Mixed-Bag & Squirrel-Plus Days
Assumes the Hunting Primer. New here? Start there first.
Your objective
By the end, you'll be able to plan a mixed-bag small-game day, choosing the right firearm for the species mix and confirming each species' season and limit before you go.
You’re easing through a Piedmont bottom after squirrels when a cottontail blows out of a brush pile and bounds across the opening. Could you have taken him too? Maybe — if his season’s open, if you’re carrying the right gun, and if you’ve thought it through ahead of time. A “mixed-bag” day turns one walk in the woods into two hunts. Here’s how to set one up without breaking a rule or fumbling the gun.
Quick recall
Quick recall from the Weapons module — for a still squirrel sitting high in a tree, which tool gives the cleanest, least-wasteful result?
Chunk 1 — What a mixed-bag day is
A mixed-bag (or “squirrel-plus”) day is simply taking more than one kind of open small game on a single outing — squirrel plus rabbit being the classic Piedmont pairing. The same bottoms and edges that hold squirrels often hold rabbits in the brush, so one walk can produce two species for the pot.
The appeal is efficiency and variety: more action in slow squirrel hours, and a fuller, more interesting bag at the end of the day.
Chunk 2 — It only works when seasons overlap
Here’s the gate. A mixed bag is only legal when every species you might take is in season and open where you’re hunting, at the same time. Seasons don’t all run together — for example, in South Carolina rabbit season opens later than squirrel season — so there’s a window where they overlap and a stretch where they don’t.
Chunk 3 — One gun, two kinds of game
The gun is the real decision. The two species ask for different tools:
- Squirrels sit still, high in the canopy — a scoped .22 rimfire places a precise, low-waste shot.
- Rabbits flush fast and run low across the ground — a shotgun (a 20-gauge with a modified choke and #6 shot is a common all-rounder) is far better at a moving target.
You have two honest options. The simple one: carry a single shotgun that can handle both — it’ll take a treetop squirrel up close and a flushing rabbit, trading some squirrel-meat cleanliness for one-gun simplicity. The specialist one: carry a .22/shotgun setup so each species gets its ideal tool. Pick by how much you weight squirrels vs. rabbits for the day.
Deep dive Why not just always carry the .22 for everything?
A .22 is wonderful on a still squirrel and a poor choice on a rabbit jumping and jinking through brush — you’ll miss most of them, and a moving rimfire shot at ground level raises real safety concerns about where the bullet goes. A shotgun’s pattern is built for the fast, low, moving target. That’s why a mixed bag leans toward a shotgun (or a combo) rather than rimfire alone.
Chunk 4 — The shot picture changes with the species
Switching targets in one trip means switching your whole shot picture, and that’s a safety point, not just a tactics one. A squirrel shot is steeply upward into the canopy with the sky as a backstop. A rabbit shot is low and near horizontal, across the ground — exactly the direction you must be most careful about.
Picture the mixed-bag day
One walk, two kinds of game, two very different shot pictures. (Diagram, not a photo.)
Explore
Tap each marker to plan a mixed-bag outing.
Check yourself
Knowledge check
What has to be true for a squirrel-plus-rabbit day to be legal?
Safety check
You're after squirrels with your scoped .22 and a rabbit flushes and bolts low across an opening. Even if rabbit season is open, what's the right call?
Take it to the woods
Plan one mixed-bag outing on paper before you ever load up. Pick a date inside the overlap window for the species you want, confirm each one’s season and limit with current SCDNR regulations, choose the gun that fits your emphasis, and pre-decide your safe-direction rules for switching between an upward squirrel shot and a low rabbit shot.
Mixed-bag day plan
Sources
- South Carolina eRegulations — Small Game Regulations (squirrel and rabbit seasons; verify current dates and limits). https://www.eregulations.com/southcarolina/hunting/small-game-regulations
- SCDNR — Hunting Information. https://www.dnr.sc.gov/hunting.html
- HuntWise — Small Game Hunting Tips: Rabbits, Squirrels, and More. https://legacy-smt-web-production-node-16.huntwise.com/field-guide/small-game/small-game-hunting-guide
- Savage Arms — Small Game Hunting: Rabbit, Squirrels. https://savagearms.com/firearms/use/small-game
If you remember nothing else
- A mixed-bag day means legally taking more than one kind of open small game on one outing — squirrel plus, say, rabbit.
- It only works when the seasons OVERLAP and each species is open where you're hunting — confirm both before you go.
- Gun choice follows the game: a scoped .22 rimfire suits still squirrels up in trees; a shotgun (e.g., 20-gauge, #6) suits fast-flushing rabbits.
- Carrying one gun that can do both (often a shotgun) is the simple solution; a .22/shotgun combo is the specialist's.
- Every species has its own season dates and bag limit — verify current SCDNR regulations, because they change yearly.
How ready do you feel?
How ready are you to plan a legal mixed-bag day and pick the right gun for the species you'll target?
Before you go — a quick look back
Distributed practice: one fast recall from an earlier lesson keeps it from fading.
Quick recall
From the Weapons module — why is a scoped .22 rimfire often preferred over a shotgun for treetop squirrels?
Done with this lesson?
Mark it complete to track your way through the path. Saved on this device — no account needed.