Compared to the grandiose endings of last two seasons, this was a rather inglorious end to squirrel season. The old man and I took Lefty and his mother Tricks out, limited to a few woodlots that did not require us driving through now soft and gooey ag fields. neither of them would hunt on the first drop. mother and son showing off their bad gene together. was almost more than Dean and I could bear to witness. We loosed Tricks by herself in the next woods, Lefty howling and whining in the dog box the whole time, but I knew a "time out" in the cage would help him get his shit together. Tricks hunted and found two, one got away to a den on a missed shot. We loosed Lefty by himself in a different woods and, with his shit squarely back together, he found three in a big hurry, one timbered out to a hole while I was loading the gun. Lefty didn't need another hunt this season, so Tricks went on the last drop. She only treed one squirrel, but I made what might be the best shot I made all season. Not only did I have to time the shot to avoid small branches swaying in the wind, but I had to thread the proverbial needle to get a bullet to the squirrels head because squirrel was facing away from me and at a very shallow angle up. I had about a 1/4" by 1/2" target with moving obstructions between us, and I delivered a perfect shot, in front of and squarely between the shoulder blades, to the back of the skull, out through his mouth. nothing but brains. My shooting has been a little erratic for the last few weeks, so this was a nice way to finish. The hunt Nancy and I had on Saturday was the best one I had all season. We just had a absolutely delightful day together. pleasant weather, dog hunting like a pro, squirrels out, both of us shooting well and enjoying each others company. a perfect day of squirrel hunting with the light of my life. The only thing better than a good dog is a good woman. somehow, I have both.
Lefty treed an obscene number of squirrels this year, and I killed most of them. Maybe more than I should have. They certainly won't go to waste around here, but I think I reached a tipping point this year. Wanton killing of game animals is not anything I wish to be a part of. Never in my life have I been in a position to even consider that I'm killing more than I should. The fact that I've started to feel like I'm taking too many makes me quite uneasy, but as long as squirrel hunting is so grossly overshadowed by the more glamorous pursuit of killing trophy big game animals, I can, in relatively good conscience, continue to believe that I'm not able to annihilate the squirrel populations anywhere I hunt. They are, after all, just rats, very prolific, and largely unmolested.
for lack of anything better to do this morning since I was too lazy to get up and deer hunt, which I really should have done because wind is perfect for my honey hole, I went back through the squirrel threads I posted on about Lefty and our hunts together since I registered on this site. naturally, when the season is over again it is hard not to begin to reflect on how it went. This forum has rather become an archive for my squirrel hunting experiences since I got a dog, which is very helpful, as I can't possibly remember all of it. It has been interesting to read my own words spanning from Lefty's first season up to now. He was born to squirrel hunt, and is fulfilling his destiny. I'm still not sure what I was born to do or if I'm doing it. being a dog certainly has it's advantages.
Season four began with high expectations and ample enthusiasm on my end. Dogs just do what they do, but I can't leave the house with my field pants on, or touch my rifle or his collars without getting his attention. he knows when we're going, and he wants to go as bad as I do. Every good hunting dog I've ever been around has had one thing in common; they all want to hunt, they love to do it. they are driven to do it, by both instinct and encouragement. I'm afraid that my inexperience handling a squirrel dog has hindered Lefty's development to some extent, but it is what it is. we all have to start someplace, do our thing, make some mistakes and try to learn from them, correct the ones that can be corrected. worst part is living with the ones we cannot correct. Still, I'm happy with my dog, what he can do, and how he does it. I don't know, nor will I ever know if Lefty could have been made better by somebody who knew what they were doing, but what I do know is that I have great trust and confidence in him. It has taken us four seasons, hundreds of hours of field time and quite a bit of killing to get here. It is a lot of work, but like most anything worth having, totally worth the effort. I'm not really sure how to describe what a unique pleasure it is to have a dog that has become so reliable. it hovers someplace in the vicinity of euphoria, and I get a small dose of it every time he barks on a tree now. Those of you that have successful working dogs know what I mean. we're getting there. :smile:
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he didn't make more than two or three den trees, but he did peg 8 for us. this was a HUGE day to tree 8 squirrels on public ground this time of year. four before lunch, four after. 
