serious Lefty
- Thread starter Jamie
- Start date
took Lefty out by myself again today, and he found me another limit. I love the way he is hunting; treeing strong and staying put. he only made two den trees, the rest were meat. I'm shooting the rifle as good as I ever have. I bugeyed six squirrels today with no backup. somebody pinch me. :smiley_bril: discovered that Lefty likes to eat the eyeballs hanging out of their sockets. is hysterical to watch him carefully pluck them from the skull. he's a strange little dog, but he brings the meat. skinning warm headshot squirrels is one of the most pleasurable things a fella can do. 
I took the day off from squirrel hunting to hunt rabbits with bows with Switchhitter on Saturday, but we did manage to get in a pretty good hunt yesterday before the snow settled in for good. This particular place in Knox Co. has both Grey and Fox squirrels. Lefty treed just two greys and neither of them stayed put long enough for a shot. one ran to a hole while I was lining up a shot, the other bailed and Lefty chased it a hundred yards or so right to a hole. He treed five fox squirrels, and four of them got dead. Shooters couldn't hit the last one he treed and it made it to a hole. :frown: in all fairness to the shooters, it was snowing pretty hard by then. :smiley_coolpeace:
I'll never understand squirrel habits in late season. Took the dog out yesterday after it warmed up above 15 degrees. bright sunshine, no wind, 5" of fresh powder on the ground with squirrel tracks everywhere. We covered a ton of ground and Lefty ran his ass off, but only made 6 or 8 den trees and found two squirrels, which got dead. I sure expected them to be moving better than that. if we get a bunch of rain today then bitter cold again the f'd up crusty snow might keep us from going again this season. I'd sure like to get out another time or two, but it doesn't look good. maybe sneak in one last deer hunt on sunday...
last year on the last day of the season my buddy, his two superb finished dogs, and Lefty and I waded through 6" of snow on a rather foggy day to collect two limits of squirrels. a remarkable day of squirrel hunting, for sure, but we had some serious dog power that day.
although I had my doubts about the conditions yesterday, the snow loosened up and was not any problem for the dog at all. We headed out shortly before 1 pm after it warmed up to near freezing with bright sunshine. turned out to be a pretty fantastic end to our squirrel season again this year. as usual, Lefty nailed one within a minute of me turning him loose. after a couple of hours and a few den trees later he made a tree with three squirrels in it, and by some miracle, we were able to knock them all out, but not without incident. Nancy shot the first one out, then I put a good head shot on the second, but he fell 20 feet directly into a large crotch and was stone dead. after I shot, the third squirrel revealed himself and I was able to pop him after he stopped in the top that big old Red Oak. two in the bag, one laying 40 feet up in a crotch on his back. what to do? I hate leaving them like that, and usually there is nothing we can do to get them. this time, from the opposite side of the tree we could see his head, so I figured with nothing to lose besides a few rounds, we might as well try to shoot him out. damned if the third shot didn't move him enough for gravity to take over. sweeeet. :smiley_bril:
off we went to a couple more dens before we moved to another woods where we took six more in just over an hour, two from one tree. Lefty really at the top of his game for the last few weeks. Tracking them down, winding them, spotting them and chasing them up trees and staying with them no matter how far they timber out. Considering my ineptness as a dog handler, his progression has been quite amazing. He really is a natural, and I really am fortunate to have him. I'm getting better at understanding what he's doing and correcting him more quickly when he is doing something undesirable like milling around too much or cold trailing or leaving a tree or whatever. We're both making progress, but the learning never stops for either of us. that's the real fun of it.
Another fruitful and fun season of squirrel doggin' has come and gone. time flies. would be nice if the time between now and next season would pass so quickly.
although I had my doubts about the conditions yesterday, the snow loosened up and was not any problem for the dog at all. We headed out shortly before 1 pm after it warmed up to near freezing with bright sunshine. turned out to be a pretty fantastic end to our squirrel season again this year. as usual, Lefty nailed one within a minute of me turning him loose. after a couple of hours and a few den trees later he made a tree with three squirrels in it, and by some miracle, we were able to knock them all out, but not without incident. Nancy shot the first one out, then I put a good head shot on the second, but he fell 20 feet directly into a large crotch and was stone dead. after I shot, the third squirrel revealed himself and I was able to pop him after he stopped in the top that big old Red Oak. two in the bag, one laying 40 feet up in a crotch on his back. what to do? I hate leaving them like that, and usually there is nothing we can do to get them. this time, from the opposite side of the tree we could see his head, so I figured with nothing to lose besides a few rounds, we might as well try to shoot him out. damned if the third shot didn't move him enough for gravity to take over. sweeeet. :smiley_bril:
off we went to a couple more dens before we moved to another woods where we took six more in just over an hour, two from one tree. Lefty really at the top of his game for the last few weeks. Tracking them down, winding them, spotting them and chasing them up trees and staying with them no matter how far they timber out. Considering my ineptness as a dog handler, his progression has been quite amazing. He really is a natural, and I really am fortunate to have him. I'm getting better at understanding what he's doing and correcting him more quickly when he is doing something undesirable like milling around too much or cold trailing or leaving a tree or whatever. We're both making progress, but the learning never stops for either of us. that's the real fun of it.
