Have you ever "barked" a squirrel?

[Flintlock54]

I did Saturday, the first time in my 40 years of squirrel hunting. I had always heard the ol' guys talk about it but thought they might have been nipping out of the old quart jar. For you pilgrams out there "barking" is where you make a clean miss on a squirrel yet it falls to the ground, deader than a door nail and not a mark on it.

I decided to take ol' patches (my first attempt at building a kit rifle) out Saturday morning after running ball most of the day Friday to see if she still had the 'stuff'. I had two clean kills, then one flattened down on a branch. I took a careful bead, squeezed the trigger and after the smoke cleared I saw that the branch was bulged up where the squirrel had been. I figured a clean miss but went down to check anyway and sure enough a big red laid on the forest floor.

I touched the squirrel with the muzzle of 'patches' just in case the red was playing possum but it did not move. I examined the squirrel pretty close and could not find a mark on it.

I fixed them up Saturday night for supper.

[GSP]

Congratulations on your shootin' there Flint. I have never done it and you make only the second that I know that's done it.
Where do you do your shooting now? You shoot with the Salt River Long Rifles or Brotherhood of Free Trappers any?

[INKYHUNTER]

I never actually barked one, however I did shoot a walnut out of ones mounth with a .22 and it had the same result. It did have some chipped teeth![:D]

[camo]

I thought barking was when the early woodsmen tried to shoot a squirrel in a way that after the ball passed through the squirrel, it would become lodged in the tree bark. Thus able to be dug out, melted down, and reused?

[MrBowhunter]

I've never heard that. But I have seen squirrels run up the tree and "bark" when deer come by to eat "their" acorns. Always get a little excited when I hear a squirrel do that. 90% of the time a deer is not far off.

[Salty]

Never barked a squirrel, but did sorta bark a groundhog. He was laying on a rock & I missed him with a 25-06, evidently rock dust contributed to his early demise.

I have tried to bark a squirrel many times, either hit the squack or hit the tree too far from him. What calibre are you shooting? I was trying with a 40 and 36. Heard tell bigger balls do better.

[GSP]

Hey Salty. Looking at that last line.....
I think Flintlock is out to kill them, not impress them.[:D]