2018 Squirrel Season a Disappointment.

2017 was a record rainfall year in Modoc County, CA. It was also a cold winter and our squirrel shooting was down. I felt a lot of the problem was many of the fields we shoot had access problems from the wet weather. There was also some larger scale poisoning taking place with some growers. I think an old poison got re-labeled for ground squirrel control recently. There have been so many ground squirrels in Modoc County that I never thought for a moment the poisoning would have much of an effect. When I finally got into the wet fields, I saw signs of standing water in many areas and a huge reduction in the squirrels I had observed in prior years in the same fields. I think a combination of flooded fields and the poisoning was having an effect.

The 2018 season began for us this year in the middle of February. Growers were reporting dry, dusty fields and an early awakening of the ground squirrels. We had a very good shoot for so early in the year. The 2018 weather got worse from there. Successive trips proved to be disappointing. There was a lot of spring rain and cold weather. Squirrels were actually less in number in March, April, and May than they were in February. By the time we had some warming and better weather, the alfalfa was too high to see the little varmints.

Now on the 8th of June we should be seeing some alfalfa being cut and bailed. With warm weather and sunny days, we should have some good results between now and the end of June. We are going up Father's Day weekend. there should be lots of cut fields, dry roads, and hopefully a lot of active varmints. More to come!