Another fruitful and fun season of squirrel doggin' has come and gone. time flies. would be nice if the time between now and next season would pass so quickly.
- 25,374
- 261
after making sausage and working in the shop all week, I decided to get the dog out before everything gets flooded tomorrow. had a heckuva fun morning. Lefty made 19 trees, 8 of which produced a squirrel I actually saw, many of the rest were obvious dens, but a couple probably had a squirrel hiding too good for me to find it. since I'm not busy trying to shoot them out to him now, this is a good time to coach up the dog a bit and get some photos of him. we had a fantastic outing today, and I found a nice 5 point shed to boot. 
Archertl
Senior Member
He is a good looking dog jamie.
Curs generally seem to do odd things. Every female i have owned refuses to go to the bathroom anywhere but in a bush. Every cur i have owned refuses to play fetch the concept is lost on them. Yesterday it rained and i caught lacey eating earth worms out of the grass like spaghetti.
Curs generally seem to do odd things. Every female i have owned refuses to go to the bathroom anywhere but in a bush. Every cur i have owned refuses to play fetch the concept is lost on them. Yesterday it rained and i caught lacey eating earth worms out of the grass like spaghetti.
thanks, Tom. I'm not bragging, but he really is a fine specimen. even our Vet. has commented on his physique several times.
yea, they all seem to be quirky in some way. Lefty loves to fetch, even swimming after a tennis ball in the pond. I had to teach him that he could swim when he was about a year old, but I can't keep him out of the water now. he came here ten weeks old to live with two 10 year old 100+lb stout yellow Labs. fetching is what his pack did, remainder still does, including Lefty. Lefty is funny about his "business", too. he likes to poop on tree stumps, or in a bush if there isn't a stump in sight. this Cur dog has been a joy to have around. razor sharp, friendly, intelligent and obedient, a good watch dog, and a good tree dog. I think I need another one. sure hope I can find a suitable Dam and get a pup or two out of him.
yea, they all seem to be quirky in some way. Lefty loves to fetch, even swimming after a tennis ball in the pond. I had to teach him that he could swim when he was about a year old, but I can't keep him out of the water now. he came here ten weeks old to live with two 10 year old 100+lb stout yellow Labs. fetching is what his pack did, remainder still does, including Lefty. Lefty is funny about his "business", too. he likes to poop on tree stumps, or in a bush if there isn't a stump in sight. this Cur dog has been a joy to have around. razor sharp, friendly, intelligent and obedient, a good watch dog, and a good tree dog. I think I need another one. sure hope I can find a suitable Dam and get a pup or two out of him.
How is lefty with other dogs Jamie? Tom what about yours? They pack up pretty good both in the woods and out??? If I remember right didn't Lefty have issues with hunting with other dogs??? Kind of curious as I'm thinking of picking up a pup for my retirement project lol.... Other than a beagle that is....
Lefty gets along fine with other dogs in every circumstance, provided other dogs are not out of balance and causing a problem. Lefty doesn't take any shit from ill mannered dogs, but doesn't start any, either. if anything, he is overly friendly. his issue when hunting with other dogs is that he simply does not get out and hunt like he does when he is the only dog. won't hardly let me out of his sight most of the time when hunting with other dogs. it's a jealous, protective behavior. he likes me too much.
yes. "natural" might be a stretch, but we feed them fresh dog food, and I highly recommend it. they don't eat as much, they don't crap as much, they don't shed as much, and they are clearly healthier. even my broken down 12 year old lab is hanging tough. he's in better condition now that he was two years ago.
all said and done, this costs a very slightly more than really good quality dry food, but it is totally worth it. we still feed them a bit of dry food to help keep their teeth clean and treats made for cleaning teeth, too. having an electric meat mixer and meat lugs and other things for processing venison and such makes the job of making dog food 60 pounds at a time much easier.
all said and done, this costs a very slightly more than really good quality dry food, but it is totally worth it. we still feed them a bit of dry food to help keep their teeth clean and treats made for cleaning teeth, too. having an electric meat mixer and meat lugs and other things for processing venison and such makes the job of making dog food 60 pounds at a time much easier.