2 foot tall squirrel

I thought everyone knew about these. I saw an article a few days ago and was like “yeah, so what”

I’ve seen an awful lot of y’all anout them since. I guess everyone does not know about these.

Btw: Carolina Beach state park is loaded with them and has several color varieties
 
My buddy and I have been watching a colony of fox squirrels expand over the last few years on his farm. We've seen all color combos, but the one pictured is most common, others include all black with white noses, reds, red/grays with white noses, and gray/black. I'd say most are around 12" on the hind leg when standing up with a tail just as long.

The bad thing about them is they're not too scared of oncoming cars and tend to freeze, stand up and "look at the car" and wham-o. We find several hit each winter where they cross the road. Between my buddy, the neighbor, and I, we counted 9 hit last year. I have one getting stuffed right now that was hit by the car in front of me.

I've been to other farms that have them and I've never seen one close to having a 26" body alone. I've seen some where OAL including tail is 2feet long, no question. I think the author got the facts wrong.

https://www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0/Learning/documents/Profiles/Mammals/Fox_Squirrel.pdf
 
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Pee Dee Nat. Wildlife refuge is full of them. All different colors. I thought they were cats the first time I saw one.
 
My uncle John, who was a veteran of every armed conflict from WWII to Vietnam, including being a "guest" of Hanoi for a couple years, always, and I mean always shot one when we were squirrel hunting in Tennessee. I'd come back with a half dozen grays and be like, "Uncle John, how many did you get?" "Just one, fox squirrel."

Dang thing would weigh more than the half dozen grays I brought back.

I miss that man.
 
That part about some fox squirrels being almost totally black, and thus invisible after dark: are fox squirrels nocturnal? I thought only flying squirrels were. In any case I'm not worried, although years ago my son made reference to a graphic novel "The Ninja Scroll" and I was positive he said "The Ninja Squirrel".
 
rantingredneck said:
My uncle John, who was a veteran of every armed conflict from WWII to Vietnam, including being a "guest" of Hanoi for a couple years, always, and I mean always shot one when we were squirrel hunting in Tennessee. I'd come back with a half dozen grays and be like, "Uncle John, how many did you get?" "Just one, fox squirrel."

Dang thing would weigh more than the half dozen grays I brought back.

I miss that man.
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You ever seen any in alamance county? The link above doesn’t show alamance as their territory but I know folks that used to hunt them in alamance
 
They are really rare (maybe nonexistant) in the real populated areas of NC (read raleigh and charlotte) and have spotty territories in states where they are endemic.

They are always a little shocking when you are expecting a grey squirrel and see some crazy monkey/cat hybrid walking across the golf course...
 
Burt Gummer said:
You ever seen any in alamance county? The link above doesn’t show alamance as their territory but I know folks that used to hunt them in alamance
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Nope. I've seen them in Holly Shelters gamelands but not here.
 
We have them out in abundance here in Pinehurst. I work at the resort and see them daily. They seem to be much less shy than grey squirrels, so much so that I’ve had them actually cut me off in my golf cart to get at something they want, usually food or a drink of water. Some of the cart rangers on my course had a few eating peanuts out of their cart a couple years ago until the red tails began to notice and those squirrels disappeared.
 
They’re all over the NE part of Columbia and Ft Jackson. Don’t see them on the west side where I’m at

But we do have these! 2nd one I’ve seen (first one now dead...confirmed kill)

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Fox squirrels are found in the dense pine-oak forests of southeastern North Carolina, according to NCWidlife.org. They’re not known for biting people -- as long as they’re left alone, say state wildlife officials. :D

Does anyone know if they are any worse than grays? Do they have any particular behaviors that make them worse?
 
georgel said:
Fox squirrels are found in the dense pine-oak forests of southeastern North Carolina, according to NCWidlife.org. They’re not known for biting people -- as long as they’re left alone, say state wildlife officials. :D

Does anyone know if they are any worse than grays? Do they have any particular behaviors that make them worse?
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I've heard that grays will castrate the fox squirrels when their territories overlap.

CD
 
Combat Diver said:
I've heard that grays will castrate the fox squirrels when their territories overlap.

CD
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You heard wrong.... A fox squirrel will whip a grey's butt if it gets close enough.
I've been hunting/shooting Fox squirrels all of my life. Not as hard to find as a grey, much tougher to kill and tough as hell to eat unless you par boil it for a week or so beforehand.
 
These things are all over Cherry Grove at my parents beach house (not on the beach). Black and big AF. Straight up intimidating sometimes the way they'll sit and look at you from 10 foot away.
 
10mm explosive tipped caseless.

Standard light armour piercing round.
 
Fox squirrels have migrated west into Montgomery County now. I've seen them within a mile of my house. Saw a big black one yesterday that somebody had ran over. Musta' been in the road protesting.....
 
Be like eating a housecat.
 
KY has a lot of em, usually around the rivers & lakes. Been seeing them all my life. They stew up pretty good for Squirrel & Dumplins, but fried they are tough. With all the color combos they make good mounts. Hey @concepthomes1, I'm sure you've seen the small ones in MI, reds & blacks were what I've seen up there.
 
gunbelt said:
KY has a lot of em, usually around the rivers & lakes. Been seeing them all my life. They stew up pretty good for Squirrel & Dumplins, but fried they are tough. With all the color combos they make good mounts. Hey @concepthomes1, I'm sure you've seen the small ones in MI, reds & blacks were what I've seen up there.
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Yep. Used to see them in Michigan when visiting my grandparents. Saw a ton of reds when walking across the MSU campus one day. My grandmother’s bird feeder had a steady stream of black squirrels every day. They would holler at you if you came out in the yard and interrupted their feeding.
 
I was turkey hunting in Scotland county about 3 years ago and saw a huge squirrel on a tree about 10 yards in front of me. Thing was at least 2 feet long. Thought it was squirrel-zilla!
 
MCQUADE said:
Fox squirrels have migrated west into Montgomery County now. I've seen them within a mile of my house. Saw a big black one yesterday that somebody had ran over. Musta' been in the road protesting.....
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They have been in the Onvil to County Line road area for decades.

Got the one pictured below in Moore County with a TenTwentyTwo! Felt dang right unarmed! :D

<>< Fish

wPMCgQn.jpg
 
FishHunt said:
They have been in the Onvil to County Line road area for decades.

Got the one pictured below in Moore County with a TenTwentyTwo! Felt dang right unarmed! :D

<>< Fish

wPMCgQn.jpg
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I thought that pine cone was a big ole squirrel afro!!!!
 
FishHunt said:
They have been in the Onvil to County Line road area for decades.

Got the one pictured below in Moore County with a TenTwentyTwo! Felt dang right unarmed! :D

<>< Fish

wPMCgQn.jpg
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I've seen them as far west as the Uwharrie trailhead on 24/27 and along Vestal Rd. You are correct, I do recall seeing one on Loving Hill Rd. several years ago. My old curs are looking forward to having a go with one;).
 
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