Squirrel Doggin' 2016
- Thread starter Jamie
- Start date
stayed in out of the rain yesterday. ended up taking my mother shopping for a carry gun, so it wasn't a total waste of a day. back after them today, and nothing was moving early this morning, including the dog, who was somewhat of a dick the whole day. wouldn't do anything early on, didn't listen too good, trying to drag me around when he was on a lead, and every other thing he could do to be difficult. we did get one before lunch on our second stop, got two after lunch after dog got his head out of his ass, two more on the next stop, so I decided to try one more spot that is usually good for a quick tree or two, and indeed it was. didn't take two minutes to tree and collect number six. for as poor a start as we had, I didn't have high hopes, but it turned out to be a pretty good day, and I shot exceedingly well. six center of the head shots. I even managed to keep Lefty off of them after they hit the ground, for the most part. 5 really big mature squirrels, and one runt, probably from the second litter of the year. We are very fortunate to have such good numbers of Easter Fox squirrels as they really have some meat on them. Lefty is on the bench tomorrow for some rest and "time out". Slick and I are gonna kill his first squirrel tomorrow, I just know it. :biggrin:
I couldn't even get his obstinate ass to look at me for his hero shot. this is the best I could do before I got pissed and gave up.
I couldn't even get his obstinate ass to look at me for his hero shot. this is the best I could do before I got pissed and gave up.
this is the difference between young of the year and full grown, well fed, flatland Eastern Fox squirrels. I realize that not many people go to any trouble to make squirrels a staple in their diet, but if you do, killing fox squirrels fills the freezer or jars nearly twice as fast at Greys. jus' sayin'.
yes, indeed. he is a moody friggin' dog sometimes. no good reason for it today. I have come to realize that he gets frustrated and bored when there is no game moving. I was very patient with him today, and he did redeem himself to some extent. we've been home for three hours and he still has a burr up his ass. These Curs are quite peculiar at times. I suppose I can live with it as long as he can find me a pile of squirrels every time out. :smiley_clap: he really has been hunting well.
The difference between shooting yearlings and nanny does lol....
Had the girls out as well Jamie, they weren't into it the first hour or so either but settled down and out the nose to the Grind stone so too speak....
Glad it worked out in the end...
Had the girls out as well Jamie, they weren't into it the first hour or so either but settled down and out the nose to the Grind stone so too speak....
Glad it worked out in the end...
Yeah, first drop netted 0, second was much better... 3 runs that lasted 2 hours.... Didn't pull the trigger on anything....
I just parked my butt on a stump and watched the action...
tracker 6
Junior Member
Gordo
Senior Member
Always appreciate following along with your squirrel season Jamie. I need to get out more and this thread makes that clear every year! Thanks for sharing.
Gordo
Senior Member
Gordo, et al, it is a blast. If you want to give it a go, let's hook up and turn the dog loose. already working on plans to visit some other TOO members for squirrel hunts. I have so much fun doing this, and so few people are doing this these days that I'm genuinely excited to share it.
of course, there are those days, moments when it isn't really much fun, but like deer hunting, you suck it up and keep going. that's just part of it. yesterday was such an occasion. was a cold, windy crappy day for squirrel hunting. Lefty needed a break and Slick needs to run. I knew that I would have to sacrifice some quality hunting time to get Slick started. What is now automatic with Lefty is still down the road a ways for Slick. I really have to work nonstop when I take Slick. work to keep him moving, work to encourage him when he is onto something, discourage him when he milling around cold trails and den trees, etc, etc. he didn't do much yesterday, and I only saw one squirrel the whole day. he barked on the tree, but was not eager to stay. I could have tied him and shot the squirrel out to him, but I elected to not do it. he did not really make the tree, but he almost did with my assistance. He did hunt pretty good the whole time. plenty of hunt in this dog so far, but he is not nearly as tree-minded as Lefty, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. he was barking on tracks a lot yesterday. not sure what to make of that other than he smelled something that got him excited enough to bark while he followed. Lefty has done it a few times, but not for a long time now. I doubt I would have done much better with Lefty yesterday. he likely would have nailed the one I saw and maybe found one or two more. try again later today.
of course, there are those days, moments when it isn't really much fun, but like deer hunting, you suck it up and keep going. that's just part of it. yesterday was such an occasion. was a cold, windy crappy day for squirrel hunting. Lefty needed a break and Slick needs to run. I knew that I would have to sacrifice some quality hunting time to get Slick started. What is now automatic with Lefty is still down the road a ways for Slick. I really have to work nonstop when I take Slick. work to keep him moving, work to encourage him when he is onto something, discourage him when he milling around cold trails and den trees, etc, etc. he didn't do much yesterday, and I only saw one squirrel the whole day. he barked on the tree, but was not eager to stay. I could have tied him and shot the squirrel out to him, but I elected to not do it. he did not really make the tree, but he almost did with my assistance. He did hunt pretty good the whole time. plenty of hunt in this dog so far, but he is not nearly as tree-minded as Lefty, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. he was barking on tracks a lot yesterday. not sure what to make of that other than he smelled something that got him excited enough to bark while he followed. Lefty has done it a few times, but not for a long time now. I doubt I would have done much better with Lefty yesterday. he likely would have nailed the one I saw and maybe found one or two more. try again later today.
Gordo
Senior Member
I have plenty of places to roam around here in Athens/meigs/vinton. Definitely not worried about shooting anything, but I'd love to tag along just to see the dogs work.
It'd be great to talk stick bows too.
You live down here in the hills somewhere?
It'd be great to talk stick bows too.
You live down here in the hills somewhere?
How do you cook all them anyways been looking for some recipes and haven't found much on it
no, I live in extreme NW licking county. Johnstown area, but I hunt Hocking county south of Logan pretty regularly and some on Zaleski and WNF. whenever you're able to go, give me a shout. I'm pretty flexible.