Spring squirrel season will open on May 15

Mississippi hunters will again have a chance to take squirrels this month when the statewide spring season opens May 15. It ends on June 1. The limit is four per day, per person.

“I’ve hunted the spring season every year, and I’ve learned one thing for sure,” said hunter Timmy Wright of Brandon. “Snake boots and chaps are a good investment. I might see one or two snakes a year during the regular fall and winter season, but I see one or two an hour, at least, in the spring.

“I got hit twice by copperheads last year, and neither one was able to bite through my snake chaps and boots.”

Wright’s enthusiasm was not impacted.

“Oh, heck, no, I love it,” he said. “Once you know what to look for, the spring season can be fantastic. With a limit of four, my son and I can both get our limits in a couple of hours with our dog, Wheel. He’s a cur with a never-ending desire to tree squirrels. We named him Wheel cause he’s always ready to roll.”

Wright hunts both private and public lands, and he always concentrates on any ripe fruit, like mulberry trees, he can find.

“Squirrels will eat anything; they are opportunistic,” he said. “They will eat bark, tender chutes, even bugs, but their favorites are ripe nuts and fruit. Mulberry trees fruit in the spring, and the squirrels will frequent those. If you don’t have a treeing dog or if you’re unable to walk a lot, you can just set up around a fruiting mulberry and wait. They’ll come.”

About Bobby Cleveland 1343 Articles
Bobby Cleveland has covered sports in Mississippi for over 40 years. A native of Hattiesburg and graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, Cleveland lives on Ross Barnett Reservoir near Jackson with his wife Pam.