Squirrel hunting here in Central Indiana about 30 miles below Indianapolis was bad this year. A dry spell in the spring must have caused the nut crop to lessen. My favorite woods was the pits. Most of the bushytails were in 2 very old oak trees, my favorite Hickorys' were bare. Walnuts were nowhere, Poplars were good though, give them a little something to forage on. Ones behind my house are cleaning me out of eared corn that I have for my "backyard" rabbit. Gave up on shotguns years ago, now use a Remington 513-T, a Remington 541-X, both with 3-9X scopes. Got both rifles through the CMP. Have a standard barrel Remington 40-X [again from the CMP] with a 4-15 on it that I am going to try out before the 31 January deadline, shoots bugholes at 50 yds. with Wolf target ammo. Always go for head shots now, means I have to pass on a lot of shots though, will be 60 next year, in the 5th stage of hunting [also a HE instructor], means I have mellowed out and now enjoy the experience more than pulling the trigger. Must admit that 2003 produced 36 kills for me, even though my success rate was a little below 60 percent. Gawd, this getting old sucks!:banghead3