Small game hunting is a time-honored tradition, and it’s the perfect way to get first-time hunters into the woods. Squirrels are everywhere, and they don’t require specialized equipment, scent maskers, hunting blinds or 4 am wake-up calls.

They also don’t require half a day to clean and dress. With a little practice, you can clean and gut a squirrel in under a minute.

Generally, large grey squirrels are hunted for meat. Red squirrels are much smaller, but they still have a substantial amount of meat for such a small body.

I have yet to weigh a squirrel before and after dressing, but I’d guess they dress out to about 60% of live weight. By comparison, woodchucks dress out to less than 30% live weight.

If you’re a small landowner or homesteader, the size of the squirrel isn’t always correlated with the damage they cause. We’ve had a bumper crop of red squirrels this year, and they’ve destroyed more than one crop. When they tore into the side of the house and started noisily defending our attached greenhouse as their territory, they quickly added themselves to the menu.

A few days later, a well-placed shot with a .22 took out this particular squirrel after he left the greenhouse. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to cleaning this particular catch. I assumed it’d take forever to skin a squirrel, but a bit of quick internet research showed me differently.

For the most part, we process hogs here on the homestead, and the hides on those beasts are well attached. It takes a lot of work with a knife to tease meat away from the hide.

Squirrels are different, and you can more or less pull the whole pelt off in one clean piece.

I watched a few youtube videos on skinning squirrels in particular, and all of them showed the same technique. Start by removing the feet, and then cut loose the skin at the base of the tail. Step on the tail and pull up.

The whole pelt should come off in one piece, except for the back legs. Those are peeled off after the fact, by hand or with a pair of catfish skinners.

Sounds simple enough. I ended up using a slightly different technique that’s very fast, and once I got the process down it takes about 1 minute to clean and gut a squirrel. I’ve written up the detailed instructions below, but I also made a quick video showing the process at full speed.

The first step is to remove the feet. My 3-year-old daughter wanted to help, so I gave her a pair of scissors to remove the feet, but a knife works well too.

The bones are delicate, and it doesn’t take much pressure to remove them. Since there are so few cuts, you could clean and gut a squirrel start to finish with a small pair of scissors in a pinch.

After the feet are removed, it’s time to make the first (and only) cut into the hide.

Grab the squirrel by the tail and locate the anus.

Take a sharp knife and slice just above the anus to sever the tailbone. The idea is to sever the tailbone, but leave it attached by a flap of squirrel pelt. Cut up along the back short ways so that there’s a good-sized flap of skin.

Be sure to remove any meat attached to the pelt. If you’ve cut into the squirrel hind quarter meat and left it on the pelt, it’ll pull the squirrel apart when you go to strip the squirrel pelt.

The next step is where my instructions differ from the experts. Perhaps it’s because I’m skinning a red squirrel instead of a larger grey squirrel, but “stepping on the tail and pulling up on the body” didn’t skin the squirrel.

All it did was skin the tail. I now have a piece of tail pelt and a fully stripped tailbone.

So I tried again, this time I stepped up higher on the tail, closer to the base.

The whole tail just ripped right off.

That’s been my experience in general with red squirrels, and they don’t require stepping to come apart. A small amount of finger pressure and the whole squirrel suit comes off in one clean piece.

No need to step on a tail, or get out the catfish skinners.

Just slip your fingers into the skin and in around the hips. Pull the base of the tail toward the scruff of the neck.

The skin will easily pull up off the entire back of the squirrel.

When you get up to the shoulders, slip your finger in and help free the upper arms.

Then go down to the back end and slide the squirrel pelt off of the hind legs.

At this point, the only thing holding the squirrel pelt on is the head.

Since this squirrel, I’ve cut off the head at the same time as the feet at the beginning. That allows for a much smoother process.

And there you have it, with just one cut at the base of the tail (and a few more to remove the feet and head), the squirrel is completely skinned.

The next step is gutting, which goes just as quickly.

Make a shallow knife cut down the center of the squirrel, starting just below the rib cage. Avoid puncturing any of the gut.

Pull out the organs, and then be sure to use a finger to remove the organs in the chest cavity. Those include the lungs and heart, and they’re separated from the other guts by the diaphragm.

If you’ve never gutted an animal before you might miss this part because it’s in a separate internal chamber.

Once all the organs are removed, split the pelvis and remove any last bits of intestine hiding within the pubic bone.

Since the squirrel is so small, it’s easy enough to leave it whole. But if you’d like, squirrel meat also breaks down easily into parts.

Dusting the pieces of the squirrel in flour and browning the meat will help retain moisture, just like they do in this squirrel stew with paprika and greens recipe.

Since making this original tutorial, I made a quick video showing the whole process.

After the initial setup, I do talk you through the whole process in just about 1 minute of video time.

Now that you’ve cleaned and gutted a squirrel, how on earth do you cook it? For the most part, a squirrel is cooked like a rabbit. I’ll have a few squirrel recipes up on the blog soon, but here are a few to get you started.

• Cider Braised Squirrel from Bon Appetit
• Braised Squirrel With Bacon, Mushrooms, and Pinot Noir from Field and Stream
• Instant Pot Squirrel
• Buttermilk Fried Squirrel

The Incredible, Edible Brassica

A look at which brassicas are best at various times of the season and under different conditions.

