and shoot them we shall. in the eye from 437 yards out, off-hand, standing on one foot with a 30mph cross wind. 
Squirrel tales 19-20
- Thread starter Jamie
- Start date
- 24,851
- 247
- 24,851
- 247
Oh no, you weren’t along for the really impressive stuff. I shot one last year that was so far across a deep ravine that MT. GOAT Miller packed a lunch and overnight bag for the trip to retrieve the headshot beast.
speaking of retrieving...
Slick fetched one from the creek for me today. everyone knows Cur dogs don't retrieve, but I have one that does. that makes twice now that he has carried one to me after swimming for it. he didn't actually have to swim today, but he went in to the water and brought a dead rat to my feet on command. This dog sure has lived up to my lofty expectations. surpassed them.
took a long drive down south to hit some of the big woods in Zaleski and some on the Wayne yesterday. did a bunch of climbing and didn't see a single squirrel all day. dogs barely went to a tree, and even they weren't convinced on those. nothing been moving around for a while when these two can't smell something worth barking about. pretty bad day. I took Slick out by himself today. he found me three in an hour on our first stop and they all came home with us. on the second stop he spotted a squirrel on the ground as soon as he jumped off the tailgate. chased up a tree about 150 yards away. when the squirrel saw me coming it timbered out and ran down a tree almost to the bottom, where Slick, who never lost sight of the squirrel, was waiting. back up the tree on my side and right in a hole. was a good chase and Slick did a fine job of staying with it. didn't have any more action on that stop. Third stop within 30 seconds of me letting dog off the lead he had sprinted out of sight and found one in a giant sprawling white oak on the edge of a steep creek bank. this is the one that fell dead into the water. Slick did find one more on that stop. I was trying to redirect him to go in different direction, but he ran the other way and started doing his "I think I smell one" bark around a large Walnut tree about 50 yards from me. He settled on the tree so I started looking. made it about 180* around the tree when I decided there was nothing there and called him off. Again, he ran the other direction about 20 yards and got on big multi trunked maple tree and was going nuts. I know my dogs, and he convinced me pretty fast to start looking. as I start circling the tree I see hole about 20 feet off the ground on one of the main trunks. I'm panning up and down the trunks and branches with binos and see the hole and stop and look in the hole. I could see the squirrel in the hole. sumbitch. Slick wasn't lying, and did a good job to convince me to look. almost like he could tell I didn't believe him...
Slick fetched one from the creek for me today. everyone knows Cur dogs don't retrieve, but I have one that does.
that makes twice now that he has carried one to me after swimming for it. he didn't actually have to swim today, but he went in to the water and brought a dead rat to my feet on command. This dog sure has lived up to my lofty expectations. surpassed them.took a long drive down south to hit some of the big woods in Zaleski and some on the Wayne yesterday. did a bunch of climbing and didn't see a single squirrel all day. dogs barely went to a tree, and even they weren't convinced on those. nothing been moving around for a while when these two can't smell something worth barking about. pretty bad day. I took Slick out by himself today. he found me three in an hour on our first stop and they all came home with us. on the second stop he spotted a squirrel on the ground as soon as he jumped off the tailgate. chased up a tree about 150 yards away. when the squirrel saw me coming it timbered out and ran down a tree almost to the bottom, where Slick, who never lost sight of the squirrel, was waiting. back up the tree on my side and right in a hole. was a good chase and Slick did a fine job of staying with it. didn't have any more action on that stop. Third stop within 30 seconds of me letting dog off the lead he had sprinted out of sight and found one in a giant sprawling white oak on the edge of a steep creek bank. this is the one that fell dead into the water. Slick did find one more on that stop. I was trying to redirect him to go in different direction, but he ran the other way and started doing his "I think I smell one" bark around a large Walnut tree about 50 yards from me. He settled on the tree so I started looking. made it about 180* around the tree when I decided there was nothing there and called him off. Again, he ran the other direction about 20 yards and got on big multi trunked maple tree and was going nuts. I know my dogs, and he convinced me pretty fast to start looking. as I start circling the tree I see hole about 20 feet off the ground on one of the main trunks. I'm panning up and down the trunks and branches with binos and see the hole and stop and look in the hole. I could see the squirrel in the hole. sumbitch. Slick wasn't lying, and did a good job to convince me to look. almost like he could tell I didn't believe him...
yes. need to rest up. big day tomorrow and we'll need fresh legs. besides, I can hunt almost every day, and can afford to sit out on poor weather days. I used to routinely punish myself by going out to hunt in shit weather like this. I'm just not as tough as I used to be. maybe a little bit smarter, too.
