12/07/2025
🛑‼️Please read full post for all information and rules for the 6th Annual Squirrel Hunt Competition 2026 ‼️🛑
Registration will be open TODAY - December 7th, 2025 - a separate post will follow on how to register.
The hunt competition takes place on Saturday, February 21, 2026 at legal light! You can only take squirrels on this day! Only eastern gray squirrels are permitted to be taken for this competition!
Continuing this year, THREE separate Team Brackets. Teams consisting of two Youth will be under one bracket. Adult/Youth Combos will be registered under the second bracket. Two Adults will be registered under the third bracket. Each bracket will receive 100% payout of that brackets total registration fees.
**RETURNING THIS YEAR** Bracket payouts: (3rd Place - 50%, 2nd Place - 30%, 1st Place - 20%).
Entry is $20 per two-person team. ALL youth registrants will be required to provide their date of birth at registration. A youth will be considered as any person age 17 or younger as of February 21, 2026.
Please note that registration IS NOT OPEN at this time. Please do not pay anyone for your registration! When open, registration payment will only be accepted thru the secure Zeffy payment link or direct to Michelle Payne or Courtney Volberg.
**RETURNING THIS YEAR** Side Pot for the “Single Squirrel with the Longest Tail” - Each single squirrel entry is $5! The person with the single squirrel with the longest tail wins 100% of the side pot. There will be a youth side pot and an adult side pot. Tail must remain attached to squirrel entered. Tail will be measured from the base to the tip (excluding fur).
‼️Some housekeeping and rules‼️
💥By purchasing a team entry, you agree to follow and abide by all FWC regulations regarding hunting and taking gray squirrel, and acknowledge you are aware of those regulations. You also agree that you have read and understand and agree to all rules stated for this event. Adult supervision of all youth is expected/required. Adult is responsible for participating youth understanding and following these rules.
💥A 2-person team can be any combination of youth or adult (or K9). You can hunt alone - but you still are required to pay the $20 team fee.
💥Entry is non-refundable, the hunt takes place rain or shine.
💥Hunting takes place on any private or public (WMA) land in which you have legal permission to hunt.
💥Hunting begins at legal light on Saturday, February 21st. **RETURNING THIS YEAR** Final weigh in takes place at 2pm that same day. Early bird weigh in will start at 10am. Anyone who is not in line by 2pm for weigh in, will not be weighed in to the contest.
💥**NE THIS YEAR** Weigh in location: Rock Lake Cattle Demonstration Area (PK Ranch) 8132 Croom Rital Road, Brooksville, FL 34602.
💥Every registered youth will receive a raffle ticket at weigh in regardless if they are successful in taking squirrels or not. After final weigh in, all youth registrants will participate in a prize raffle where we will raffle off our sponsorship donations.
💥Youth "table" prizes will be issued on a first come, first serve basis. It is encouraged that participants who are successful early in the day, check in/weigh in early. By doing so, they will get to pick from the "table" prizes ahead of the final raffle announcements. All youth participants will still receive an entry in the youth raffles where we will raffle off our guns and larger sponsorship donations at the end of the event.
💥At weigh in bring your top 5 heaviest squirrels to the table. You will not be able to weigh them at the table, you must pick which 5 you feel are the heaviest. Those 5 get weighed together for your cumulative final weight. The top 3 heaviest team entries will win the 100% payout of their bracket (3rd Place - 50%, 2nd Place - 30%, 1st Place - 20%).
💥If you are unable to successfully take 5 squirrels, you can enter anywhere from 1 to 5 squirrels at weigh in.
💥$5 per squirrel entry side pot for the “Single squirrel with the longest tail.” You can pay $5 per single squirrel to have their tail measured and entered. The single squirrel with the longest tail will win 100% of the side pot for their bracket (youth/adult). Tail must remain attached to squirrel entered. Tail will be measured from the base to the tip (excluding fur).
💥 We WILL have an independent examiner on site at weigh in to check ALL squirrel entries! We reserve the right to refuse any squirrel/person from entry based on that examination.
💥Any single squirrel with a weight in excess of 1lb-4.0oz and any pot of squirrels with a cumulative weight in excess of 4lb-10.0oz will be held by our team for a second examination (labeled, bagged and kept on ice) until final weights are calculated.
💥Final payout amounts will be announced after all team entries are received and registration is closed.💥
‼️Your squirrels cannot be wet‼️
If you take your squirrels early in the day on Saturday, February 21st, but do not want to come up to weigh in until later, you can keep them on ice in a cooler, BUT the squirrels must be placed inside a ziplock bag to keep them from soaking up excessive water in their fur. Please note that we understand the difference between soaking wet and a wet squirrel from the rain. Soaking wet entries will not be accepted at weigh in.
Your registration for this event is considered agreement to abide by all rules stated above.💥