Todd Amenrud

From the time Toxey Haas and BioLogic first guided “whitetail deer management” into the age of planting brassicas, we have been researching, learning more about them and understanding better how to utilize different brassicas to help us accomplish a wide variety of management goals. If you have enough ground to devote to your food plot program, most managers would agree that a well-diversified food program with an assortment of plants that will offer your herd what they need regardless of the time of the season or current conditions is the way to go. Some of the plants you choose would likely be perennials, but for the best in attraction during the hunting season it’s hard to beat a food plot full of luscious late summer to fall planted annuals. When it comes to annuals, many readers know that brassicas are, in my opinion, the best deer food God ever created. They are my favorite plantings for numerous reasons; they are the most attractive, best producing (yield), most nutritious, easiest to plant and one of the hardiest growing food plot choices we have. Combine that with the fact that they’re also great for the soil. What’s not to like? Sure, I live in the North, but those in the South shouldn’t be so quick to snuff them. They work the same throughout the South, but closely examining the palatability timeframe and conditions under which each variety of brassica performs best is more important in the South than in northern climes. At first (about 20 years ago) we at BioLogic ran into a couple instances of having to battle the “whitetails’ learning curve.” When you introduce a plant deer have never seen before, one that if they tried it before the sugars had developed may have been bitter, it could take them a season or two to become accustomed to it. However, that was rare and I haven’t heard of it happening in years. Annuals, in general, are typically easy to plant and since these are late summer to fall plantings, (depending on your location north to south) the summer weed cycle should be over for the most part. While always called a fall planting, you’ll see that I call these late summer to fall plantings. Because if you wait to plant some of these until it’s literally fall (September 22 or 23, depending on the year and your location), in some areas you may end up with a failure, or at the very least you’re not getting the most out of the plants, especially brassicas. Many still plant their brassicas when they have always traditionally planted their cereal grains. In the northern region and into Canada, brassicas should be planted during July through early August and cereals planted from late July (in the far north around the Canadian border) through August or even September further south (Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, etc). Obviously that should be adjusted a bit later the further south you go, all the way into October for the Deep South. Years ago, when Toxey Haas and Grant Woods first introduced brassicas to the food plot market, rape was the primary type of brassica used. As most of you probably know, brassicas require cold temperatures to convert the plants’ high levels of starch into sugar and transform it into its most attractive, palatable stage. Initially, for some in the South the brassicas weren’t reaching their most appealing state until after the hunting season was over. Since then, BioLogic has introduced other types of brassicas that develop their sugars much earlier, and even in the South are likely the best attraction and nutrition you can plant – bar none. A common progression during the hunting season would see your herd switch from legumes (both perennials like clover or alfalfa, or annuals like soybeans or cowpeas) to cereal grains (like oats, wheat or triticale) to brassicas (like radishes, turnips, rape and kale). While there are many other things we can offer our herd, with these three types of plantings your herd should have a palatable food choice throughout most of the hunting season or until each type of food runs out. Different crops will dramatically extend the palatability timeframe of your plot. To take that “variety approach” a step further, within every type of crop, by planting a different assortment of each it will also extend the amount of time your plot will remain attractive, especially when it comes to brassicas. From my experience, they will attack radishes first. Whitetails will first lay siege to the green tops, then finish by devouring every bit of the long root tubers. These aren’t your “auntie’s dinner radishes,” these are large tubers that resemble a “huge, white carrot” rather than our more familiar small, round, red and white radishes. My favorite blend is BioLogic’s Deer Radish, it’s not just my preferred brassica planting, it’s my favorite planting, period. From my experience they will begin eating these radishes as early as late August in the north and around early October further south (northern Alabama) until they’re gone. So if you plant enough, they can last throughout the season. Next, your whitetails will typically set their sights on various turnips and beets. While sugar beets are actually in a different plant family and are not a brassica, they are very similar. Just like turnips, they hold a high concentration of sucrose, however it is contained mostly in the root bulb (They still eat the tops.) as opposed to brassicas that have sugars contained throughout the plant, and the sugar presence is caused more by photosynthesis than cold temperatures. I usually see them hit these plants after the radishes, and I use them for attraction during the months of November and December and on until they’re gone. My favorite blend is Winter Bulbs & Sugar Beets, and just like the radishes, they will consume the entire plant. First they’ll eat the greens and then the root bulbs. The radishes are easier for them to pull out of the ground to consume, so with turnips and beets you’ll often see partially eaten bulbs or they’ll scoop out the top and inside of the turnip or beet so it looks like a “beet bowl” left in the soil.

Lastly, they tend to hit rape, canola and kale after the radishes, turnips and beets. These last three brassica types do not produce large root bulbs or tubers like radishes, beets or turnips, but they produce an amazing yield of sweet, green forage. I tend to use these last three brassica types more as winter nutrition than hunting time attraction, but especially when it comes to the blend Maximum, you may want to also plant some for hunting attraction. Maximum produces a yield of more succulent, nutritious forage than any other planting I’ve ever seen. While they certainly may hit these brassicas as soon as cold temperatures convert the plants’ huge green tops to become sweet, if you have radishes and turnips also planted, they’ll typically consume rape after the other two brassica types. Kale is especially cold hardy. Kale’s large leaves will stay green and attractive long into the winter even if covered by several feet of snow. I tend to utilize kale only as winter nutrition. Remember that the timeframe I’m suggesting for these to be their most attractive is just an estimate. It can vary from year to year and region to region. As an example, in the “big woods” where there isn’t a lot of agriculture or other crops to back up your food plots, they may eat any of these as fast as they come out of the ground. Or, if we have an unseasonably warm fall it may take the brassicas longer to develop their sugars, pushing back the entire attraction calendar. I didn’t want to be too northern biased in this piece, so I asked the “frenetic food plot scientist of Alabama,” Austin Delano, who also heads-up BioLogic’s Research and Development, “How do you notice whitetails reacting to each of these plant varieties throughout the south?”

Austin said, “I definitely agree with the order. I think deer density, surrounding food sources (or lack of), a deer herd’s familiarity with the plot, and weather conditions during that year are all variables that can determine how fast and when a brassica plot is consumed.”

He also echoed how important it is to have a “blend” with varying maturity rates and palatability timeframes.

Delano continued, “As far as a north/south comparison, I do think deer consume brassicas earlier in the fall the further north you go. Not just because the onset of cold weather changes the plants, but it also changes a deer’s metabolism and increases their need for heavier carbohydrate foods like brassicas. I also believe that brassica consumption (regardless of type) increases over time and gets earlier in the year when they are planted in the same area every year. In other words, deer that have several generations of exposure to brassicas typically use them earlier and more often.”

Basically he’s also talking about a learning curve, but now it’s working in the opposite direction, in the deer’s favor. I guess it’s in our favor too. The other great thing about brassicas is not only are they the best attraction I have ever seen, they are without a doubt the absolute best nutrition you can provide for your herd. With an average crude protein content of 32% to 38% (depending on the cultivar and stage of growth) and a TDN (Total Digestible Nutrients) of over 80%, that would suit me fine, but add to it they yield more than any other planting and they are great for the soil (radishes especially). Check mate! Brassicas win! As I said, best deer food God has ever created.

More often than not, I plant my cereals and brassicas separately, for several reasons. However, if a manager wants a fast, simple, “one and done” plot, a blend of cereals and brassicas (and sometimes other plants) together may be your ticket. Blends like Full Draw, Last Bite, Green Patch, or Winter Grass Plus provide brassicas mixed with cereal grains. An annual or bi-annual clover is sometimes added to provide extra nutrition or a flush of nutritious forage reemerging after dormancy the following spring. Delano also told me, in his home state of Alabama, he likes to mix Trophy Oats with Deer Radish. He said it’s an easy to do, “one and then you’re done” hunting plot. Provided you plant enough, this can keep them coming back for more throughout the entire hunting season. I don’t know anyone who tests more food plot options than Austin, or many who know as much about deer management, so when he says so, I take it as fact. There are several reasons why a manager may choose to plant each (oats and radishes) separately, but as a simple plan for an uncomplicated, yet diverse hunting plot I would consider this. Think about all the options we have to plant for whitetails, we’ve only partially covered brassicas (and one beet type). We didn’t even talk about spring planted crops that can also be very attractive to whitetails like corn, buckwheat or clover. Or other late summer/fall planted annuals like winter peas, which are amazingly appealing to whitetails. One important thing to mention is that brassicas can also be planted with perennials. In the North they traditionally plant perennials during the spring, but in the South this can be a great way to kill two birds with one planting. If you’re in the transitional region or north and habitually have problems with weeds in your perennials, planting a brassica/perennial blend during the late summer can produce a great start to a perennial plot. Blends like Perfect Plot or Premium Perennial are my go-to products for this. You just need to make certain when planted you give the perennials 50 to 60 days of growth so they can establish their root systems, which will ensure their survival and reemergence after winter dormancy. With the perennial/brassica option since obviously the brassicas are annuals and won’t come back, I would suggest that you over-seed with a pure perennial like Clover Plus or Non-Typical the following spring to fill in any spaces vacated by the annual brassicas growing there the previous year. In a very roundabout way, I guess I’ve tried to convey that “variety in a food plot program is important” and “brassicas are my favorite food plot crop.” All of the plants mentioned are great choices for a food plot, but they’re eaten at different times or under different conditions, which is exactly why it is wise to plant a variety if you have enough acreage to devote.

