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I wasn't the only one who wanted to get out after squirrels on Saturday. Jason Nicholson just sent me this shot from his great final afternoon of squirrel hunting in Grayson County. He took these with his Ruger bolt-action .22.

Nicholson, who killed a nice eight-point buck in November, said it was the first time he'd gotten out in the woods since the end of deer season. In addition to the squirrels, he said he jumped a bunch of deer and found some good potential deer stands for next season.

We are so focused on deer and turkeys nowadays that small game don't get much attention. That's too bad because pursuing squirrels, rabbits and other small game is a great way for anyone -- not just kids -- to enjoy hunting.

I managed to get out late Saturday afternoon for a combination shed hunt and squirrel hunt. (It was the final day of the squirrel season.)

Unfortunately, I didn't find the shed pictured here. A friend sent me the shot of this antler, which was reportedly found in Franklin County. You don't see many perfect seven-pointers. 

I had hoped to spend a little more time hunting but the trip started with me pulling down a treestand and that took longer than expected. The stand had been in a same spot for two seasons and it wasn't a bad location. Two years ago I saw two non-shooter eight-pointers out of it, and I saw two OK eights again this season even though I probably didn't spent five or six total hours in it.

But I decided to pull it because it's fairly low on a ridge and I just have seen more sign, including some huge rubs, up higher on the same ridge. So I'll move it up the hill probably 100 yards or so.

Once I got the stand (and climbing stick) down and hauled back to the truck I had about an hour of hunting light left. I grabbed my Beeman Kodiak air rifle and headed into a hollow that usually has lots of squirrels. As I moved slowly up the hollow I scanned the trees for movement but also kept my eyes sweeping the forest floor in hopes I could spot a shed. At one point I bumped a couple of deer, both of which were pretty good sized. One of them had a small six-point rack. The other's head was bare but I suspect it was a buck.

Squirrels were pretty quiet but around sunset there was a flurry of action. Shots were hard to come by. At one point a squirrel I was stalking sat on a branch long enough for me to aim. But there were some twigs in the way and the shot was about 60 yards. This was one of those times when it would have been nice to have the extra energy of a .22 rimfire to punch through the twigs. I tried anyway and missed. That turned out to be the only shot I got.

Part of what hurt was that my scope, an inexpensive 4-12x  BSA, doesn't perform very well in low light, especially at high magnification. I didn't find any sheds, either. But I did find some really good deer trails and got some ideas for potential stand locations for next deer season.