Squirrel tales 19-20
- Thread starter Jamie
- Start date
Taxi has told me no head shots. So I hit him with the 20 gauge.if you shoot them in the head with a rifle they practically never get away. just sayin'.
deer hunted on monday and Tuesday. Monday morning I passed on a shot at the best buck I've seen this season at 25 yards walking. third time I've seen him. saw him on November 1 for the first time. did not see him again until end of legal time on Monday of gun season, then again on Monday morning. He's a 5x5 in the 140's, probably 4 1/2. I suspect this is "bonehead", the buck I took pics of last season the week before season started. I'll have to kill him to be sure.
tough sledding yesterday up north. wind was brutal, and worse with white out conditions a couple of times. dogs worked hard, but rats just not coming out to play. we got two pretty fast on the first stop and that would be all we would see all day despite going to about a couple dozen dens. first tree was a joint effort, Slick got the second one. two head shots, no pics. try again later today on a short hunt close to home.
Slick 20
Lefty 7
tough sledding yesterday up north. wind was brutal, and worse with white out conditions a couple of times. dogs worked hard, but rats just not coming out to play. we got two pretty fast on the first stop and that would be all we would see all day despite going to about a couple dozen dens. first tree was a joint effort, Slick got the second one. two head shots, no pics. try again later today on a short hunt close to home.
Slick 20
Lefty 7
we did a little better today with much more pleasant weather. it was all Slick today. Lefty did not tree a squirrel. Slick treed 6, but I missed one off hand. I think I forgot to aim high because the squirrel was pretty close. oh well. squirrel ran down the tree and a very exciting foot chase ensued. Slick almost had it twice before rat ran up another tree and vanished. Lefty is on the bench until I feel bad enough to drag him along again. he doesn't want to hunt and is bothering Slick on trees sometimes. I'm pretty well out of patience with him.
Slick 26
Lefty 7
Slick 26
Lefty 7
- 25,155
- 261
Pretty good day!
I’ve diagnosed your issue with Slick. I’ve also delegated myself an expert; Slick is a one man show. Before Lefty started tagging along, slick piled up a bunch of dead squirrels. Some just hunt better alone. Is that the case with Lefty?
I’ve diagnosed your issue with Slick. I’ve also delegated myself an expert; Slick is a one man show. Before Lefty started tagging along, slick piled up a bunch of dead squirrels. Some just hunt better alone. Is that the case with Lefty?
Yes, that is pretty much the case, except you have them backwards. Slick has no issues. Lefty has never hunted with other dogs very well. Sometimes he’ll hunt with Slick, sometimes he won’t. What I won’t tolerate is Lefty interfering with, or bullying Slick on a tree, which he has been doing. That can get very ugly really fast.
Archertl
Senior Member
Curs are kind of known for fighting at the base of a tree. Houndsmen out here call it boxing. It is more prevalent in black mouth's and catahoula's but mt curs do it too. My mt cur Saber would fight with my dad's dog Lane. However Saber ran well with a female named Star. I had this problem briefly with my catahoula Lacey working sheep with my wife's border collie Juno. If had lacey wearing a flock from the back and sent juno around the side to keep the flock tight lacey would nail her. It was a little easier to correct lacey because you are always with the dogs while herding.
That stuff can ruin good dogs as i am sure you know. Most the time it is k9 possessiveness and jealously. There is no easy fix for it. You have a better chance of fixing it if you can get there and correct him using a shaker bottle than using an e collar. It seems to get the point across better for that kind of stuff.
That stuff can ruin good dogs as i am sure you know. Most the time it is k9 possessiveness and jealously. There is no easy fix for it. You have a better chance of fixing it if you can get there and correct him using a shaker bottle than using an e collar. It seems to get the point across better for that kind of stuff.
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I did mix up the names, though I don’t know how. Point being if you were to take Lefty on his own I’m guessing he’d still pile up rats. Seems like he spends his time watching Slick get busy and then gets pissy at the finish line. He has obviously never accepted the fact you’ve introduced Slick into a game he enjoyed playing with only you.