For someone who, to hear him tell it, had been “painting like a madman,” 2024 DU Artist of the Year Richard Clifton seemed remarkably relaxed. The 60-year-old Clifton, who lives on a 115-acre farm adjoining the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Delaware, was preparing for his turn as the featured artist at the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland, and a production crew was arriving soon to get footage of him for a festival video.

Plus, as if he didn’t already have enough on his plate, Clifton’s furnace had stopped working, and his repair guy, like repair guys everywhere these days, was having trouble finding the parts he needed.

But if Clifton was feeling stressed, you couldn’t detect it in his voice. A native son of Delaware who grew up on a farm just a few miles from the one he owns today, he talks the way farmers do-softly, evenly, and without an excess of emotion, as if he were describing the weather. You can hear it in the way he drops the g in words like “thinking” and “working,” and you can hear his Tidewater accent in the way a word like oil comes out sounding like ohl.

His roots in the region run deep. “On my mom’s side they were carpenters,” he related, “and on my dad’s side they were farmers. So I’ve got both those things in my blood. I can actually do a little bit of carpentry. I’ve built a deck around our swimming pool twice now-it got more extravagant the second time. And I know how to drive a tractor, work ground, and do those kinds of things.”

At the moment Clifton farms some of his ground himself and rents the rest, but he’s leaning toward taking over the entire operation. As he put it, “I want to see if I can get my farmin’ legs back and make a little money off the place.” He’s thinking, too, of a crop rotation that will allow him to harvest a short-season corn variety in early August, then plant Japanese millet. “Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise,” Clifton explained, “the millet would make heads by mid-October.”

In other words, just in time for the waterfowl season.

The tradition of waterfowl hunting also runs deep in Clifton’s family. A good portion of the property now encompassed by the Prime Hook refuge was originally “Clifton land,” and while he missed out on some of the marsh gunning his father and uncles enjoyed when he was growing up, he took full advantage of the field hunting opportunities available to him. To the best of Clifton’s knowledge, in fact, he was the first person in those parts to hunt snow geese with a rag-style decoy spread.

“I had this idea,” he recalled with a little laugh, “that I could drape white kitchen trash bags over corn stubble. The first time I tried it I went by myself, so if it turned out to be really dumb no one else would know. But it turned out that the geese fell for it. I killed a limit of snows and a couple of Canadas that first day, and after that it was game on for several years until the birds got wise to it.”

At the same time that the teenaged Clifton was getting his legs under him as a waterfowler, the art he saw in the pages of magazines like Ducks Unlimited, Sports Afield, and Field & Stream planted the seed of another idea. He began thinking that it might be possible to emulate the likes of David Maass and Jim Killen, to name a couple of the artists whose work inspired him, and carve out a career painting ducks and geese.

“I was starting to have that dream,” he told me. “And I wondered if I was capable of doing something like that. It turned out that I was, but way back then it was just a dream. You’re thinking, lsquo;Man, it would really be something if I could be like one of those guys.’

“And now I’m a four-time DU Artist of the Year, which is pretty exciting. I also just learned that I won the Delaware duck stamp contest for the 10th time. If you’re counting, and some people are, that gives me 54 duck stamps altogether, including two federal duck stamps.”

Not bad for an artist who’s entirely self-taught and, in his own words, “figured things out mostly by trial and error.”

For his 2024 DU Artist of the Year image, Green-Wings Across the Bow, Clifton chose to fill the frame with a small flock of vividly realized American green-winged teal buzzing the bow of an ancient wooden boat-a boat that, over the years, has become as much a part of the marsh as the cattails themselves. It’s the second time he’s depicted greenwings for his Artist of the Year painting. When I asked him about that he replied, “To me they’re an iconic duck-hunting species. I have old photos of my dad and uncles after a day of hunting on land that’s now part of the refuge. They’re holding their double-barreled shotguns, and most of the ducks in their bags are green-winged teal.

“I’ve always felt a special pull from greenwings. They’re emblematic of the tradition of waterfowl hunting in my family. That’s why I wanted to incorporate the boat into the image, to include a piece of that tradition.”

To see more of Richard Clifton’s work, visit richardclifton.com.

Ducks Unlimited’s 2024 National Art Package Contributing Artists

Manitoba Morning by Bruce Miller

Bruce Miller is a native Minnesotan and a passionate sportsman, and his art is inspired by his experiences in the outdoors. Miller has won over 50 awards for his work, and his paintings have been featured in many art shows in both the United States and Canada. His work has been featured in the DU National Art Package more than 10 times. This year’s print features a regal black Lab focused on ducks circling below an overcast sky.

Droppin’ In by Scot Storm

Scot Storm’s artwork reflects his efforts to re-create the excitement and drama of encounters with wildlife in the great outdoors. Storm has won the federal duck stamp competition twice and has been named DU’s Artist of the Year three times. His love of hunting and the outdoors inspired him to step away from a successful architecture career and pursue his love of wildlife art. Storm’s painting Droppin’ In depicts two groups of pintails descending into a marsh in front of a rainbow-lit sky. In the background, a flock of American green-winged teal buzz the surface of the wetland.

2022/2024 Federal Duck Stamp Print by Jim Hautman

Jim Hautman has won the federal duck stamp contest a record-setting six times. He and his brothers, Joe and Bob, are probably the most famous family in the world of wildlife art. Each brother is an accomplished painter, and they owe their inspiration to their mother, who is also a talented artist, and their father, who instilled in his sons a love for the outdoors. Jim’s latest duck stamp painting features a pair of redheads in rough water under a menacing sky. DU is offering a gorgeous print of this historic painting framed, double matted, and inlaid with a DU crest medallion and a carved feather.

