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Squirrel Doggin' 20-21

Jamie

Senior Member
5,977
177
Ohio
headed north today. pretty chilly this morning, and squirrel action was luke warm at best, but it was steady for the entire time we hunted. Dogs worked hard, though, and kept us moving. we went to three or four dens for every squirrel we saw, which was a total of 6. Slick treed them all, and one grey got away by running into a hole before we could shoot. the other five came home with us. The fast dog found the meat today.

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Slick 33
Lefty 21
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,977
177
Ohio
I wanted to do a short hunt this morning before the weather got here and because we're taking the day off tomorrow to rest up for Friday. I'm taking an old buddy of mine that I haven't seen in several years, and want fresh dogs for that. Lefty wanted no part of leaving the house this morning. I could see he was tired yesterday, so I took Slick out solo, brought The Goof along, too. We had a nice little hunt with light snow most of the two hours we hunted. Slick did what Slick does. He ran hard, found five for us, and did a damn good job on every tree. He's way better on a tree when Lefty isn't around. Saw five, killed five, and went to a few dens. nice morning hunt.

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I got this video of the last squirrel he treed. The Goofs motto is "...the more you shoot the more you get." I beg to differ. I'm sure glad I'm not supplying his ammo. :ROFLMAO: Slick really prefers they fall to him on the first shot as this is what he has come to expect. ;)


Slick 39
Lefty 21
 
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Jamie

Senior Member
5,977
177
Ohio
I pressure can most of it, but I do freeze quite a few, too. canned squirrel is really nice to have on hand. canned squirrel gravy is tough to beat, especially in the spring when I have fresh ramps.
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,977
177
Ohio
Got together with my old friend Allen. We go back a long way to the days we worked together slinging boxes at UPS and RPS, nka FedEx. 8 or 9 years ago I helped him make a bow. don't think we've spoken more than once or twice since. Damn good to reconnect on a romp with the dogs. Conditions were a little tough as we had another inch or so of new snow this morning. Still, we had a fun day. the dogs worked their asses off, but the squirrels weren't out too great, or were holing up quick. We went to many dens and nests, and did find 8 squirrels, 6 went home with Allen. Al did all the shooting today. Two got away on missed shots, and I finished off a couple that weren't hit too good. Dogs did me proud again today.

Slick just never quits. still looking for a rat during his hero shot.

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Slick 43
Lefty 25
 
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Jamie

Senior Member
5,977
177
Ohio
another great day of rat chasing yesterday with Brock, and briefly Mason. the dogs hunted well, and found the meat for us. It took the dogs a few minutes to get on one, but we got three pretty fast before stopping to check the zero on Brocks scope and skin those first three. Shortly after letting the dogs loose again, Slick treed pretty fast, and squirrel was easy to see. seemed like a slam dunk, but somehow Brock missed. The squirrel timbered out two or three trees and Brock kept firing and I had shouldered my rifle by then, too. The squirrel tried to get into a leaf nest, but flew back out after a few seconds, and the shooting started again, the dogs going nuts the whole time as they saw the squirrel. just as soon as the squirrel came back out of the nest, two more followed. the chaos that ensued was surely a sight to behold. it sounded like the shootout at the OK corral, lol. :LOL: squirrels running around everywhere, dogs running around in circles trying to keep up with three spastic rats running for their lives, and the two of us trying to shoot running squirrels with .22 rifles. Two eventually hit the ground and Lefty tenderized them for us. while we gathered up those two we heard a squirrel barking from inside a large old piece of farm equipment in the middle of the woods not 30 feet from us. upon investigation, we found squirrel number one had sought refuge in the old hunk of scrap metal during the commotion, but was to much of an asshole to keep quiet. Brock claimed to have a vendetta against this particular squirrel for some sort of altercation weeks ago while he was deer hunting. We found the little bastard in there, and rousted him out with stick, but he found another hiding spot in there real fast. the dogs could see it and Brock finally poked around enough that it got the squirrel to make a run for it. he didn't get far before Slick had it, or more exactly, it had Slick by the lower jaw, Lefty grabbed the rest of the squirrel and played tug of war with poor Slick who had a real mother fucker of a squirrel attached to his face. eventually Lefty squeezed the life out of the squirrel, Slick got the worst of it, though. LOL, he seemed pretty proud of himself despite bleeding more than the squirrel was. After that fracas, Brock was convinced that we had the right one.(y) The ruction between Brock and squirrel brought to its conclusion. The dogs treed 15 for us in total, 13 came home with me. One that I shook out of a leaf nest got away and into another hole, and we left one hanging. I shot it square in the head, and it tried to flop out of the tree, but somehow got stuck on top of a large broken splintered branch. we pumped it full of lead, but could not get it to fall. pisser. just when I shot this one, another took off out a leaf nest in the same tree only a few feet from the one I shot. Both Brock and the dogs saw it and the dogs stayed with it about 40 yards where it stopped and offered a shot, which Brock made.

