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Squirrel Doggin' 24-25

Jamie

Senior Member
5,986
177
Ohio
12 years ago on this very day I killed my first limit of squirrels with Lefty. I can barely believe it has been more than a decade now. Much has happened since then. Dear friends lost, new ones found. We have covered quite a lot of miles, the dogs and me. For all of the hunting I've done in my life, these last twelve years of hunting with dogs has provided me with fondest memories that I have. I've had some memorable deer hunts over the years, some grand adventures out of state and out of the country shooting wooden arrows at the critters that live in those places. None of that compares to the collection of special moments I have accumulated behind my dogs. They teach me and test me every time I drop the tailgate. They piss me off royally, they worry me to death and make me as proud as I can be, sometimes all in the same day, lol. I am fortunate, indeed, to have had the opportunity to experience all of this with them. Sharing it with you all, too.

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Please note the look of utter surprise/confusion our both of our faces. ;)

I promised myself there would be no monologue as a prelude to squirrel season this year, but there it is anyway. We sure have come a long way. Tomorrow, we go a little further.
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,986
177
Ohio
Weather not exactly great for squirrel hunting today. It never did completely quit drizzling. Still, a pretty decent first hunt. Somehow, Lefty treed two and Slick treed two. I walked away from Slicks first one since he wouldn't stay on the tree. The other three got shot in the head. I had pretty tight windows on two of them. I shot well today. I also found a large flush of jumbo Oyster mushrooms. They were totally water logged. So much so that I'm not sure I want to try cooking any of them tonight. Maybe I can pat some of the water out some of the smaller ones? Ole Lefty still hanging tough. I'd imagine Lefty's biggest fan will be quite happy to hear that the old Yugo outshined the Lamborghini today. :LOL: Pretty fun season opener.

As you can see in the pic, Lefty still reeling from his unusually good performance today. That dog. :rolleyes: I sure do love him. :)

IMG_4536.jpg
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,986
177
Ohio
Weather worse today than yesterday. Soggy, foggy and rainy. Lefty stayed home, Slick and I got wet. He treed three that I could find, two came home with us, the other gave me the slip somehow as I was maneuvering for clear shot. No idea where that one went, but Slick did a helluva job staying with that one for as long as it took me to get there and try to find a shot. Went for a long walk, went to lots of dens, but did as good as I would have expected. Started raining pretty hard after a couple hours and Slick stopped smelling squirrels. Try again tomorrow. Raining too hard for hero pic.

Slick 4
Lefty 2
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,986
177
Ohio
Squirrels not doing much today but we had some fun, anyway. Less than a minute after I let them go, both dogs cut loose together only about 100 yards from me. As I approached them, I saw the squirrel was already pretty antsy. I hurried to get a shot, but I was not fast enough. The squirrel timbered to another tree and went straight to a leaf nest. Unfortunately for the squirrel, there were long vines going clear up to the nest. I figured it would be slow today, so decided to create some action for the dogs. They were already on the second tree with the nest when I jiggled the vines a little. They know what happens next, and they were both ready. Squirrel came out, timbered out two or three trees and into another nest, dogs hot on it's heels. More vines, so I gave them a shake, out came the squirrel, which ran all the way to the top of the tree and was dancing around. I loaded the gun and took a rest thinking I would get at least a marginal shot at a dancing rat. Squirrel proceeded to run all the way down the tree to the ground and made a run for it. Slick was watching and ready to pounce. The chase was on, and Slick closed that 20 foot gap between them in two seconds while poor old Lefty got left in the dust, literally. I thought for a moment that Slick had the squirrel, but the rat got up another tree and into another leaf nest. I thought Lefty's head was going to explode, :LOL:. He was standing there looking at me like "WTF!!!, they aren't supposed to do that!!!" Slick wasn't too disappointed with his effort, and neither was I. There were vines on that tree, too, but I figured we had terrorized that squirrel enough already and the dogs were hyped up enough. That was a good team effort by the dogs and one of those times when I wished I had a GoPro strapped to my forehead.

On we went, Slick treed about 300 yards out and by the time I got there, he was not interested in staying on the tree, and I did not see a squirrel or hole or a nest. We had light dusting of snow come down right before we started hunting and there were plenty of squirrel tracks around. After a couple more dens Lefty found a live one in a huge Cottonwood. I had to move around a lot to get into position for a shot, but the squirrel stayed still long enough for me to blow his brains out. Slick got the next one and it was in the middle of godawful thick patch of Japanese honeysuckle in a smallish tree. Lots of limbs and crap, so I centered the reticle and squeezed. I heard the bullet hit the squirrel, but it was not in the head. Squirrel dancing around, I cannot hardly move for all the damn honeysuckle. I managed to get off a couple more shots hitting nothing but twigs. The squirrel finally stopped long enough for me to shoot it in the body and it just went limp, hung up on small limbs 30 feet up. I made my way over to the tree and pumped a couple rounds into the head, but did not move the squirrel. Last resort, try to shoot the small branches holding the squirrel. Only took one shot and down he came after I shot a twig a little smaller in diameter than a dime that was helping hold him up there. We hunted on for another couple of hours and the dogs barely made a peep. The wind picked up considerably about 10:30 and I did not see a squirrel after 10. They were out early as indicated by lots of fresh tracks in the new snow, but they were not active very long. Pretty good hunt. Lefty even got another one. :) No pics again today. One each and they both get credit for the first one.

