain't nothin' but a ball of muscle wrapped in buffalo hide !
I've taken a few with judo's-Ace blunts -and broadheads....best advise ....keep your shots close and behind the front shoulder....
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Two years ago I shot 9 fox squirrels, I got everyone I hit. All with a 50 JD Berry dual shooter with cedar arrows and blunts or Hammers. I use to use hi-precision 3 blades, but I am out of the larger version. I shot a squirrel with a Wasp broadhead years back on a 2020 out of a heavy bow. I pinned the squirrel to the tree. I thought it was dead, I could not pull the arrow out of the tree so I unscrewed it with the dead squirrel hanging on the arrow. When it hit the ground, it woke up and climbed high up a maple tree and never to be seen again. Later that same year, me and Toad Smith were working a corn field and a nice buck did a backwards jump when I shot with my arrow passing in front of it, just grazing the brisket, hair on the ground and no blood on the broadhead arrow or on the ground. I saw the slight contact plain enough. I was a little ticked off, I shot at a squirrel, up high, with my Schulz Legend with an htm with a nickel glued on it. I hit the squirrel and it was stone dead when it hit the ground. I was tempted to put my deer tag on it. I suppose it all depends where you you hit them.
Thanks everyone, that settles it for me. I won't worry about changing up my arrows. I'll just leave them as I will have them for deer and use them as is. But take a file with me for in field touch ups. I figured they were tough little buggers since I've watcheed them fall 40-50' from a tree, bounce off a log, and go running off. might save my fluflus for winter time bunnies and maybe doves if they cooperate. And just put my more worn out broadheads on them.
Thanks,
Kyle
I like Judo points or blunts with a tiger claw. I've gotten many with a compound and my first with a trad bow this year. Even with a 60# compound the arrow stays stuck in the squirrel and doesn't pass through. Everyone of them ran a few yards (rib shots). Longest was maybe 10 but the arrow was heavily embedded so he was unable to run far. These are Georgia grey squirrels though, not monster fox squirrels so YMMV. I don't feel safe shooting broadheads up into a tree and I also shoot squirrels in my yard with other houses close by so those are other reasons for small game heads for me.
Squirrels will dodge flu flus often.
I've killed them with a plain blunt or .38 but had a few get away also. Now I use a short screw or a piece of banding steel in my .38 blunt. enough to get you through the hide. I wouldn't go shooting broadheads up in the trees myself.
Apparently your eastern squirrels are a lot tougher than our ground squirrels.
I have had good luck with both rubber blunts and the steel hammer blunts.
45 lb bow and a solid hit there lights are out!
Have also shot them with field points and a G5 claw looking thing they call a small game head, neither have worked as well as the blunts.
I've never hit one so I can't say which is best! :laughing:
I should have pointed out that when I used flu-flus my stash of free three blades was better. I found if a flu flu was good at slowing down, it was also good at having no striking force. For pheasants an aggressive flu flu will not work most of the time even with broadheads. That is one of the advantages of having cheaper to assemble cedar arrows for small game, even going as far as cutting feathers off of broken arrows, you can afford to lose a few.
I prefer dead squirrels, so broad heads with a backer are used by me. Squirrels are tough little critters for sure. :campfire:
If you are hungry......best use broadheads.
I've seen .22's that have a hard time with them. I use broadheads on squirrels and jack rabbits. They are tough critters.
I've killed all of mine with blunts, but if I had some older heads, I would go with broadheads.
I'll definitely agree that squirrels are tough. I work at a golf course and today I ran over one with a lawn mower. It came out of nowhere and ran straight under the deck, then out the other side! I'm thinking that's more lucky than tough though LOL.
I use old broadheads. I shot one 2 years ago with a hex head and knocked that joker 15 feet off a rotten stump and he hit the ground running never to be seen again. :(
https://imgur.com/a/cUx42
Blunts and head shots have worked well for me. Flu-flus for tree shots.
Anyone try the small game thumpers on them? I'm thinking that would be about the best blunt a person could use.
QuoteOriginally posted by Longtoke:
Anyone try the small game thumpers on them? I'm thinking that would be about the best blunt a person could use.
That is precisely what I use.
The black lines are so my wife can check my draw span. I could put in a longer bolt and sharpen the whole thing up, but the wife says 'NO SQUIRRELS'. So these will be for doves, rabbits and sharpened ones for pheasants. For spine consideration I left these a little bit longer than my normal arrows, they fly like they are on a wire out of my new white glass 'sunset'. (http://i.imgur.com/KUrwJ6k.jpg?2)
Oh yes, the other end of my cedar shoot away dozen. I test shot the bunch, all good. Less than $45 for the whole dozen, cheap feathers, finish, blunty points and nocks included.
(http://i.imgur.com/NrWJbtf.jpg?1)
If you're on a diet shoot blunts if you're hungry shoot broadheads
I don't know how to post pictures anymore,but I shot a jack rabbit yesterday with a tree shark,and it didn't die right away. I think squirrels are tougher than rabbits.
I shot one with a G 5 SGH (small game head) out of a 50 lb longbow. head shot at about 12 yards. he fell to the ground. shook it off and went right back up the tree. I shot him again with a ribtec at about the same distance and the arrow didn't pass all the way through. I got the squirrel and both arrows back though.
If you can attach a carving knife to the front of your arrows you'de be in good shape.
I have only shot one squirrel with a bow. He was hit square through the ribs with a field point. He chewed all the way through that arrow. I had to finish him off with a stick. That kind of killed my desire to hunt squirrels with a bow.
