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I’d say that’s a pretty fair day in relation to what I saw while deer hunting. I think I only saw four or five and I was out all day. Good job boys, and shooter.
Squirrel Doggin' 21-22
- Thread starter Jamie
- Start date
Dens, dens, and more dens. I don't know why, but squirrels were just not out very good this morning. Seems strange with this pleasant weather, but I'll never figure out why rats do what they do. I know we went to at least 20 trees this morning, and the dogs were very enthusiastic on nearly all of them. Both dogs were finding dens, and we went to 8 or 10 before Slick found a squirrel out of its hole. After I dispatched that one, he was on another one in less than one minute a couple hundred yards away. I had to play hide and seek with this one to get a good shot, and still only had about 2/3 of the head to shoot at. Head or nothing, and this one came home with us, too. The dogs hunted on for another half hour before they got bored and came looking for me. I sent them on headed toward our exit, and after much half-hearted barking and running around, Slick settled on a tree, I moseyed over there expecting to find a squirrel hotel, but he had one, and it was laid out nicely on a nearly horizontal branch 25' up. I poked a nice hole in my finger resting on the only sizeable tree in sight, a Honey Locust. 
Still, my streak of solid head shots continues. Slick found all three of the squirrels I shot today, but Lefty pulled one out of his ass as we left the woods. He treed literally right on the edge of the woods where we leave the timber to walk across a field to the truck. I was able to take a look at him on the tree from about 100 yards out, but I didn't see anything, although Lefty was really hammering this tree. Slick beat me there and was barking on a rather small tree about 20 yards from Lefty. I looked and looked, but never found a squirrel in Lefty's tree. I took a few steps toward Slick on his little tree, and about the time I spotted the squirrel, it took off timbering, but wound up in the tree I was standing next to. I had to do lots of maneuvering to get into position for a shot, but this squirrel was very, very stubborn. Lefty lost interest as he didn't see the squirrel bail, but Slick did. I moved, waited, threw big sticks and chunks of wood trying to scare the squirrel around the tree enough for a shot. I finally gave up. Stubborn squirrels live longer. So, there was lots of barking, and good trees to inspect, but I saw four, killed three, walked away from that last one. I cut it short as I could not walk another step in the woods today.
I may have set myself back tripping yesterday. It was not feeling good when I got up, and that is when it has been feeling the best. I should really have stayed home today as my hip is on fire, and it was really bothering me and slowing me down on a long walk in a big woods. Nurse it the rest of the day and see how it feels in the morning. I would really like to go tomorrow since the weather is going to be crappy Thursday and maybe Friday, then bonus gun weekend. play it by ear.
Slick 18
Lefty 5
Still, my streak of solid head shots continues. Slick found all three of the squirrels I shot today, but Lefty pulled one out of his ass as we left the woods. He treed literally right on the edge of the woods where we leave the timber to walk across a field to the truck. I was able to take a look at him on the tree from about 100 yards out, but I didn't see anything, although Lefty was really hammering this tree. Slick beat me there and was barking on a rather small tree about 20 yards from Lefty. I looked and looked, but never found a squirrel in Lefty's tree. I took a few steps toward Slick on his little tree, and about the time I spotted the squirrel, it took off timbering, but wound up in the tree I was standing next to. I had to do lots of maneuvering to get into position for a shot, but this squirrel was very, very stubborn. Lefty lost interest as he didn't see the squirrel bail, but Slick did. I moved, waited, threw big sticks and chunks of wood trying to scare the squirrel around the tree enough for a shot. I finally gave up. Stubborn squirrels live longer. So, there was lots of barking, and good trees to inspect, but I saw four, killed three, walked away from that last one. I cut it short as I could not walk another step in the woods today.I may have set myself back tripping yesterday. It was not feeling good when I got up, and that is when it has been feeling the best. I should really have stayed home today as my hip is on fire, and it was really bothering me and slowing me down on a long walk in a big woods. Nurse it the rest of the day and see how it feels in the morning. I would really like to go tomorrow since the weather is going to be crappy Thursday and maybe Friday, then bonus gun weekend. play it by ear.
