Squirrel Day

I have told sev­er­al of my friends about this great hol­i­day that I grew up with. I am not sure that any of them believed me. So here is the proof.

For years around Ville Plat­te the open­ing day of squir­rel season—the first Sat­ur­day in October—has been known as “Squir­rel Day.” Schools close ear­ly the day before—some don’t open at all—because atten­dance by stu­dents and teach­ers alike is cut in half. Busi­ness­es shut­ter their win­dows. Every­body heads for “camp,” they call it, and that can mean a sleep­ing bag in the back of a pick­up truck or a deluxe hunt lodge wired for elec­tric­i­ty, with air-con­di­tion­ing and big-screen TVs. “Squir­rel Day is the Cajun Passover,” explains Ville Plat­te native Tim Fontenot. “There’s a mass exo­dus into the woods.”

From Field and Stream