Tiercel78, My next few questions are, The GA fox squirrel pictured on the GFA website is huge compared to the Texas species, known as fox squirrels ?. can I then assume that in Texas they have the equivalent of our GA grey's & a larger species that is on average, the size of a large buck grey that we find/hunt here in GA ?
Those Eastern Fox squirrel in Texas get big I believe up to the 3lb range if not bigger. They do have Greys (they call them cat squirrels) as well and I assume that they get just as big as the ones in our areas. When I first saw the Sherman's Fox squirrel I thought they where bigger as well, I just don't think they have as much body mass, but I believe the ones here are longer,taller and a few I have seen have huge heads. After some research they range around the same size total weight wise. The fox squirrels here hang out in more turkey oak/ longleaf pine habitat. They are also Threatened in certain areas like Florida. There I believe the fox and the greys share more of the same habitat.
Last Edit: Nov 13, 2006 19:43:29 GMT -5 by Tiercel78
I used to think i knew some things. But i'm not so sure anymore.
My bird hasn't come across anything bigger than a buck grey squirrel. The " fox squirrels " are on my menu, but i've heard of birds "shying away " from GA fox squirrel's, totally not acknowledging the quarry, even looking the other way, As if to say " what squirrel, I don't see any squirrel ". Tony doesn't have that bird anymore but he told me that bird pulled a fully grown possum & held it successfully. Thanks for the info.
Post by Master Yarak on Nov 13, 2006 23:01:43 GMT -5
That is really not suprising. If all I had seen were Grey squirrels I too would pass up a fox squirrel. Where I lived that was THE only squirrel. We had droves of them. Strange but true my parents retired in Ark. They only saw Greys. I got up there several times to hawk and caught mostly fox squirrels.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away
Well Manok after actually getting to handle a Sherman's Fox squirrel this past weekend I will tell you this. It is the biggest Dam squirrel I have ever held. I have seen them from a distance but to actually hold one has changed my mind. They are bigger than any fox squirrel that I have seen in TX. This squirrel when grasped around the body my hand only went half way around. His tail was longer than my Forearm. When I grasped it's head my thumb and middle finger need about a inch to touch. I wish I could of got a weight but it was frozen and no scale was around. If I had to bet it probally weighed about 5 pounds. This animal was a road kill but not all smashed up. This is a animal I would not willingly put my bird on. This thing was very capable in kicking off the biggest FRT and lob toes off as well. No wonder they look the other direction.-Zach
Last Edit: Nov 22, 2006 21:30:13 GMT -5 by Tiercel78
I used to think i knew some things. But i'm not so sure anymore.
Tiercel78, I hear yer, I saw one walking into a front yard, down in Statesboro at the annual meet a couple of years ago, I thought it was a kitten. When Tony's bird caught that ( Sherman's ) we weighed it & it was a couple of pound +it was solid. His bird was trying for a while to strike the squirrel from the top of a tree but kept on getting blown off course by high winds before it finally grabbed the squirrel. They both stayed at the tip of the tree for about 5 mins. It looked like the bird had the squirrel with both feet either side of the branch. The bird killed the squirrel up the tree & dropped it on the way down , the squirrel landed next to me with a THUDD !!!
we have lots of both greys and foxes. here you find alot of foxes in hedgerow type habitat around big fields. These squirrels feel comfortable actually wondering out in the open field during the day. I have tons of them on the farm i work on. I even have a solid white one that lives in the yard of my camphouse.
When i hunt my HH's in the woods around these fields i come across them regularly. My birds dont even attempt it. I have one bird that has attacked a oppossum and a racoon but he wont touch one these red bastards.
I had one RT that would take them readily and other RTs that werent to enthusiastic