I decided to take it easy today. I wanted to bring Lefty out one more time this season, so I planned on visiting a few smaller spots just to get him out and not run Slick ragged so he'll have something in the tank tomorrow. I picked up Uncle Charlie on the way. I figured we would get 5 or 6 today with two of us looking for them, but the rats were out big time today. I suspect that there is some squirrel rutting going on again right now as Slick got two doubles today. The dogs showed us 11 and I skinned them all. Shooters did ok, too. Lefty even got one, the very last one of the day and blew its brains out. We got 5 on the first stop, one on the second stop and five more on the last stop. I'm sure we could have found one more if we loosed the dogs in another woods, but this was supposed to be a short day, so we kept it that way. We piled them up quick today, only hunting for about three hours. Slick and I go for one more romp tomorrow.
first 5
the whole mess
Slick 106
first 5
the whole mess
Slick 106
I'm sure glad we had a big day yesterday because today was the complete opposite. I took the longest walk of all today to see a grand total of 4 squirrels, one of which I had to shake out of a leaf nest with a vine. The woods were completely dead all day long. No songbirds singing, no wind blowing. Nothing moving at all. Slick went to dens and well kept leaf nests all day long. Squirrels just not moving today for whatever bizzarro reason that makes squirrels do what they do. I did manage to shoot two of them, and hit some clutter and missed one that made a short dash into a hole. The last one we saw was the one I shook out of a nest. After a very long walk down a river bottom that usually produces several squirrels, and that I have not stepped foot in this season until today, and all the way back without seeing a squirrel or Slick even getting very excited about a tree, he got on one about 100 yards from the truck. It was a small Walnut tree with some vines on it and a large leaf nest about 25 feet off the ground. Slick was very hot on this tree. I was pretty sure there was a squirrel in that leaf nest, so I walked to the tree and said to him "we gonna make this one come out to play." With that I gave the big vine a shake and out came the squirrel, up the tree and tried to get into another leaf nest higher up, but could not get in it, or at least I could still see the squirrel, so I hurried over to a rest and got the gun up only to see the squirrel run to the top of the tree and timber out. Slick lost it for a second, but the squirrel kept going and kept pointing and he finally spotted it again. The squirrel jumped to three trees, then to a dead one with several holes. This squirrel was having a helluva time, lol. It tried to get into three different holes and could not fit in any of them. I almost got a shot at it then, but I just couldn't get one off before it timbered out again, then finally bailed to the ground where Slick was waiting. An entertaining foot chase ensued, but Slick was not able to catch it before it ran up a tree and straight to a hole. That's just the kind of day it was. We made the best of it, but even Slicks enthusiasm was waning after another ten or so dens with no squirrels to see. My legs are jello, and I am totally spent. I think I managed to even wear Slick out with three big days in a row. A rather dismal final hunt of the season, but it makes me happy that my dog never quit on a day like today. Nobody needs another tailgate hero pic and I was too tired to bother.
