Squirrel Doggin' 25-26
- Thread starter Jamie
- Start date
He is saying "We ran around for four hours in this weather and only saw three and you let one go! Please find us a better place to hunt, dickhead."
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I talked this over with the dog and he insisted on a pertinent edit. See above.
Took Uncle Charlie with me for our first hunt since last Friday. Slick had himself a day. Hunted like he was having fun for the first time this season. I'm happy he's back. Poom sumbitch has been through a lot in the last 10 months. Did me proud today. Shooters did ok, too. Got the black on a double on our way out of the first woods two hours after we walked right past that tree on the way in. Both of them males, which struck me as odd for a double this time of year with the squirrel rut full on. Four on the first stop, one on the next. We did about as good as I would have guessed today. Saw 6, killed 5. Slick found one about 15 yards from the truck in a thin strip along the creek. Young squirrel panicked after timbering through a few trees and ran down one to the ground. Slick was 12" from chomping it, but it got going and outran him through some thick brush to a big den tree with a hole. We never got a gun up as it all happened fast, but it was a good chase for the dog. Try again tomorrow.
Yesterday was dank, damp and still and we had a good day, although we did not see a Fox squirrel all day in a place where plenty of them. Sunny, warm with a nice breeze and we had another good day. Slick was on a mission today. Saw 9, killed 5. I had one timber out to a hole after a missed hail mary shot at a very stubborn squirrel after a long stand-off. Had one timber out to a hole as soon as I got to the tree. Two others the dog did not see. They just scurried past me while I was standing still and the dog was out of sight. Beautiful day to be out. Literally the nicest day we've had all season. Slick went 20. 4 miles today. That is covering some ground. We visited four spots. Got one early on the first stop, two on the second stop, none on the third (the one that bailed after I missed), two on the last stop. Stay dry and rest tomorrow and Saturday.
I kept a careful count of our action today. We went to 26 trees today in four hours. 19 of them were leaf nests, three were holes, 2 were just empty trees, and two had a squirrel. We walked a long way today to see only two, both of which got a lethal 40gr. dose of lead. Wind unrelenting today, and the rats were not moving. Try again tomorrow. Slick showed a lot of heart today. He hunted hard and fast until we quit. He’s about back down to fighting weight now, too. Looking like his svelte younger self.
Tough day afield today. Builds character.
and beats sitting at home.
and beats sitting at home."Some days you just can't miss..."
For all intents and purposes, today was pretty much a carbon copy of yesterday. Wind not yielding at all. Slick did show me 6 squirrels today, but we went to a couple dozen more trees, besides. Four of those got shot in the head. Of the 6, three were in holes but I could still see them, which is surely a world record for such a thing. I never try to shoot them in that circumstance, but I almost always try to scare them out of their hiding spot for the dog by shooting around the edges of the hole. Sometimes a little flying bark will get them moving, sometimes not. The first squirrel we saw this morning after visiting 8 other trees with nests or holes got made in an oblong "hole" of sorts in a large dead branch on a pretty big standing dead tree. This was not a great hiding spot as I could see about half of the squirrel. I briefly considered guessing which end was up and shooting accordingly. After a some deliberation, I opted to just shoot around the hole and try to scare it out for Slick since he had done a remarkable job finding it and staying with it for as long as it took for all of this to play out. I put one in the chamber and took a rest, put the crosshairs about 1/2" above the edge of the hollow. I pulled trigger and saw bark fly exactly where I was shooting and in that instant the squirrel fell out of the hole stone dead. I shot the poor sumbitch perfectly in the head (brains leaking out and all), which I could not even see! Apparently, the wood was very thin there and this was the unluckiest squirrel in the world. I've been on A LOT of squirrel hunts, but this is a bonafide first. Slick got his prize instead of a wild goose, er, squirrel chase. We'll take it. Rest up tomorrow and see what happens with the weather after that.
For all intents and purposes, today was pretty much a carbon copy of yesterday. Wind not yielding at all. Slick did show me 6 squirrels today, but we went to a couple dozen more trees, besides. Four of those got shot in the head. Of the 6, three were in holes but I could still see them, which is surely a world record for such a thing. I never try to shoot them in that circumstance, but I almost always try to scare them out of their hiding spot for the dog by shooting around the edges of the hole. Sometimes a little flying bark will get them moving, sometimes not. The first squirrel we saw this morning after visiting 8 other trees with nests or holes got made in an oblong "hole" of sorts in a large dead branch on a pretty big standing dead tree. This was not a great hiding spot as I could see about half of the squirrel. I briefly considered guessing which end was up and shooting accordingly. After a some deliberation, I opted to just shoot around the hole and try to scare it out for Slick since he had done a remarkable job finding it and staying with it for as long as it took for all of this to play out. I put one in the chamber and took a rest, put the crosshairs about 1/2" above the edge of the hollow. I pulled trigger and saw bark fly exactly where I was shooting and in that instant the squirrel fell out of the hole stone dead. I shot the poor sumbitch perfectly in the head (brains leaking out and all), which I could not even see! Apparently, the wood was very thin there and this was the unluckiest squirrel in the world. I've been on A LOT of squirrel hunts, but this is a bonafide first. Slick got his prize instead of a wild goose, er, squirrel chase. We'll take it. Rest up tomorrow and see what happens with the weather after that.