2024 DU Stamp Print by Adam Grimm

In 1999, at the age of 21, Adam Grimm became the youngest person to ever win the federal duck stamp competition. Since then, he has attained widespread recognition as one of the country’s most talented wildlife artists. His painting of a pair of green-winged teal graces the 40th Ducks Unlimited stamp. The stunning package, which is available at DU events, includes a mint stamp, an artist-signed stamp, a matching print, and a stamp medallion.

Ducks Unlimited’s Guns of the Year

DU’s 2024 Rifle of the Year is a Christensen Arms Mesa bolt-action rifle chambered in .308. It has a custom-colored bronze stock with a black Cerakoted barrel and action and comes with a mounted Leupold VX Freedom 3-9×50 scope with Leupold’s proprietary Firedot illumination technology. This handsome rifle also includes the Ducks Unlimited logo on the floor plate and bolt knob and comes with a hard plastic gun case and gun lock.

DU’s Shotgun of the Year for 2024 is a Benelli Super Black Eagle 3 (SBE3) in 28-gauge. This semiautomatic shotgun has a 3-inch chamber, 28-inch highly polished blued barrel, coin-finished receiver, DU exclusive oil-finished walnut stock, and engraving featuring a gold-inlaid waterfowl scene and the DU logo. The engraving complements that of DU’s Guns of the Year from 2019 and 2022-a 12-gauge SBE3 and a 20-gauge SBE3, respectively. This beautiful firearm comes with five extended choke tubes, a special DU serial number, and a gun lock.

The 2024 Handgun of the Year is a Springfield Garrison 1911 semiautomatic pistol chambered in .45 ACP. This eye-catching pistol features a carbon steel frame and slide, custom 24-karat gold engraving, a five-inch barrel, and additional custom DU engraving on wooden grips. Made in the United States, this firearm comes with a hard case and gun lock.

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There are so many reasons to want to add ducks to your homestead – ease of care, eggs, meat, insect control, and entertainment, to name a few.

For me, though, one of the most incredible things about raising ducks is how much they poop. Yes – I know, this isn’t something most people talk about (at least not in public). But, if you are a homesteader and growing your food, finding good sources of fertilizer for your garden and edible landscapes is a top priority.

So, I say yahoo for duck poo! And here’s why:

1. Quantity: You get about 0.065 pounds of poop per day, per pound of laying chicken. But you get 0.11 pounds of poop per pound of duck per day. Although it may not sound like a big difference, if you have ten ducks that are 6 pounds each, that means 6.6 pounds of manure per day on average. The same 60 pounds worth of laying hens gets you 3.9 pounds of poop per day. In a year, using ducks as a source of fertilizer, you get almost 1000 pounds more duck poop from a similarly sized flock.
2. Nutrient Content: Almost all livestock manure is awesome for your garden (so long as the animals were raised well), but duck poop is the bomb! Duck poop is basically like a 2.8:2.3:1.7 NPK fertilizer. According to the same source, no other livestock manure has NPK ratio this high. The closest one is turkey with 2.8/2.4/1.2 but with less poop per pound per day. This means with duck you get the most poop per day and you need the least poop to get the same level of fertilizer.
3. Dispersal: Duck poop is more liquid than other forms of manure which mean between regular rain and ducks plodding over it, duck manure disperses very quickly into the soil.

Now that you know why duck poop is such a powerful source of fertilizer on the homestead let’s talk about a few ways to use it.

Ways to Use Duck Poop to Fertilize Your Garden

Method 1: Edible Access

Letting your ducks wander directly through your edible landscapes is an excellent way to spread the ‘goodness’ with minimal work on your part. But there are a few things you need to know though.

Ducks need direction. They are creatures of habit, and if you just let them have total access to your landscape at all times, they will forage a bit. Then they’ll spend the rest of their day lounging out in their favorite places. If they are allowed to lounge too long in any one area, they overload areas with poop and stifle plant growth.

If you want to move ducks around your landscape, get them in the habit of following you to a new area every few days using a feed bucket. Fill kiddie pools with water and set them in that location to encourage ducks to stick around. Make sure there are shaded areas and sunny spots so ducks can be comfortable.

Sometimes just moving their food and water sources to new areas, full of fresh weeds and bugs, will be enough to direct their droppings. However, if you happen to have a large pond or more alluring spaces that might tempt ducks away from their work, then you will have to use temporary fencing to keep ducks where you want them.

When using ducks in undeveloped areas with no shade, you can create temporary shelters using straw bales, stakes, and tarps.

Electric poultry netting works well so long as you have an excellent charger. Ducks are heavily feathered and tend to be more resistant to shock discouragement than other kinds of livestock.

For birds that don’t fly well, just putting up inexpensive plastic netting (e.g. the 100-foot rolls you can get for deer protection) around garden stakes can also work well to keep most of your ducks contained. Since ducks tend to stick together, as long as most of them stay in the designated areas, even escape artist ducks will linger close to the confinement area.

This method works best in established edible landscapes with mature plants, for example under fruit trees. It also works well to develop new areas that have not yet been planted. Avoid letting ducks wander among newly planted areas as disturbed soil encourages them to dig for insects with their beaks. Ducks also tend to trample tender plants.

Method 2: Water Your Growing Areas with Pond Water

If you have a permanent pond that ducks swim and poop in, you can usually directly water your garden and edible landscape areas with your pond water. You can simply dip a bucket and dump it where you need it. Or you can get a bit more sophisticated and use gravity or pumps to do the work for you.

If you are just getting started and can choose where to site your duck pond, aim high. If your pond is higher than the rest of your landscape, you can use gravity to do the work of moving duck water for you.

One of our ponds sits uphill from our garden. We have a flock of ducks that live on and around that pond during the growing season. All we have to do to move water from the pond to our garden, is put one end of a hose in our pond, create a suction to draw out the water, and then let it run downhill to our garden.

We’re super low-tech around here. So we connected our pond hose to our house hose bib. We turned on the water from our house and let it run until it was pouring out at the pond. Then we turned off the water at the house which then began to draw back the water from the pond. We quickly connected our hose to a float valve. The float valve keeps that suction we created on all the time.

We put the float valve on a 55-gallon drum, so we always have a ready supply of water in the garden. We can also just take off the float valve and directly water our garden using the hose any time we want. Then we can reconnect the float valve to stop the flow and keep the suction going.

If you don’t have a high pond, then you’ll have to look into pumps. Electric, gas, and even human-powered pumps can all work. You just have to do some research to make sure you get the right pump to move water over both the distance and elevation change to your edible landscape locations.

Kiddie ponds can be emptied daily directly under fruit trees and other established plants.

Method 3: Compost your Duck Litter

I confine my ducks at dusk until about 9:00 am to collect their eggs and keep them safe from predators. It also makes it easier for me to collect their overnight manure.