Brock and Tom are spot on. this is 100% jealousy and possessiveness. Lefty isn't all bad all the time, and he will hunt better by himself. some days he'll hunt just fine right along with Slick. there does not seem to be any pattern to this behavior, or misbehavior especially, other than that I can count on it to occur more often than not. I won't let Lefty cause problems on a tree. Slick is still learning and deserves better. I physically intervene by whatever means necessary when I get to the tree. I don't fool around with commands or electricity when in comes to that. It's my experience, and strong opinion, that I have to be the alpha dog at all times, especially when they are on a tree and hyper excited. We still have fun, but it gets frustrating some days. Slick and I go without Lefty today after I get done getting some things in order in the deer woods for this weekend.
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The next time we get together, just plan on leaving that no-count Lefty with me and Mason. Problem solved. 
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Greg is right. I'm thinking we might both get our throats slit in our sleep if I left him behind. well, I would, anyway. Your fate would be worse. this particular Italian woman carrying out a vendetta over her beloved brown butthole dog will be worse than having your throat cut. I better just keep him, for all our sakes, lol.
there's just something I really like about this little grey and white dog. It is joyous beyond description to hunt with such a talented and well mannered dog. Shrewd on the ground, ferocious on a tree, and as amiable as a dog can be otherwise. Slick was simply flawless today. found the meat with no dickin' around, stayed on trees double overtime on some stubborn rats that wanted to play hide and seek with me. I knew we would have a good day today since I saw at least 8 squirrels while driving. rats out of their holes today. Young Slickie sniffed them out quick, too. only went to two dens, both mammoth shagbark hickories full of holes. Squirrel hotels. saw 6, killed 6. I shot well even though I had to take a couple of really tight shots. the last squirrel was really stubborn. I finally decided to take what I thought was a body shot. turns out what I thought was his shoulder was the back of his head. blew his brains out by accident. delightful
Slick likes to clean them up for the hero pics.
did us both proud today.
Slick 32
Lefty 7
I picked two #6 shot pellets out of the last squirrel I skinned today. Spraying fox squirrels with 6 shot is not often going to kill them. just sayin'.
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sure was a gorgeous afternoon to be in the woods with the dogs. kept it simple and only made one stop in a fairly big woods that I've only visited one other time this season. we went to as many dens as we did to trees with squirrels in them. Rats very, very stubborn today. Dogs hunted, but got impatient on a couple of the squirrels and ran off the tree to me, which usually forces me to take less than desirable shots or just walk away. I didn't feel like walking away today, so I took the best shots I could get and still managed to shoot three of them in the head. Slick treed all four of the squirrels we saw today, and they all came home with us after some annoyingly long games of hide and seek. We probably could have got a couple more on another drop, but I just didn't feel like it today. was a pretty nice short hunt. maybe try to get one in tomorrow morning before I have to start christmasing.
Slick 36
Lefty 7
Slick 36
Lefty 7
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I did squeeze in a decent hunt yesterday. Nancy insisted that I take the dogs out before dinner at her folks place at Apple Valley. Mohican state forest is only about 10 miles away and I know a couple of places there. very pleasant afternoon in the woods, but somebody forgot to tell the squirrels. dogs ran their asses off trying to find somethin to bark at. ran my ass ragged in the process. even Lefty had his sassy pants on. They tried hard, but only found three. two got dead and the last one got away because I couldn't get a clear shot. sure looked like a clear path to squirrels head, but I was hitting twigs 5 shots in a row. usually you can clear out the small obstructions with two or three shots. no such luck. the last one was a grey squirrel, and they get antsy pretty quick compared to fox squirrels when you start shooting at them. sure expected to do better, but it was good long walk for some holiday stress relief. the rest of the day was pretty good, too.
Slick 38
Lefty 8
Slick 38
Lefty 8