Missouri is one of only 10 states with squirrel hunting in the late spring. Here's why.

Correction: A previous version of the story incorrectly listed the number of states that participate in squirrel hunting season throughout the year. It has been updated with correct information for the spring season.

Hunters in the Ozarks often share tales of their bountiful harvests and the exhaustion of their deer, turkey and bear tags. Taxidermists have long banked on those successes.

But one of Missouri's longest outdoorsman traditions — a sanctioned hunt that predates the inception of the Missouri Department of Conservation — doesn't generate nearly as much boasting: squirrel hunting season.

The rodents don't provide as much sustenance as most game animals and are rarely presented in prize fashion, but they still require the purchase of a small game permit in the state of Missouri.

Squirrels can be found about everywhere in America, but just 10 states have hunting seasons during the spring:  Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Several more states participate in the fall season.

Missouri's squirrel hunting seasons started in 1905 when the state recognized an abundance of the animals in part due to the region's acorn and nut crop. The state's lengthy season begins in May and ends in February.

You may not see many squirrels proudly mounted on a wall or hear squirrel-related stories around a campfire, but the hunt is known to provide a fun experience and meat you can't easily find at grocery stores. 

Youth hunters often learn and improve their marksmanship through squirrel hunting before moving on to bigger game.

"It's a great reason to get outdoors and an enjoyable hunting activity," said Francis Skalicky, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Conservation. "It's meat you can't buy in the store. You have to go out and get it through hunting means."

Missouri's daily bag limit for squirrels — fox squirrels and gray squirrels are Missouri's two common breeds — is 10 per day, with a possession limit of 20. Only Oklahoma (25) and Arkansas (12) have higher bag limits.

Hunters can use shotguns, rifles, archery, atlatl and slingshots in their squirrel hunts, as well as cage traps.

Season of change

In the 118-year existence of Missouri squirrel hunting season, there have been more than 20 adjustments to the sanctioned hunt.

In some years, according to the MDC, the season opened in July and concluded in November. In other years, it went from June to October and, in the 1960s, there were two squirrel seasons (May-July and August-November).

Much of the ebb and flow is due to periodic changes to habitat change and the animal's food availably. In 1972 more than 218,000 hunters harvested more than 3.1 million squirrels. In 2016, more than 56,000 hunters harvested more than 600,000.

Small rodent, big fines

The word poaching is often correlated with large game in popular culture, but breaking the rules with squirrels is no different, according to Skalicky. 

"There are people that think because they're squirrels, it's not a big deal," Skalicky. "But squirrels are game animals, and with our hunting laws there’s no game animals that are more important than others."

Several out-of-state hunters were busted in 2021 after they massively exceeded their bag limits when 471 dead squirrels were found at their camp in the Current River Conservation Area.

In 2016, three hunters from Minnesota were issued citations when they were found with 101 dead squirrels.