As we mentioned earlier, duck poop is a bit runny. So, you can’t just scrape and sweep it up like you can with chickens. Given the quantity produced, you’re going to need a lot of litter to keep your ducks from dancing in doo each night. But that’s OK because:

Litter + Poop = Compost

Since hay grows well in my area, is super cheap, and is almost always minimally sprayed, I use hay as duck litter. It takes about one square bale of hay each week for 20 ducks.

Each morning when I let the ducks out, I dump their water around their duck house to more evenly disperse their manure. I layer on about an inch of fresh hay. Straw, wood shavings, and sawdust will also work.

At night, I fill their water and food bowls and close the ducks in at night. The next day I dump the water and apply hay. I do this for about two weeks. Then I use a pitchfork and move all that manured hay into a compost pile. I usually just build the pile to about 4 feet high by 4 feet wide and let it sit there for six months until it is mostly black and crumbly.

Method 4: Don’t Want to Build a Pile? Go Mobile!

If pitchforking poop is not your thing, then think about a mobile duck coop. Ducks don’t like to climb ramps and roost high as chickens do. So consider using a movable chain link cube with wheels and a tarp top as a duck house alternative.

You can just let ducks have the floor overnight. Add in a couple of movable nest boxes (or not since ducks don’t necessarily use them anyway), and you’re set!

Put your coop in place. Use the same procedure detailed above for a fixed coop. Then after two weeks move your coop. Leave all that good stuff in place, and come back and plant in it a month later.

If you have a lot of predator pressure, consider an electric fence to protect your ducks at night better.

Method 5: Duck and Cover (Crops)

If your land is light on organic matter, consider using ducks to help you with your cover cropping. After using either the Go Mobile or the Edible Access method, plant your cover crops.

When you would normally bring in the mower to chop and drop all those cover crops, instead bring back the ducks. The ducks will eat your cover crops, apply more poop, and smother whatever they don’t eat. Then you can move the ducks off, plant your next round cover crop and repeat. If you do this several times, you’ll build soil mass in a hurry and help cut your duck feed costs as well.

Make sure you plant things that are edible for your ducks. Most cover crops are, but do a little research just to be sure. Buckwheat, hard winter wheat, tillage radishes, mustard, rye, Austrian peas, and clovers all work well.

I don’t know about you, but I think all these great ways to use duck poop around the homestead are worth crowing about! So, say it with me…

DUCK-ER-DOO-DLE-DOO!!

All day I’d shadowed the herd, waiting for the right opportunity to close in for a shot. There were about 40 cow elk in the herd and five bulls, each big enough to drop the string on, should one wander within range of my longbow. I began my day still-hunting along the petering-out ends of a series of ridges and into a three-month-old burn, where I found an unlikely herd of elk bugling their way through blackened tree trunks and brush stubble. I followed them out of the burn and into a lush canyon bottom where I ran out of cover. So I watched the elk climb a barren canyon wall and crest over into the next canyon, and I then ambled my way back to camp for a snack. Those elk would find a shady northeast-facing timber patch to bed in for the day, and I figured I could catch up with them mid-afternoon when they got hungry for their own snack. And that’s just what I did, zipping an arrow through a nice bull’s lungs at 23 yards as he worked his way around the fringes of the herd at dinnertime.

Closing to within bow or rifle range of big-game animals can offer a supreme challenge that requires its own set of specialized skills. I like to divide them into two categories: stalking and still-hunting. While stalking, you first spot your quarry, and then move in for a shot. When still-hunting, you sneak your way through likely habitat in search of a shot. Here are a few tips, tactics and techniques that will help you close the distance on a wily mule deer buck or a big, call-shy bull elk. You might even employ them on a pronghorn or whitetail, if conditions are right and you possess tons of patience.

Stalking• Glass Up a Beast: The first element to a successful stalk is spotting your prey. We don’t have room enough in this article to cover the intricacies of spotting in detail, but in short; use the best glass you can afford, find a good vantage point and let your eyes do most of the walking. You can cover far more country, find more animals and contaminate less territory through glass than you ever will on foot. Once you’ve spotted, watched and read the body language of your quarry, you’re ready to begin your stalk.

• Plan Your Route: Before leaving your vantage point, study landmarks, choose a goal shooting position and plan your route to that position. It’s really easy to loose track of where the animal is, and where you are in relation to your goal position, once you leave your vantage point. Plan carefully, and use landmarks to guide your way.

• Stay Under Cover: While executing your stalk, try to stay completely out of sight of your quarry. Land mass offers the best cover; utilize hills, rocky outcroppings, ravines and other terrain to shield you from sight. Vegetation is second best; use heavy brush, tree lines and waist-high grass to block your prey’s vision while you close the distance. If you run out of land mass and vegetative cover, you can make like a wisp of smoke and move closer using environmental changes such as drifting cloud shadows, fluctuating winds and natural distractions like other animal movement that draws your quarry’s attention.

• Use a Decoy: In certain circumstances, such as stalking pronghorn across short-grass prairie, a decoy can render an otherwise impossible stalk very doable. I’ve used a folding cow (of the moo variety) decoy to close within pronghorn under those very conditions. I’ve also used folding elk decoys with good success while bowhunting elk, and I’ve hid behind my saddle horse and closed the distance on elk when hunting in mustang country, where the elk are used to seeing horses. The key is to blend in, seem like part of your quarry’s daily surroundings, and move like a cow, elk or horse, rather than like a hunter hiding behind a decoy.

• Play the Wind: Always, always, keep your wind (or scent) from reaching the animal you’re trying to stalk, particularly when you’re bowhunting. If they catch your wind, the game is over. So circle that extra mile, climb that extra ridge or wait that extra hour to make sure the wind is in your favor. Speaking of wind and extra hours, often the best time of day to put a stalk on an animal—especially in high-elevation mule deer or sheep country—is after the morning thermals have performed their capricious dance and everything has settled down for the day. Wait and watch until the wind has steadied and the animal has gotten up from its first bed, grabbed a quick snack and relocated to a shady position. Now the wind and your prey are likely to stay put for a few hours, giving you an honest chance to close within archery range.

• Be Aggressive: I’ve often watched novice hunters begin a stalk with the utmost care; moving slowly and stepping quietly while the animal they’re stalking is still a mile or more away. That’s silly. Your first task when stalking from long distance is to close that distance as rapidly as possible. If you don’t, that animal will likely be gone when you get there. So get out of sight, and then close in aggressively. Once you’ve closed within a couple hundred yards, then it’s time to slow down and stalk carefully.

• Be Patient: It’s been said that a hunter’s biggest attribute is patience. I agree. Once you’ve closed to within earshot of your prey, it’s time to slow down, become part of the environment and drift closer for a shot. Pay critical attention to cloud movement and shadows, wind gusts and air movement, and other factors that can conceal or reveal your presence. Blend in, move in concert with nature and relax: Prey animals can feel a predator’s intent, so don’t study them with a hard gaze, and don’t covet those backstraps sizzling on your evening campfire just yet. Just stay calm, work your way into position and make a steady shot. Then you can celebrate.