We took a break and cleaned the nine squirrels before turning the dog loose again in another woods. That woods did not produced a half dozen dens, but not a single squirrel was seen, and the rain started. When Mason caught up with us the rain was picking up and we decided to go back where we had started. the rain continued, and the dogs only showed us one more squirrel, which Mason shot in the noggin. We had pretty much non-stop action all day, and didn't really go to a den until after our mid day break. And I tripped over a shed antler on our way to the first squirrel we shot. always a welcome bonus. thanks, buddy. we'll do it again after the holidays.

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Slick got 6 on his own, Lefty got 6 on his own, and they both get credit for the two that fled their nest, the one that fled the nest in the tree we left the one hung up

Slick 51
Lefty 33
 
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Jamie

Senior Member
5,977
177
Ohio
it bears mentioning that I really made out like a bandit on this trip. not only did I get to spend the day in the woods with dogs, friends squirrels and rifles, I got to put my hands on Mason's buck (and I'm here to tell you, the pictures barely do it justice), brought home a pile of squirrels, and all of these wild turkey feathers. SCORE! much appreciate you all taking the time to save these for me. some of them will steer an arrow into a deer's chest some day.

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Jamie

Senior Member
5,977
177
Ohio
Got Nancy out for her first squirrel hunt of the season. We only made two stops, but the dogs did a nice job of running us to death and finding some squirrels. we saw 8, killed six, and went to that many more dens. Lefty got onto another triple today, plus there was another squirrel in a different tree a short distance away from the tree with three. we only shot two of those four. I have to admit, that the number of multi squirrel trees that Lefty has made is getting to be too many to be coincidence or blind luck. I'm not willing to concede that he isn't just a lucky little bastard, but maybe he really is that good. there was a time when I would have thought, that, yes, he really is that good. Lefty has really been hunting like his old self, like the "before Slick" Lefty. I think that makes three triples and two doubles for Lefty. Slick got three trees today, Lefty two. Nancy shooting lights out. Beautiful morning for a really nice short hunt.

we got four on the first stop, two on the last.

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Slick 54
Lefty 37
 
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Jamie

Senior Member
5,977
177
Ohio
three days of Christmasing is too much for me, even if all of it is as low key and devoid of drama as this year was. Nancy and I took the dogs out for some leg stretching as they have been cooped up for two days straight. sun out and temps above freezing loosened up the snow, but all the squirrels were laid up today. Slick hit three trees with squirrels in them, one of which was a double. Lefty did not find a squirrel that we saw, but he hunted his ass off. Both dogs went to several dens. I'm about 99% sure they winded every squirrel they treed today as they both weren't committing to a tree very well, and there were not fresh tracks in the snow. tons of old ones from yesterday and Friday, but squirrels just not on the ground today for some reason. Nancy missed the first one Slick treed and it ran into a hole. On the double, one squirrel was in a hole with its tail hanging out, and the other was tucked so tight in large crotch of this giant Sycamore that we walked away from it fearing it would not make it to the ground if we did shoot it. Nancy missed the last one that Slick treed, and it ran to a hole real fast, too. I think that is the only one that was on the ground before Slick found it. On our first stop I spotted three different squirrels that the dogs did not smell, see or hear despite running right under all three of them. Saw seven, killed none. Skinning boy finally gets a break. all of the fun, none of the mess. we'll get them next time.

Slick 58
Lefty 37