I have had really good luck using nutters. They won't die, unless hit in the head, but they are knocked ****less. I pick them up and finish it with my hawk (skwerl against tree). I lost one this way so far. It was a superficial hit. I was using bows a fair bit heavier than 50# and regular arrows though, so that may change things up a bit.
If you ever get serious about bowhunting squirrels then you'll only use something that cuts. You'll get tired of losing squirrels with blunts and you'll lose a fair share with cutting heads too. Any marginal hit outside of the head/neck/chest will be a problem. Having the arrow remain in the squirrel while sticking out of both sides significantly increases your chances of recovering that squirrel.
Do you guys actually shoot bladed points at skwerls up in a tree ? That is 100% why I use nutters. I shoot at them where I see them. They work well enough for me. If you hit a deer in the hind end you likely won't recover that one either.
Shoot all my squirrels with Zwickeys, and on the ground!
Squirrels actually spend more time on the ground, than in trees. The tree is their "safety zone"... They are easier to hit on the ground AND it's easier to find your arrows!
I have bowhunted squirrels 27 times since the Illinois opener on August 1 - after work almost every night on public and private ground. I have yet to take a shot at a squirrel on the ground this season. That will change as the mast drops but is definitely not the case in the early part of the season. I do not hesitate to take a shot in a tree as I don't hunt anywhere where that arrow dropping is a concern. I lose or break close to 200 arrows a year chasing squirrels and won't even bother looking for them unless I see them fall right next to me. My gear has been designed for this style of hunting.
If you are not concerned about where the arrow drops and not concerned about losing the arrow, why wouldn't you shoot up in a tree? If you are concerned about such things then squirrel hunting might not be much fun for you.
Exactly said on your first post, Jerry Gille!
Serious Squirrel Bowhunter!
I believe squirrel was Mr. Jerry Pierce's favorite animal to hunt with a bow. He would cut a notch in a field point and epoxy injector razor blades--no telling now many squirrels he killed. The only one I've killed with a bow and arrow was taken with an Ace Hex-Head blunt (perfect double lung..squirrel was DRT)...that being said, I won't even hunt rabbits with anything other than broadheads or at least a small game head with blades.
Some good heads for squirrels
(http://www.bowyersedge.com/images/Squirrels/squirrelpoints.jpg)
Next to last, from left to right, was Mr. Jerry's preferred squirrel medicine. I've got a few of them around here somewhere...
I've shot a lot of squirrels over the years with a lot of different heads. I've been disappointed in the results from some blunts, but I have never, ever, lost a squirrel hit with an HTM rubber blunt on a moderately heavy (550 gr or more) wooden arrow. Another benefit is that they bounce off, rather stick in, trees. They are all I have used for the past 10 years or so. Mostly I use a 60lb longbow, but I think they would still work well with lighter equipment.
Broadheads always work. I've never used field points but have an experienced squirrel hunting friend who loves them.
QuoteOriginally posted by RIVERWOLF:
Squirrels ain't nothin' but a ball of muscle wrapped in buffalo hide !
That's been my experience. While I've had mixed results with various blunts/hammers/small game heads, I haven't lost one I hit with a broadhead yet. I have lost a couple of broadheads though...
I have hit squirrels in the butt with HTMs that did not seem phased at all. I have been hunting squirrels and bunnies and pheasants with bows since I was in grade school, I have killed a lot of game with blunts, HTMs and bludgeons. I have killed quite a few with free three blade broadheads as well. We cut notches into the hi-precision heads to make them more effective on small game. The vitals on small game are small. We occasionally lost game hit with sharpened broadheads. 9/16" blunts are legal for turkeys in Iowa, I think other states as well, I had extreme doubts about this, so I called to get to the bottom of their reasoning. The person that I talked to had stats of the testing and lots of information. He was very insistent on its effectiveness. Crossing over from his logic with large blunts to squirrel hits. You hit a squirrel in the butt with an HTM you may give it a bad day, but he will live to tell about it. Change that hit so something more than a glancing butt hit, the squirrel is dead. Make that glancing butt hit a sharpened broadhead, you are still not going to stop the squirrel, but you have given that squirrel much more than just a bad experience, more than likely a life ending gash. Was it Saxton Pope that wrote that the shocking power of a blunt seemed more effective than a broadhead on small game? It will always be part of the game, you still need to hit them right for the cleanest possible kill. Saying all of this, I did get another free six hi-precision heads this week. I hope to get a pheasant or two with them.
I totally concur with Squirrel Hunter and rubber blunts... Have killed squirrels with Judo points, field points, and broadheads and all needed a chase to pursue... So far I've only managed to hit one with a rubber blunted flu-flu, hit him in the chest and killed him graveyard dead, barely even kicked... I was shocked and impressed... I now carry a rubber blunted flu-flu all times afield...
All "squirrels" across the country are not created equal.
All "squirrels" across the country are not created equal.
Amen Charlie. Our greys here will laugh off rubber blunt. May as well spit at them.
Ball of muscle wrapped in a buffalo hide...yup!
Yes Sir!
We have the toughest meanest biggest and smartest squirrels in the country here, the mighty fox squirrel. They laugh at danger. I asked my son how many squirrels he shot on the Hughes farm the year that we lost our extra doe tags and he decided to lengthen his hunting time by not filling his deer tag early. He said, 18 squirrels 5 rabbits. I asked him how many he hit and not recover, "None, that's a stupid question. You have a new squirrel point you want me to try? I'm going after wood cock this year." He used steel blunts for some and Saunders bludgeon screw ins for the rest.