Squirrel Doggin' 2016
- Thread starter Jamie
- Start date
I appreciate the kind sentiments. time to move on to what this thread is really about.
yesterday I took Slick out for the first time donning all his gear and with rifle in hand. I had every intention of shooting his first squirrel out to him, which was a pretty lofty goal since this is only the third time I've taken him out "hunting". the first two times I didn't put the electronics on him or take my gun. I just wanted him to run around in the woods to see how he acted. From the beginning he's shown great hunting instincts, and yesterday he showed them again and got out and hunted much farther away from me that the other times, which is very, very good. as it were, I didn't do any shooting, but got a glimpse of his real potential. he has never barked on a tree until yesterday, but what he did was a very pleasant surprise.
we were nearing the end of our loop around this entire small woods, nearing the end of our hunt. I see Slick very intently circling around and sniffing around in a small area and around a couple of trees. I instinctually look up to see if there is a squirrel fleeing. I just caught the tail disappearing into a leaf nest. a few seconds later, Slick rears up on his hind legs, throws his head in the air, lets out a yelp, runs to the tree jumps and bounces off of it nearly doing a back flip, then did it again, then started barking and got on the tree like he knew what the hell he was doing. he did not pick up the cold trail on the tree, but he winded this squirrel and put it all together. fellas, that is a remarkable maneuver from a dog that is still a week away from being 6 months old. phenomenal potential in this dog, but no guarantee. it's damned exciting though!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDZPJHyz4xQ&feature=em-upload_owner
yesterday I took Slick out for the first time donning all his gear and with rifle in hand. I had every intention of shooting his first squirrel out to him, which was a pretty lofty goal since this is only the third time I've taken him out "hunting". the first two times I didn't put the electronics on him or take my gun. I just wanted him to run around in the woods to see how he acted. From the beginning he's shown great hunting instincts, and yesterday he showed them again and got out and hunted much farther away from me that the other times, which is very, very good. as it were, I didn't do any shooting, but got a glimpse of his real potential. he has never barked on a tree until yesterday, but what he did was a very pleasant surprise.
we were nearing the end of our loop around this entire small woods, nearing the end of our hunt. I see Slick very intently circling around and sniffing around in a small area and around a couple of trees. I instinctually look up to see if there is a squirrel fleeing. I just caught the tail disappearing into a leaf nest. a few seconds later, Slick rears up on his hind legs, throws his head in the air, lets out a yelp, runs to the tree jumps and bounces off of it nearly doing a back flip, then did it again, then started barking and got on the tree like he knew what the hell he was doing. he did not pick up the cold trail on the tree, but he winded this squirrel and put it all together. fellas, that is a remarkable maneuver from a dog that is still a week away from being 6 months old. phenomenal potential in this dog, but no guarantee. it's damned exciting though!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDZPJHyz4xQ&feature=em-upload_owner
I have a feeling that dog is going to get a lot of squirrel tail treats! Sorry to hear about your dog and friend. This is one of the threads I look forward to every year.
ickle:
I'm too much of a softie to be a really good dog handler. I know that hunting a green pup with a veteran dog is risky business if overdone. I just can't hardly bear the look of disappointment when I leave one of them behind and the ensuing cold shoulder when I return. I really should not let that stand in the way of good judgement, but yesterday and today I did. I just have to see what Slick can do, but Lefty has earned all the trips to the plate he can get. Yesterday was a short hunt in a woods I know is loaded with rats. I really wanted to get Slick in a target rich environment to see what he could do, so I brought him along in hopes of him making a tree on his own and shooting one out to him. Squirrels not moving worth crap yesterday, but Lefty treed three and we got two. Slick joined in the fracas on all three trees and actually got out and hunted some, totally ignoring Lefty for much of the hunt. this is exactly what I want to see from Slick. he's more interested in doing his own thing than following Lefty around. my worst fear is that Slick will become a "me too" dog if I hunt them together too much too soon. since I won't be going squirrel hunting again until after gun season, I decided to forego deer hunting today and took both dogs out again. Lefty hunted his ass off and made more than a dozen trees, some dens, but I cannot recall a day where I saw so many squirrels and got so few shots. Rats layed up, and ran to holes and nests super fast all day long. two bailed out from the top of tree's to the ground with little pressure on them. was a weird day in that regard, but Lefty did a great job. I think he winded most of the squirrels we saw today. Slick did make one tree on his own today and joined Lefty on nearly every tree. A few times Slick was just too wrapped up in his own game to join Lefty on his tree. That is fantastic behavior from such a young dog, and exactly what I want to see.
The second squirrel that bailed did so from nearly 100 feet up in a giant Red Oak and landed about 10 feet from both dogs. this was a fantastic event for Slick. He and Lefty chased that squirrel 50 yards up another tree, where it ran in a hole poste haste, but was superb stimulation for Slick, as he got a real taste of the chase. up close and personal, too. that fire got stoked in a big way today. big strides for such a young dog.
he's got a lot to learn about posing, though. one hot mess, lol.
getting the hang of it, sort of. :smiley_confused_sch
The second squirrel that bailed did so from nearly 100 feet up in a giant Red Oak and landed about 10 feet from both dogs. this was a fantastic event for Slick. He and Lefty chased that squirrel 50 yards up another tree, where it ran in a hole poste haste, but was superb stimulation for Slick, as he got a real taste of the chase. up close and personal, too. that fire got stoked in a big way today. big strides for such a young dog.
he's got a lot to learn about posing, though. one hot mess, lol.
getting the hang of it, sort of. :smiley_confused_sch
Gordo
Senior Member
That's awesome man. I've never heard of people using dogs for squirrels, but I'm sure it's been happening forever. Seems like it would be an absolute blast. No shortage of squirrels and you get after it during the day. Sign me up!
Archertl
Senior Member
LOL. hell yea! even young Slickie ought to able to track one down at the bird feeder. love hunting them where you can trip over 'em. rotflmao I'm chomping at the bit now that I schwacked a button buck this morning with my revolver. deer killing is done. our assault on the Ohio squirrel population begins in earnest Monday. whenever you ready, we'll tree some squirrels for you.
Awesome! I hear ya Jamie. Gun season seems like it's never going to end when you have your deer in the freezer lol.
we had a pretty good day today. off to a fast start, but my shooting left a little to be desired on the first drop. they mostly don't pose with their head in full view so you can blow it off, and even when you're patient enough to get a reasonable shot, it doesn't always work out like you hope. just when you think you've seen it all, you shoot a squirrel in the head 3 times and it doesn't die. I'm pretty sure I only scared the poor thing enough with the fourth shot to cause it to jump to it's death in Lefty's jaws. shot his nose off on the first shot, while he's dancing around up in the tree after that I shot it's lower jaw off then grazed the top of it's head on the third shot. pretty sure number four was a complete miss and the squirrel jumped to it's death. Lefty caught it quickly and finished the job. Sheesh. we only got two on the first stop, but I had to let the very first one Lefty treed go because he was about 10 feet across the fence, literally in somebody's back yard. covered some ground on the second stop and we managed three more, but could not find that last one. one more stop to try to get our limit produced two empty trees pretty fast, but Lefty found another pretty quick and I made a perfect head shot to end our hunt. Lefty did well today, but I don't think the squirrels were moving too good. we did a lot of walking between all six, but a limit is a limit. we had to work to get them all today.
HOT DAMN, IT'S SQUIRREL SEASON, BABY!!!
HOT DAMN, IT'S SQUIRREL SEASON, BABY!!!
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