Slick 18
Lefty 5
Yo Jamie ever use a squirrel call? When i was a kid I had a little box one with a little wood notched blade pice you worked the box with. It worked so good my big brother took it away from me.
I used to try and call them when I hunted them with bow and arrow. I didn't kill very squirrels back then, lol.
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Might get em to move around to your side when you’re alone. I have one. We will try it when you’re here.
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it sure won't hurt to try, though. you about ready for a geriatric squirrel hunt?
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Ha. Yessir. We will take chairs and stay close to the truck.
Too bad they can’t circle them like rabbits
It has been a week since I've been in the woods. I could not take it anymore. By the time I got where I was going, the wind had picked up quite a bit. Still, Slick was barking on a tree 15 seconds after I cleared him for takeoff. Lefty was there, too, but just standing around looking at me and barking. I spotted the squirrel on my approach, but I spent 5 minutes trying to get a clear shot, herding Slick back on his tree several times. Finally, I was about to unload my gun and move on because the dogs were acting like amateurs when the squirrel had had enough and timbered out. This squirrel went off through the tree tops, up and down trees for well over 100 yards before vanishing. I'll give the dogs their props. Between the two of them, they were able to keep track the entire way. We covered a fair amount of ground and went to a couple of promising trees, but no more squirrels were seen on that stop. The dogs were not smelling many squirrels at all. I decided to try one more small place before heading home to my ice packs and heating pad. Lefty both dogs ran off and treed as fast as they could cover their respective ground. Slick was closer, and I was heading to him first, but he left his tree before I even saw exactly where he was to join Lefty. Lefty was on a notorious huge Hickory den tree, but Slick was treeing about 30 yards away. I looked over both trees and made a move to get the sun out of my eyes. With a better view, I saw that Slick had a squirrel. I don't know if Lefty was on the wrong tree, if there were two squirrels or what. I found a rest and was loading my gun when Slick just ran off and started hunting again. I looked over Lefty's tree again from my new vantage point, but still nothing there. I was hoping Slick would get back to his tree, and I even called him back to it, but he did not stay. I walked away from that one, too. Not much more barking after that. I lousy day in the squirrel woods with distracted, impatient dogs is waaaay better than a relaxing day on the couch, in case you were wondering. Saw two, nary a shot fired. Slick not getting any credit for that shit show of treeing on both squirrels that he found.
Slick 18
Lefty 5
Slick 18
Lefty 5
Ice pack on my lower back with heating pad on my right shoulder as I read this lol. No squirrels but still sounded like a great time.
welcome to the broke down old fucks' fire and ice club.
what happened?
I think it's safe to say that the squirrel rut is in full swing in the woods we hunted today. As soon as we let the dogs loose, they took off and ran a long way. When they finally started barking, they did not stay treed long, and they were off and running. Running fast, Slick doing the high-pitched yipping bark that he always does when he is chasing something and is hot on its trail or can see it. They went in such a big loop that I wasn't sure they were chasing a squirrel. I didn't bother to go after them as their loop was bringing them back in. They did stop and bark on a tree in two different places but did not stay long enough to get me moving. After they made it back to us, I sent them off again, and after a few minutes, Lefty was on a tree. Slick beat us there, and Nancy spotted a squirrel immediately and loaded her gun. I moved around to push the squirrel back to her and noticed two more squirrels in the same tree. She shot and missed, one of the squirrels timbered out, and the dogs saw it and went after it. That one made it to a hole pretty fast, so I called the dogs and they got right back on the tree. Nancy tried to get another shot, but I ended up shooting the only one out of that tree, and when I did, the last one took off, and Nancy saw another one in a nearby tree timber out as well. The dogs saw the one timber out, took off and chased it into a hole while I picked up the dead one. Lefty gets a triple, plus one.
