How to Make a Squirrel “Cutting” Call
Russ Chastain 04.24.18
In this video, we see a homemade “cutter” squirrel call, used to imitate the sound of a squirrel’s teeth cutting through a nut shell. It’s a sound that will calm squirrels as well as attracting them. I learned a long time ago to use sounds like this when squirrel hunting. Sometimes you can rub two coins together, rub a fingernail on a knurled shotgun safety, or whatever it takes. But this call looks easy to use and ought to make a louder sound than many makeshift solutions.
You’ll want to skip the first 45 seconds or so of this video, unless you enjoy pointless intros. In fact, if you want to get the actual “how-to” portion, you should go ahead and skip the first three minutes.
He tells viewers to buy a hunk of 1/2″ nylon all-thread rod at an approximate cost of $12, but the practical side of me says to just use one of those coarse-threaded plastic bolts that hold the toilet seat onto your potty. Every time you change the seat you end up with spare parts, and if you don’t have any I guarantee you can find them for a lot less than $12.
He later drills out the primer from a 20-gauge shotgun shell. Why didn’t he just use a hammer and punch to drive it out?
Why not run the eye screw into the end of the allthread rod to hold it in the shell?
Why not use a cotter pin instead of using way too much coathanger wire?
Well… there are many things I’d do differently if I were making this call. But this shows a pretty good squirrell call and one way to build one, and should give any good DIYer some useful ideas. And I do like the idea of using shotgun shells to make it.
Happy hunting!
