That's pretty cool! I've always liked hunting squirrels. Thought having a squirrel dog would be neat!
serious Lefty
- Thread starter Jamie
- Start date
freeboro, it really is a blast. I've gotten totally sucked into it. Planning to get another Cur when the time is right. It is a really nice change of pace from all of the bow and arrow hunting I've done for the last 30 years. and as you can see, we can put some rats in the game bag. squirrels fantastic to eat.
I don't get many takers, but I enjoy taking new people squirrel hunting with the dog. if you, or anyone for that matter, are interested in giving it a try, get in touch with me. Squirrelin' with the dog doesn't work well until the leaves are all down. We start hitting it hard after the general firearms week for deer. I'm usually trying to arrow something until then, anyway.
I don't get many takers, but I enjoy taking new people squirrel hunting with the dog. if you, or anyone for that matter, are interested in giving it a try, get in touch with me. Squirrelin' with the dog doesn't work well until the leaves are all down. We start hitting it hard after the general firearms week for deer. I'm usually trying to arrow something until then, anyway.
Lefty was pretty wound up this afternoon while I was out in the yard doing some work. grabbed his ball, ran down to the edge of the pond, waded in and started slapping the water with his front feet then ran over to me and dropped the ball. hard to say no to that "request". :smiley_blink: maybe the bird dog in his pedigree makes retrieving easy for him. he has some herding tendencies, too.
frosty beginning to a gorgeous day yesterday, so I packed up the dog and the woman and headed out for a few hours. didn't find any mushrooms or sheds, but squirrels were out enjoying the morning, too. Lefty treed 5 on the first drop plus a few dens and treed two at the same time on second stop. he had two squirrels in two different trees that were about 15 yards apart. he was bouncing back and forth like he didn't know which tree the squirrel was in. I saw one squirrel in one tree, and was getting pretty pissed that he couldn't make up his mind when Nancy spotted the second squirrel in the other tree. Happy I hadn't started trying to correct him. One thing I've learned this season is that it is not a good idea to underestimate this dog. Two different squirrels in two different trees, and he knew it and was doing his best to show me both of them. unreal. :smiley_cheer:
Lefty trying his best to convince Nancy that there is, indeed, a squirrel in this tree (and there was).
on the double.
Lefty trying his best to convince Nancy that there is, indeed, a squirrel in this tree (and there was).
on the double.
I enjoy reading about hunting dogs, growing up we always ran coonhounds.
Thanks for sharing with us it is always fun to see how Lefty is doing.
Thanks for sharing with us it is always fun to see how Lefty is doing.
Archertl
Senior Member
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ickle:Is Lacey a Mountain Cur? I really like her coloration. I've never understood why they crop these dogs tails. most of the Mt. Curs I've seen have their tail cropped to a length of about 6". breeder over did it a bit on Lefty's tail, leaving him with a little 2" nub.
Archertl
Senior Member
She is a catahoula. Ive had black mouths and hunted with a pair of mt curs a lot. Washington State's laws are not very friendly to dog hunting of any type unless its retrieving and pointing. You are not allowed to hunt bear, cats, coyotes, and coons during daylight hours because you might be hunting cats. The only place you can find legal squirrel species to hunt are in urban areas. So, when it was time to get a new dog I decided to get a catahoula due to me being in washington for the foreseeable future. Right now I am training her to herd, track blood and human scent. If we stubble across wild grouse or pheasants she will point them. so far if she points there is a bird there.
Traditionally a lot of working dogs were breed to be born with bob tails. Curs of all types, boarder collies, heelers, a lot of pointers and setters to name a few. In the case of the mountain cur the breed was almost lost during and after wwII. The Mt cur was saved by using a small pool of dogs and some of the genes are not as prevalent as they were pre war. The resulting dog of that project was the original mt cur. klemmers, stevenson stock, and Tennessee treeing brindle are all post war derivatives of the OMC dogs. those dogs were breed to one guys standard long enough for them to be their own breed of cur. From what I have seen most of the mt curs that have bob tails of 6 inches are born that way the rest in the litter are typically docked my the breeder.
There are still a few breeders that have lines of catahoulas and black mouths that will have litters of bob tail puppies. That is becoming rare due to the fact that the breed associations consider bob tails a fault.
Lefty came from a litter of 9 and two of them were born with bobbed tails, the rest got snipped off. Despite being regarded as the runt of the litter, Lefty has developed faster and farther than any of his litter mates. As far as I know, he is the only one of the bunch that has amounted to anything. I'm going to start looking for him a suitable girlfriend pretty soon. I don't want to be a dog breeder, but I'd sure like to get a couple pups out of him.