After all of that, I sent them off again and after a few minutes, Slick opened up, and he was out a pretty far. I got there just in time to see Slick sprint to another three about 50 yards away. Left was on an obvious den tree between the two, then left it and was just running around barking. He finally settled on the big Cottonwood, where Slick had been until he moved off. Slick flew back to the tree with Lety, and I spotted four squirrels in this tree. Nancy struggled to get into position for what seemed like 10 minutes. it took so long even I was getting bored, lol. All four of those squirrels stayed put the whole time until she finally pulled the trigger. Right after she put one in the noggin, while I was fighting Lefty off of the dead squirrel, Nancy watched four more squirrels in a tree next to the one she shot the squirrel out of. The other three in the tree the dogs were on stayed put, but one from the other tree bailed out to the ground and the dogs took off after it until it found a hole. Slick found 8 horny rats together. That's a new record for this spot. We could have probably killed a couple more squirrels, but we just don't need them. The dogs were fired up now and took off again. They ran a long way again and treed together. They stayed put until we got there to find they were treed on a dead ash tree trunk about 20 feet high with a few holes in it. We headed back to the truck and drove to another small woods. Slick was on one pretty fast there, but when we were about halfway to them, they took off yipping and barking again. They chased this one a good ways and treed again, but lost interest pretty fast. We never did see that one or even where the dogs were when it went in a hole. The dogs hunted around some more and Slick found another one. I saw the squirrel as we approached. Nancy got into position and proceeded to fire 4 times. She claims she was hitting twigs. I ended up shooting this one, too, and it would be the last one we would see today. The dogs did not go to many trees today. I guess they didn't need to. We ended up seeing 13, killed 3. Super fun morning hunt, and I had the last squirrel skinned before it started raining too hard.
Slick 27
Lefty 9
After all of that, I sent them off again and after a few minutes, Slick opened up, and he was out a pretty far. I got there just in time to see Slick sprint to another three about 50 yards away. Left was on an obvious den tree between the two, then left it and was just running around barking. He finally settled on the big Cottonwood, where Slick had been until he moved off. Slick flew back to the tree with Lety, and I spotted four squirrels in this tree. Nancy struggled to get into position for what seemed like 10 minutes. it took so long even I was getting bored, lol. All four of those squirrels stayed put the whole time until she finally pulled the trigger. Right after she put one in the noggin, while I was fighting Lefty off of the dead squirrel, Nancy watched four more squirrels in a tree next to the one she shot the squirrel out of. The other three in the tree the dogs were on stayed put, but one from the other tree bailed out to the ground and the dogs took off after it until it found a hole. Slick found 8 horny rats together. That's a new record for this spot. We could have probably killed a couple more squirrels, but we just don't need them. The dogs were fired up now and took off again. They ran a long way again and treed together. They stayed put until we got there to find they were treed on a dead ash tree trunk about 20 feet high with a few holes in it. We headed back to the truck and drove to another small woods. Slick was on one pretty fast there, but when we were about halfway to them, they took off yipping and barking again. They chased this one a good ways and treed again, but lost interest pretty fast. We never did see that one or even where the dogs were when it went in a hole. The dogs hunted around some more and Slick found another one. I saw the squirrel as we approached. Nancy got into position and proceeded to fire 4 times. She claims she was hitting twigs.
I ended up shooting this one, too, and it would be the last one we would see today. The dogs did not go to many trees today. I guess they didn't need to. We ended up seeing 13, killed 3. Super fun morning hunt, and I had the last squirrel skinned before it started raining too hard. Slick 27
Lefty 9
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Now that was a good time!
Just so you know, if we get together this year, we are killing rats! There will be none of this catch and release nonsense. I went into a piece tonight that I don’t think I’ve taken you too yet. It’s entirely possible I have but I don’t think so. I didn’t see a singe rat but did hear a good many cutting walnuts, I believe. It’s the same creek bottom at the back of Bills place, but we will go at it from a different angle.
Just so you know, if we get together this year, we are killing rats! There will be none of this catch and release nonsense. I went into a piece tonight that I don’t think I’ve taken you too yet. It’s entirely possible I have but I don’t think so. I didn’t see a singe rat but did hear a good many cutting walnuts, I believe. It’s the same creek bottom at the back of Bills place, but we will go at it from a different angle.
Archertl
Senior Member
It’s crazy the number of fox squirrels you kill vs grays. Trying to recollect if I’ve ever seen a gray on your tailgate actually! Lol
JARHEAD
Active Member
I've thought the same thing but neglected to say anything. 95% of squirrels in my ne k of the woods are grays. Couple fox. Never even seen a black but I have seen albino