Still-Hunting• Hunt Wildlife-Rich Areas: When still-hunting, you try to slip into an animal’s habitat, spot them before they’re aware of your presence and make a shot. Obviously, you must hunt where game likes to hang out. Use pre-season scouting, your knowledge of the area and the species, and current wind direction to decide to where to still-hunt that day.

• Use the Wind: The best still-hunting days are windy. Everything in the outdoors is noisy and moving on a windy day, meaning you can move and make noise too, with less likelihood of being discovered. Your ideal strategy is to still-hunt in an upwind direction, but hunting crosswind will work just fine, too. Try to move with the wind gusts and blend in with your surroundings.

• Stay in the Shadows: Direct sunlight makes you stand out like the proverbial sore thumb, no matter how good your camouflage. Do your best to keep to the shadows, especially when you stop to look and glass.

• One Step, Two Looks: The biggest challenge when still-hunting is to see your prey before it sees you, so here’s how you move: take one step, then take two long looks. Study the area in front and to the sides of you intently for any motion, anything that stands out or anything out of place. What you see might be the curving line of an antler, the texture of deer hair or the flicker of an ear. Search as far away as you can see, but study everything close-in as well; while still-hunting, it’s not unusual to close within a few yards of an animal before either of you is aware of the other’s presence.

• Use Binoculars: While on the subject of looking, always carry a binocular and use it. You can study surrounding brush and vegetation using your binos like a microscope. Here’s how: Look deep into the tangle with your bino, and turn the focus knob until the area you’re looking at becomes sharp. Study that region for a moment, then turn the knob a little to focus closer or further out—it’ll highlight an entirely different section of habitat. Take your time and pick the area apart piece by piece.

• Don’t Hurry: Still-hunting is not a speed game. Rather, you might take an hour to cover 40 yards, or an entire afternoon to hunt through a three-acre patch of woods. But if you’ve got a good idea those 40 yards or three acres holds game, what better way to spend an hour, or an afternoon?

• Still-Hunt When it’s Damp: Everything gets quiet in the woods when it’s damp, or wet from a recent rain. That makes for good sneaking conditions; sticks are less likely to snap underfoot, leaves don’t crunch like cornflakes and your movement is muted. It’s a good time to be in the woods.

• Deer Walking: We don’t always get to hunt in windy, damp or quiet conditions. Sometimes it’s simply impossible to move without making noise. When that happens, just make like one of the locals; imitate the natural sounds game make while moving. One of my favorite techniques is what noted traditional hunter and archer Fred Asbell calls “deer walking.” To deer-walk, simply imitate the one-two, one-two, one-two cadence of a four-footed beast by first stepping your heel on the ground, then a split-second later snapping down the ball of your foot, to create that one-two cadence. (You can reverse this if it’s more comfortable, using a first-ball-then-heel approach.) Take a few steps, hesitate, look for game, and then move ahead a few more steps, trying to imitate a deer’s movement pattern. Try it sometime; you’ll be surprised at how well it works.

• Stay Ready: Shot opportunities can happen very fast when still-hunting, so stay on your toes. Often you’ll see your quarry just a split second before he sees you. Just stay calm, make the shot and then celebrate having successfully implemented one of hunting’s most skill-demanding techniques.

If you’re reading this with a pack of freezer-burned chicken on the counter, help is here! You’ll learn that it’s safe to eat and how to cook it so it’s not rubbery and dry.

With the tips below, you’ll also learn how to prevent this from happening in the future so you can enjoy your favorite chicken recipes for dinner.

What is Freezer Burn?

Freezer burn is the evaporation of the moisture contained in the chicken meat being drawn out, and freezing around the chicken. This means the chicken will be drier once it is thawed out.

Is Freezer Burn Chicken Safe to Eat?

Chicken that is freezer burned is still perfectly safe to eat. If it was fresh when you froze it, you can still cook and enjoy it! I’m going to show you how to prevent this from happening and the best methods for cooking freezer burn chicken so that it

Why Does Freezer Burn Happen?

Freezer burn happens when food is stored in the freezer in packaging that is too thin to protect it from the frigid temperatures of your freezer.

Using thick, freezer-safe zip bags is the best way to prevent freezer burn.

One of the most common mistakes people make (I’ve been guilty of this too many times!) is placing chicken directly in the freezer when you get home from the store. The grocery store packaging is too thin to provide the protection the chicken needs to avoid freezer burn.

I also made a video to address this topic and give you a visual aid on the proper way to freeze chicken:

How to Tell if Chicken Has Freezer Burn?

At first glance, you’ll notice a layer of ice crystals have formed around the chicken itself. Depending on how long the chicken has been in the freezer the color of the meat itself may have a grayish hue to it.

Once cooked, freezer burned chicken can often have a leathery texture since the chicken has lost some of its moisture content in the freezer over time.

How to Cook Freezer Burned Chicken

Chicken that has been freezer-burned can still be enjoyed in a variety of ways. Each of these four methods provides extra moisture and flavor during the cooking process to disguise the fact that the chicken was slightly dehydrated from having freezer burn.

PoachPoaching chicken consists of cooking it in hot water and aromatics, infusing it with moisture and flavor. It’s a great way to cook freezer-burned chicken you plan to shred and add to soup or my Homemade Chicken Salad recipe.

CrockpotSlow-cooking freezer-burned chicken in a sauce will coat the meat with flavor and prevent it from being bone dry. My Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken is a perfect recipe, and you can use it to create tacos, loaded potatoes, and sliders.

Bake This method works great for skin-on cuts like thighs and whole chickens since the layer of skin locks in moisture while the fat drains to the bottom of the pan and hydrates the meat as it cooks. Test it out with these juicy Oven-Baked Chicken Thighs.

Make soup! The soup’s broth will rehydrate the chicken and mask any off-putting flavor. Cook the chicken with your method of choice (except grilling) and shred it before adding to the soup. My Chicken Taco Soup would be a great way to test out this method.

If you’re working with boneless, skinless chicken breasts, avoid using the oven since there’s no skin or fat to prevent moisture loss.

Classic zip bags that are not specifically marked as “freezer” bags, are not thick enough on their own to provide the needed protection for freezing chicken. If you don’t have freezer bags handy you can double up on the classic bags to provide an additional layer of protection from freezer burn for your chicken.

When you’re ready to prepare your chicken, be sure to use one of these safe methods for thawing frozen chicken.

Ground squirrels can damage many food-bearing and ornamental plants. They will enter gardens and devour vegetables in the seedling stage, gnaw on plastic sprinkler heads and irrigation lines, eat the eggs of ground-nesting birds and can be quite destructive. This humane DIY squirrel trap can help you eliminate those pesky little varmints!