Slick 6
Lefty 4
 
I coonhunted for years and it was a shock to me when I started hunting squirrels with dogs. Didn't realize the squirrels would timber as much as they would and even more surprised how many times they would come down the tree and bail out right by the dogs and make a run for it. Even on big trees.
 
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Jamie

Senior Member
5,986
177
Ohio
It's really cool, and a little disturbing, when they fly out of the top of a tree. They seem to only ever do it when they are super panicked. Squirrels can sort of glide a little when they want to. They usually bounce about a foot and a half when the hit the ground. Then run like hell, lol. You have to see this escape tactic in person to really appreciate it.
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,986
177
Ohio
Lefty snatched one off the side of a tree one time. The squirrel ran all the way down the tree and he timed it just right and plucked that little bastard off the tree about 4 feet off the ground. The squirrel bit him and got free, up another tree and into a hole but still, it was a nifty move for Lefty. I imagine a 3lb Fox squirrel free falling 40 feet and traveling 50 mph would probably cause injury to the dog if they tried. Slick caught one on the first bounce one time, which was also a kodak moment. :)
 
Lefty snatched one off the side of a tree one time. The squirrel ran all the way down the tree and he timed it just right and plucked that little bastard off the tree about 4 feet off the ground. The squirrel bit him and got free, up another tree and into a hole but still, it was a nifty move for Lefty. I imagine a 3lb Fox squirrel free falling 40 feet and traveling 50 mph would probably cause injury to the dog if they tried. Slick caught one on the first bounce one time, which was also a kodak moment. :)

In our limited experience it seems that the fox squirrels stay put a little bit better than the gray. Not sure if that is your experience as well. We don't have as many fox around here.
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,986
177
Ohio
I’m of the opinion that Grey squirrels are not programmed to escape danger on the ground. Their first and only instinct is to stay up in treetops until they find a hole. I have never seen a Grey fly out of a treetop to the ground. Fox squirrels, on the other hand, will regularly run down the length of a 50’ tall tree directly toward the danger, or just fly out to get their feet on the ground to make a run for it. Eastern Fox squirrels are just dumber and more comfortable on the ground than Greys. And more entertaining. 😆
 
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finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
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SW Ohio
They are tough lil bastards for sure! A few days ago I hit a gray and he fell 40’ hitting a 2” limb and my owl platform on way down and hit the ground bouncing up about a foot and scurried 35 yards into a small stack of pear firewood I had stacked up. He had no idea where I was cuz I was shooting from our master bath window(pellet gun) and I gave him 30 minutes hoping I’d find him dead still in there but he was gone and no blood anywhere. Got 2 others though and 3 total in the salted water in the fridge.
I’m convinced they multiply faster than bunny rabbits!
 
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"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
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North Carolina
Greys have a lot of red squirrel tendencies, fox squirrels are the big dummies of the squirrel species….
Greys/blacks move in, fox move out. They won’t even put up with their shit…..
One thing I have noticed, the wood lot I deer hunt in is a small <10 acre parcel, the north side of it has fox squirrels. The south side of it has the greys and blacks…… Rarely do you see them commingling together….. Also, what used to be majority fox squirrels, is now greys and blacks….
 
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Jamie

Senior Member
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177
Ohio
I really thought we would do well today, but it was a dud. Slick trailed/chased? one a quarter of a mile and I was about to zap him for chasing trash, but he stopped and settled on a tree just in time. When I caught up, I found the squirrel fast, but by the time I got the gun up he was timbering. Timbered through 5 or 6 trees, then bailed out of one about 30 feet up. Slick almost had him on the bounce, but squirrel got moving and up another tree. Only went up about 5 feet then bailed again and Slick chased him another 20 yards up another tree. Lefty finally caught up with the party (he did not do anything at all today). Squirrel went to the top and was dancing around while I got close enough to shoot. Squirrel jumped around in the tree top for a few seconds before stopping long enough for me to pop him in the noggin. Was a fun chase, and dogs did great staying with that one. Would be the only squirrel we saw today and I walked over 4 miles. Lots of fresh tracks in the 1/2" of powdery snow we got late last night, but they sure didn't stay active very long. I'd say I went to two dozen dens/nests, empty trees today. Rats just not out today.
Slick 7
Lefty 4
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,986
177
Ohio
In our limited experience it seems that the fox squirrels stay put a little bit better than the gray. Not sure if that is your experience as well. We don't have as many fox around here.
To answer your question, yes, Fox squirrels hold tight more often and longer than Greys in my experience as well.
 
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