By Jimmy Jacobs
The holiday season is a time for families to gather. It also provides an opportunity for families to get outdoors together.
Many southern families traditionally have centered these outings on introducing youngsters to hunting. Squirrels provide the ideal quarry for family days in the woodlands. Many of today's adult hunters were introduced to the sport by pursuing "bushytails."
Finding places to hunt normally is a major limiting factor in the pursuit of most game today. But, north Georgia contains a vast acreage of ideal squirrel habitat in the Chattahoochee National Forest.
Much of this public hunting land is composed of mature oak and hickory hardwood trees. The trees provide acorns and hickory nuts for forage, as well as hollow den trees for shelter. Squirrels are abundant throughout the Chattahoochee forest.
Squirrel hunters dress in full camouflage to blend into the surrounding forest. They sit on the ground, watching for squirrels moving through the limbs of hardwood stands. Shotguns or .22-caliber rifles are the best guns for this type of hunting.
Youngsters can sit with an adult during such a hunt. The outing offers the chance for adults to introduce children to woodsmanship, as well as safe and ethical hunting. Such outings also instill the appreciation of nature that builds a conservation ethic.
A question that arises from many novice hunters is what to do with a squirrel after you bag it? The answer lies in the recipe for the traditional southern dish of Brunswick stew.
Squirrel was the original meat called for in this regional favorite. The use of beef and pork as a substitute was introduced later.
St. Simons Island, near the city of Brunswick, lays claim to being the site where the dish was first served in 1898. Brunswick County, Virginia, however, disputes that title, claiming an earlier introduction in 1828.
Jimmy Jacobs is the editor of Georgia Sportsman. He can be contacted at jimmy.jacobs@imoutdoors.com.
By the numbers
12 Daily limit per hunter for harvesting squirrels
86,000 Number of Georgia squirrel hunters according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
750,502 Acres in the Chattahoochee National Forest
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