Step 1: Gather the required materials and tools.

– Three pieces of PVC plastic drain pipe, 4 inch diameter, 2 feet long each (total of 6 feet)- One PVC 45 degree elbow, 4 inch diameter- One PVC clean out plug, 4 inch diameter- One PVC adapter fitting, 4 inch diameter (threaded on one end for the clean out plug above)- One PVC coupling fitting, 4 inch diameter- One PVC pipe cap, 4 inch diameter- Two machine screws, zinc or stainless steel, 1/4 inch diameter, 1 inch long- Four nuts to match the screws above- Two washers to match the screws above- Two wing nuts to match the screws above- One adjustable 2 foot bungee cord- One can of spray cooking oil- One small jar of peanut butter

Tools:- Power drill with 1/4 inch bit

Step 2: Drill holes in pipe.

Using the power drill, drill multiple 1/4 inch diameter holes in one of the 2 foot long pieces of PVC pipe. Do not drill holes in the last 6 inches of each end of the pipe. This pipe will be the BASE of the trap.

Select a different 2 foot long piece of PVC pipe. Drill two 1/4 inch diameter holes approximately 2 inches from one end of the pipe.

The holes should be directly across from each other on opposite sides of the pipe. This pipe will be the TOP of the trap and the end with the two holes will point up, when assembling the final trap.

Step 3: Assemble the trap base

Attach the PVC adapter fitting to one end of the BASE pipe and carefully screw the clean out plug into the threaded section of the adapter fitting.

Attach the PVC 45 degree elbow to the other end of the BASE pipe. (Do not use PVC adhesive or glue to attach any of the PVC pipes or fittings.)

Step 4: Assemble the top of the squirrel trap

On the end of the TOP pipe with the two holes, reach inside the pipe and push one machine screw through each of the holes.

The head of each screw should be inside the pipe with the threaded part outside of the pipe. On the outside of the pipe, place a washer on each of the screws, screw two nuts on each screw, and screw one wing nut on each screw.

Attach the PVC coupling fitting to the end of the TOP pipe without the holes. (Do not use PVC adhesive or glue to attach the fitting.)

Step 5: Assemble and bait the trap

The remaining pipe is the MIDDLE of the trap. Insert one end of the MIDDLE pipe into the open end of the PVC coupling fitting on the TOP pipe.

Insert the other end of the MIDDLE pipe into the open end of the PVC 45 degree elbow on the BASE pipe. (Do not use PVC adhesive or glue to attach the fitting.)

The fully assembled trap will look like a big hockey stick.

Spray a light coating of cooking oil on the inside of the TOP and MIDDLE pipes. This will keep the squirrels from escaping when trapped.

Using your fingers or a long spoon, smear peanut butter on the inside of the TOP pipe about 8-10 inches from the open end of the pipe. The peanut butter is the bait. You can also place peanuts or something similar in the BASE pipe, if you wish.

Step 6: Select a location and place the trap.

Look for a sturdy tree in an area with squirrels. Be sure you can easily see and get to the base of the tree trunk. Place the trap next to the tree with the BASE on the ground and the TOP touching the tree trunk.

Secure the TOP to the tree trunk with the bungee cord.

You can also place bricks or rocks around the BASE to help keep it in from moving.

Step 7: Catch some squirrels.

Wait for a squirrel to sniff out the bait and slide down into the BASE.

Once you have one trapped, it’s up to you as to what to do with the squirrel.

If you choose to relocate the squirrel, place the pipe cap on the open end of the trap before moving the squirrel to its new home.

NOTE: You may wish to vary the length or diameter of the plastic pipe depending on the size of your squirrels or available materials. I chose to use schedule 40, foam core DWV (drain, waste, and vent) pipe because it will stand up to periodic bumps and drops without much problem. Materials for the 4 inch diameter trap cost about $50.

About the author:

James Hammond is a disabled veteran and has done landscaping and home renovation projects for over 25 years.

Thermal scopes are excellent tools that have become game-changers for shooters, especially those who love to hunt.

But since thermals don’t rely on light to work, you might’ve wondered at one point: can you use a thermal scope during the day?

Well, we already know the answer when it comes to using night vision scopes. But with thermal scopes, the extra light isn’t a problem. In fact, not only can you use thermal scopes during the day, but there are many fantastic advantages to doing so!

The Advantages of Using Thermal Scopes During Daylight Hours

There are several good reasons why you might want to consider making your thermal scope your go-to scope.

Day and Night

One of the most significant advantages of using thermal scopes is that you can use the same scope under all conditions. Since thermal scopes pick up heat signatures, the amount of light has no impact on their targeting efficiency.

The only thing that matters is temperature, so unless you’re hunting on an active volcano or an environment where objects trap lots of heat, then a bit of sunshine should have little impact on the quality of the imaging of a high-quality thermal scope such as the ATN ThOR 4. (1)

Improved Target Identification

While night vision scopes have more defined target detail, many hunters prefer using thermal scopes because of their adept target acquisition abilities that reign over obtaining a more detailed “facial recognition” of their targets.

However, that’s been changing. As thermal technology has improved, it’s made target identification much more accurate. And with this accuracy, it’ll allow you to more assuredly protect fellow hunters and friendly creatures such as pets and livestock.

Price

Thermal scopes used to be priced out of the range most hunters are willing to spend on optics. However, in recent years, several more affordable budget options have hit the market with improving quality and performance, such as the ATN Thor LT Ultra Light.

When looking at a thermal scope’s price tag, one thing to remember is the incredible value it can bring to your hunts. Saving time, ammo, and possibly your life and others are factors worth considering before making your decision.

Possible Daytime Uses for Thermal Scopes

Bushes and Brush

One thing that can make hunting less fun is spending hours waiting for a glimpse of your quarry. However, with regular and night vision scopes, your game can often hide behind cover such as thick brush and bushes, and you’ll never see them.

This is where thermal scopes shine brightest. Since these scopes pick up heat signatures, any object trying to hide behind foliage will become instantly visible, allowing you to take shots you would never have been able to take using regular or night vision scopes.

Body parts such as a deer’s antlers, which are filled with blood when growing, will light up like a Christmas tree.

Blood Trails

You’ve probably seen those movies and shows where hunters who are expert trackers do wacky things like tasting dirt and examining broken leaves to find their wounded quarry. In the real world, it’s not that easy, even if your target has left a blood trail.

Animals like deer are very durable, and unless you score a headshot or shot to the heart, they can run for miles in many different directions, making it tough to keep on their trail. However, with thermal scopes, you can pick up fresh blood trails much faster and catch sight of your quarry before it escapes.

