2025-2026 East Texas Squirrel Season

[Ezana4CE]

This wasn’t a hunt. My dog got injured two days before the season opener chasing squirrels through the woods the day after we took the wild pig. Now he’s bandaged up and wearing a lampshade because of a cut he sustained. I have tried to refrain from any sort of hunting around him because he really wants to go and that lampshade is probably the only thing keeping him out of the woods. I caught him early sneaking into the woods shortly after I cleaned his wound and changed his bandage. I had to call him back rather harshly.

I think all of the activity in the yard got the best of us. He was looking at the trees and so was I. I shot at my first squirrel with my GK1. I couldn’t resist. He was begging for a pellet and I obliged. Unfortunately when I thought he’d fall, he held on and ran. My dog took off after him and I had to call him back, so we lost that one because I don’t want him running through the woods. He really acts like he isn’t hurt.

So this one below showed up in another tree in the yard and I decided to shoot my K1. It was maybe 20-25 yards. I shot thrice thinking it was outside of my point blank range. The first two shots went over its back and it tried to lay low on the branch sitting still. Bad move. Turns out I didn’t need to hold over. I thumped it and it fell in my yard. After tending to my animals, I went to the adjacent property looking for it. Come to find out my dog found it earlier and I didn’t notice that he had, which explains why it’s half wet. I recovered it about 50 minutes after I shot it.



Close up of the entrance wound from a .22 Huben K1 shooting 25.4 grain JSB MRDs.


And since nothing was taken out to cook, guess what’s for supper?

 

[Ezana4CE]

Went out for a couple hours this morning and came back with a couple. Took a shot on another and hit a branch. Saw another in a pecan tree but I scared it off trying to position myself in an area without obstructions. Three shots, two squirrels. The second is closest to the dog. It was about a 35 yard headshot through the jaw and out through the top of the head.


I like how he’s coming along. He knows how to watch the trees. I have been rope training him in order to get him to focus his enthusiasm in the right areas. If I don’t he will run off almost everything in the woods.


And he’s getting better at retrieving them. He brought them both back. I had to call him out and send him back on the second squirrel. He’s improving though.

This was the first. It barked at us from around 15 yards.

 

[Dogowski]

Went out for a couple hours this morning and came back with a couple. Took a shot on another and hit a branch. Saw another in a pecan tree but I scared it off trying to position myself in an area without obstructions. Three shots, two squirrels. The second is closest to the dog. It was about a 35 yard headshot through the jaw and out through the top of the head.
View attachment 17000

I like how he’s coming along. He knows how to watch the trees. I have been rope training him in order to get him to focus his enthusiasm in the right areas. If I don’t he will run off almost everything in the woods.
View attachment 16998

And he’s getting better at retrieving them. He brought them both back. I had to call him out and send him back on the second squirrel. He’s improving though.
View attachment 17002
This was the first. It barked at us from around 15 yards.
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Great hunt and your partner is doing quite well!

 

[Ezana4CE]

Great hunt and your partner is doing quite well!

@Dogowski Thanks.

 

[Wingman115]

Texas Hill Country checking in. Great hunt thanks for taking us along.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Texas Hill Country checking in. Great hunt thanks for taking us along.

@Wingman115 Thanks for checking in. I like your content. That DAR .25 coyote hunt is a favorite of mine.

 

[Ezana4CE]

We limited out today.

This was the first

Heart shot?


Then it was back to his training ground where I started him on squirrels at around 4-5 3 months old. Here's a pic taken around the time that he began his squirrel hunting training.


Today we limited out in about an hour (maybe 1.25 hours) of arriving at this location. It took us longer to recover all of them because I forgot where they all fell. I had him on a rope to teach him not to run immediately after each shot. Consequently, he had to sniff them all out and retrieve them.






All taken with 25.4 grain FX Diabolo pellets shot from a .22 Huben K1.

 

[Ezana4CE]

I am a firm believer in domed pellets for squirrels. All but one shot were pass throughs. One gut shot, one heart shot (I think), one shot through the shoulder and the pellet was beneath the hide at the thigh, one shot through the front shoulder and the pellet exited adjacent to an ear (this squirrel’s skull was in at least 3 pieces), and one neck shot.

I have no idea the range on any of these shots. They all had to be within 45 yards. I left the parrallax set at 30 yards and I just slung lead when I felt that I had a shot. There was a lot of movement. I left with 14 pellets in the mag and came home with zero. The squirrels moved around a lot, mostly stop and go for the ones I could shoot. Once I missed twice, the action was frenetic. I think I caught one trying to gather or clip acorns from within the canopy. The rest were on the move. I missed several shots as they maneuvered through the canopy. One squirrel was shot in the hind leg, then the head. The action was pretty constant once it got going. I’d be looking at one or two them my dog would pick up on others in another direction. I tried lining up shots laying down on my back, laying on my side, twisted around while sitting on some tree roots trying to lean against the tree trunk, a leg over my dog while trying to scrunch down to get my reticle below some branches that were in the way (I was not shooting over his head or body). At times it felt like we were playing Twister.

 

[Fishing 43]

We limited out today.

This was the first
View attachment 17080
Heart shot?
View attachment 17081

Then it was back to his training ground where I started him on squirrels at around 4-5 months old. Today we limited out in about an hour (to maybe an 1.25 hours) of arriving at this location. It took us longer to recover all of them because I forgot where they all fell. I had him on a rope to teach him not to run immediately after each shot. Consequently, he had to sniff them all out and retrieve them.
View attachment 17082
View attachment 17083
View attachment 17084
View attachment 17085

All taken with 25.4 grain FX Diabolo pellets shot from a .22 Huben K1.

Appreciate your time and effort to let us see your hunting adventures and I especially enjoy bringing us along with your dog training progress.

 

[Wingman115]

@Wingman115 Thanks for checking in. I like your content. That DAR .25 coyote hunt is a favorite of mine.

That was a fun hunt for sure. Thanks for the support.

 

[Ezana4CE]

Nabbed a couple of grays today. One with my .25 Huben GK1 (in pistol configuration) and another with my .22 Huben K1. The wind was messing me up today. My dog spotted and flushed two. I was able to get a bead one of them going up a sweet gum tree from around 8-10 yards away. Shot it through the neck using a reflex sight.


The other I was posted and heard a couple exit the den holes to go search for food. I shot the first one of this pair through the chest with my K1 when it presented a shot from about 35 yards. My overly excited dog ran out towards the tree before the shot squirrel hit the ground to retrieve it. Between his running through the leaves and my yelling at him to come back we burned that spot up and I didn't get a shot on the other gray.