Squirrely good time
They came from across eastern Kansas and western Missouri, 99 two-person teams for Saturday’s competition. Team names such as “Tree Rat Assassins” and “Squirrelnado“ left no doubt the gathering of hunters were hoping to bag a few squirrels and have some fun.
“I guess the main thing is that it gives me a good reason to get out of the house, and out into the woods with my friends,” said Greg Plake as he stepped into a woodlot of oaks, walnut, elms and sycamores in Leavenworth County last Saturday morning. “I didn’t even take time to deer hunt this year, and some years this is about the only time I squirrel hunt, but I won’t miss this.”
In its ninth year, the Tonganoxie Squirrel Scramble is also proving for some local people in need. The town of about 5,200 is 15 miles west of Kansas City.
“This is by far our biggest fundraiser of the year,” said Shawn Matthews, a member of the local Masonic Lodge, which has run the event the past four years, “and all we make stays in the community. This year we’re hoping it funds five ($500) college scholarships. We also use it to send at least one kid to band camp, to help fund a food drive and even a candy cane hunt for kids around Christmas. We make sure a lot of the squirrels the guys shoot go to a program called Hunters Helping Hungry Neighbors. They share it with a variety of people that need the food.”
From small roots
According to Plake, a participant all nine years, the whole thing got started to stave off boredom.
“Some guys were talking and wanted something to do between deer and (spring) turkey seasons,” he whispered, leaning against an oak, while scanning the treetops for squirrels. “They came up with a squirrel hunting competition. A lot of guys squirrel hunted when they were younger but haven’t in a while. Most seem to think it’s kind of nice to get back out.”
Word and interest spread quickly, and not just across Kansas.
“We get them from all across Kansas and Missouri, and usually have some from Nebraska and Arkansas,” said Matthews. “I think the farthest we’ve had someone come has been from Texas.” The highest turnout was in 2013 when 127 teams hunted. The cost is $40 per team.
Matthews agreed with Plake, that a major draw of the contest was giving people a good excuse to get outdoors. Many have told him they hunted squirrels often when they were younger, and enjoyed eating squirrels, before getting into things like deer and waterfowl hunting.
“I think a lot of them enjoy the chance to get back out to sneak around the squirrel woods with a good rifle,” he said.
Matthews explained shotguns are not allowed on the hunt, only .22 and .17 rifles and pellet guns. There are three classes of hunters in the competition: adults, an adult hunting with a youth, and two youths hunting with an unarmed adult. All state regulations pertain, including the daily limit of five squirrels per hunter.
Hunting that day began at the state-regulated half-hour before sunrise. All squirrels had to be cleaned and checked in by 5 p.m. Winners are determined by the combined weight of the team’s squirrels.
To provide an added challenge, every year the hunt staff draws a number to decide how many of the combined bag must be gray squirrels. They’re about one-third smaller than the more-common fox (red) squirrels and thrive in mature hardwoods. As well as offering a smaller target, and inhabiting fewer places, gray squirrels are extremely wary, secretive and fast.
Plake, owner of a Tonganoxie tree service and one of the event’s top sponsors, got to draw Friday evening and pulled out the number five, meaning hunters had to have at least five gray squirrels in their combined limits. Most years, participants have been limited by one to three gray squirrels.
“No doubt this is going to be harder, because of the five grays,” said Thaddeus Faircloth, who’d made the one-hour drive from Ottawa to register Friday evening. “Every year we can easily get our limit of reds, but finding that many grays is going to be tough. But I’ve always enjoyed squirrel hunting and eating squirrel and gravy, and to do it when there may be a little money involved is even better.”
Plake’s partner on Saturday was his nephew, Phillip Plake. They began the day in different locations, both focusing on areas known to have good gray squirrel populations. By the end of the day, Phillip had killed three fox squirrels and two grays, while his uncle had killed two of each.
“If I hadn’t missed that gray this morning, we’d have had our limit, and that would have been something this year,” Plake said. “I rushed my shot and missed. I should have had him.” Still, few partners did as well as Team Plake.
Team Rat Wackers, Tim Monroe and his stepson Alex Bennett, brought in four squirrels. Still, the McLouth pair found plenty of good from the experience.
“I’ve been doing this for five or six years, but this is his first year,” Monroe said, motioning to the boy. “He’s 10 now and one of the things we do is that when you turn 10, you get your first rifle. He’d gone out with us before, but this year he was carrying his own rifle. As well as him, my brother’s here, and my two sons and two nephews are here and a cousin. We really enjoy getting out and doing this.”
Helping the community
Their squirrels were part of the 192 donated to Hunters Helping Hungry Neighbors. Steve Sessions, of that program, said all were cleaned, packaged and frozen by Sunday evening. Under his program, anyone in need can come and get processed wild game. They also donate to several care facilities.
“Some place like the veterans homes, or any other place with older people, really enjoy it,” Sessions said. “They’re from the generation where people really enjoyed a meal of squirrels.”
Hunters bought chili and hotdogs from a Mason-run concession stand as the results were totaled. About ten tables covered in prizes were given out by drawings, ranging from a new rifle Plake donated for a special youth-only drawing, to tanning sessions, knives and bricks of 500 .22 ammo so coveted by squirrel hunters and target shooters these days.
Matthews said most of the prizes, money, or services were donated by a collection of more than 40 sponsors that include the local tattoo parlor and funeral home. Nearly all were from Tonganoxie, or neighboring small towns of McLouth and Basehor.
“You get in these small towns, most people will help all they can for something like this,” Matthews said. “That’s especially true since we give scholarships to all three high schools. We tell our sponsors we don’t go for the valedictorians, we’re looking to help a kid who’s wanting to go to college but is from a family that can’t really afford that.”
The winners for the heaviest bag of squirrels this year was Team Ford, manned by Steven Shugart and Anthony Ford. They donated the $400 in prize money back to the event. Nobody was really surprised they turned down the money.
“You know, it’s nice to try but this isn’t as much about the competition and the prizes as it is about knowing you’re getting to help some kids and have some fun,” Plake said. “That’s really what this is all about.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2015 at 11:45 PM with the headline "Squirrely good time."