I find the easiest way to miss a squirrel is to aim for him. He’ll be somewhere else by the time you get to him. The only time I’ve hit them was when I was trying to miss.
You move to the first side, he moves to the other side.
You then take your jacket and drape it over whatever is handy, a bush or small tree.
Then you move to the other side.
Squirrel moves to the first side, sees the jacket and thinks it's a human, so he moves back to the other side, where you are. BAM!
It is very hard to hit a squirrel.
Would take a lot of practice .... and a lot of luck .... bad luck ... for the squirrel.
Not saying that I have tried.
But my wife thinks I have to slow to 2 mph if a squirrel is in the street.
Exactly. For some reason, startled animals will dart back in to traffic. Nobody wants to hit a deer to wreck or damage their car, for example. But it happens.