Cold-Blooded Creatures

One disadvantage thermal scopes have is that they do not pick up cold-blooded creatures nearly as well. However, with most thermal scopes, you should still be able to make out their outline, which, all things considered, is better than what you would get with unpowered optics or night vision.

Better Scouting

Scouting isn’t just crucial for locating the game and identifying possible threats. Thermal scopes are great tools anyone who enjoys the outdoors should have on them, especially in areas with dangerous wildlife such as bears and mountain lions (or anywhere in Australia).

It’s also well-known that certain predators, such as polar bears, have been known to stalk humans, surprising them in ambush attacks. One can only imagine how many hunters could have been saved from tragedy with this technology. (2)

When Do You Use Thermal Optics?

If you’re curious as to exactly all of the times thermal optics are a good option, check out our article on when do you use thermal optics. We cover exactly when, where and how to use thermal scopes property.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does sunlight damage thermal scopes?

No, sunlight does not damage thermal scopes. A thermal scope isn’t light-sensitive since it only reads thermal energy, which isn’t visible on the light spectrum. So you can freely use your thermal scope during the day the same as you would at night without concern.

References

1. Outdoor Life, Four Reasons to Own a Thermal Vision Scope, retrieved from https://www.outdoorlife.com/reasons-to-own-thermal-vision-scope/
2. Business Insider, A Retired Navy SEAL Explains How to Survive A Bear Attack, retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/clint-emerson-navy-seal-survive-bear-attack-2016-12

Why is Subsonic Ammo Important?

One of the principal elements of ammunition that you should be aware of is muzzle velocity. This is the speed at which the bullet is traveling when it leaves the barrel of your gun, measured in feet per second (ft/s) or meters per second (m/s).

Whether your ammunition is subsonic or supersonic determines to a significant degree how quietly or audibly the bullet travels through the air.

Subsonic vs. Supersonic Ammunition

When you fire a cartridge, the propellant charge burns, generating high-pressure expanding gases that drive the bullet through the barrel. These powder gases are the primary source of a firearm’s report (the sound of the gunshot.)

When you ask, “What is subsonic ammo?” the answer is simple. If the bullet exceeds the speed of sound, thereby breaking the sound barrier, it’s supersonic. If, however, the bullet leaves the muzzle at a speed slower than the speed of sound, it’s subsonic.

Why Does This Matter?

Whether your ammunition is subsonic or supersonic is important because when a bullet breaks the sound barrier, it creates a miniature sonic boom.

You may be familiar with this phenomenon if you’ve ever witnessed a supersonic jet fly overhead and cause a sound similar to a thunderclap. The sonic boom produced by a bullet can’t cause the same level of disruption and is more akin to the crack of a bullwhip — which also creates a sonic boom. When your priority is reducing the report of your firearm to a minimum, this requires the use of subsonic ammunition.

Suppressor Use

The sound of a gunshot can cause permanent hearing loss, even with infrequent exposure, and comprises several variables. Many shooters use sound suppressors, also known as silencers, to reduce the risk to the shooter and bystanders.

If you own or are interested in owning a sound suppressor, the question “What’s subsonic ammo?” is an important one to answer. A suppressor can only moderate the sound of the gunshot at the muzzle by slowing and cooling the powder gases. Once the bullet leaves the suppressor and enters the air, the suppressor’s job is done. To optimize the functionality of a sound suppressor and render your firearm as quiet as possible, you should select ammunition that is reliably subsonic.

Subsonic Ammo

What constitutes subsonic ammunition depends on several factors. The speed of sound is not a fixed value. It varies according to environmental factors, such as ambient temperature and barometric pressure.

The higher the temperature, the higher the speed of sound. Likewise, the colder the temperature, the lower the speed of sound. For example, at 68° F, the speed of sound is approximately 1,125 feet per second. At 32°F, this drops to 1,086 feet per second.

Increasing to 100°F, the speed of sound changes to 1,159 ft/s. The latter speed corresponds to the muzzle velocity of many standard-pressure 9×19mm Parabellum loads using 124-grain bullets. However, all of these velocities are considerably higher than standard pressure .45 ACP using 185-, 200-, and 230-grain bullets.

Subsonic 9mm loads usually substitute heavier bullets — 147-150 grains — to reduce the muzzle velocity to approximately 1,000 ft/s to avoid causing additional noise. The original 230-gr. .45 ACP ball load achieves a muzzle velocity of between 830 and 860 ft/s in an M1911A1 subsonic at all temperatures that a person is likely to face.

Due to fluctuations in the speed of sound according to environmental factors, it’s essential that you choose ammunition that generates muzzle velocities sufficiently below the threshold to take full advantage of sound-suppressor technology. Ammunition uniformity is also worth monitoring.

Cartridges from the same lot do not demonstrate 100%-consistent muzzle velocities from shot to shot. You should account for this lack of uniformity and determine if you can, the extent of the variance from one round to another.

Supersonic Ammo for Suppressors

While supersonic loads will not be as quiet as subsonic loads when using a suppressor, that doesn’t mean that you can’t use them. The primary function of a suppressor is to reduce, not eliminate, the sound of the gunshot. If your priority when using a suppressor is to mask your location, the miniature sonic boom won’t reveal your position to a game animal or adversary — it’s directionless.

Rifles

Rifle ammunition often uses high-velocity loads that far exceed the sound speed to achieve flat trajectories, long-range accuracy, and satisfactory terminal performance. Suppressing rifles poses a special challenge because, unlike handguns, rifles need to shoot far.

In self-loading rifle actions that use gas pressure, modifications to the weapon may be necessary to cycle reliably using comparatively low-pressure subsonic ammunition. In the AR-15 platform, this may include changing the buffer assembly.

An example of a suppressor-optimized rifle caliber is the .300 AAC Blackout. This cartridge is available in both subsonic and supersonic loads for this purpose. In its supersonic form, it’s an intermediate cartridge capable of outperforming the 7.62×39mm Soviet. Its subsonic form delivers heavy bullets, some exceeding 200 grains, at a slow enough speed to match pistol ammo.

​Suppressor-Specific

Whether you need subsonic or supersonic ammunition will depend on whether you intend to run a suppressor. If the answer is no, you can, under most circumstances, simply use standard loads in your firearms — whether it’s subsonic or supersonic will be less critical. In 9mm, most loads are supersonic, whereas most .45 ACP loads are the opposite. The .40 S&W cartridge is available in both, as are many other handgun cartridges.

Protect Your Hearing and Conceal Your Position

Subsonic ammunition can seriously improve your performance with a sound suppressor, whether in a rifle or a handgun. However, if you don’t intend to use a suppressor, the benefits of selecting subsonic ammunition are limited. Your gunshots will be somewhat quieter. But you still need to wear hearing protection.

You can also check:

Ammo 101: Types and Characteristics (See Full Article)

Reliable Ruger 10/22 Ammo