I’m not much of a squirrel hunter, but I managed to find one today. Little guy was just taking a nap on this log. Lol
awww, he looks so peaceful taking his nap. I would categorize you as a "successful" squirrel hunter.
a little drama sure does make for a more interesting squirrel hunt. I'm told that bad decisions make for good stories. I have to agree, lol. This is EXACTLY how our day went. I think...
I loaded up the dogs pretty early yesterday to head down Greenfield way for what has become an annual squirrel hunt with Brock and Mason. Mason's buddy Caleb joined us, too. Tough conditions yesterday with wind chills hovering around zero degrees or below, spitting snow, and it was getting colder all day long. We got off to a rather slow start. Dogs going to several dens before Lefty managed to hit one. A double actually. The boys got into position and couldn't hit anything. I fired my gun only the one time yesterday just to demonstrate how to properly bugeye a squirrel. the other squirrel got to a hole poste haste when his/her buddy fell out of the tree. off to a couple more dens before we loaded up to make a move to another spot. one rat in the bag isn't exactly a stellar start to our day, but it was a start. next stop proved to be a bit more entertaining. we pulled in and promptly buried the truck in what I can only describe as an above ground cesspool of hellish pudding comprised of about 50% cow shit and 50% mud over a foot deep with a frozen crust on top. eventually, the truck had to be pulled out, but in the meantime, we went squirrel hunting. what sort of outdoorsmen would allow a minor inconvenience like that slow us down? took the dogs a couple of more dens before Slick found another player. about the time Slick cut loose, Brock had gone to get another truck, and Mason was up in a tree stand of theirs tying down the loose curtain that was flapping in the breeze. Caleb and I struck out after the dogs, found the squirrel and Caleb started shooting. I didn't have my gun this time, so I tried to move the squirrel, which was not too cooperative. Mason caught up with us and got into position while Caleb shot a couple more times. He nicked it and it moved around the tree to Mason who put the coup de grace head shot on him. The dogs hadn't gone too far when Slick got on another, which came quietly, but I don't remember who shot it. Not long after, Lefty got himself another. I kept the dogs on the tree while Caleb found a place to shoot. We were in a pretty thick area, so it took a minute, but he got settled and fired, fired again and rat fell. While it was falling and was racing to get Lefty off of it, I saw a second squirrel bail out and make a run for it. I moved the dogs over where the squirrel had run and Slick got on him fast, both dogs ran right to the tree and Mason put one in that squirrels noggin. We had turned back and were working our way back to where we had started. Brock was back so we kept moving. Slick found one more on the way back. Mason winged him, but the squirrel bailed from about 30 feet up and Slick couldn't catch him before he made it to a hole. We met back up with Brock and sent the dogs into another chunk of woods. I'm pretty sure Slick found one that bailed or timbered out on him as he was barking and running a good ways before stopping. We caught up with the dogs and Brock plugged that one. We hadn't gone very far when Slick cut loose on another tree not 50 yards from us. This one was tucked up pretty good, but Brock finally got him. That would be the last squirrel we would see. We still had to remove truck from the quagmire. As we approached the truck I had Slick on a lead since he never wants to quit hunting. I tried to get to what appeared to be solid ground and was promptly half way to my knees in an even more horrific goop than the truck was in. nothing to do but keep moving, praying that it didn't get any deeper. poor Slick being dragged along up to his berries in this pudding from hell. we waded out, finally. I'm happy nobody had a video camera. Da Fuck with all that? The truck got unstuck, and we moved on. my boots and the bottom 12" of my legs covered a half inch thick with now frozen cow shit frosting. fucking delightful. our next stop produced nothing but dens and nests. We had to take a drive to the last stop, and the frozen muck filling the wheels of Brocks truck were causing a problem with tire balance. pretty rough ride at 55. wisely, we stopped at a local spray car wash to clean all that shit out of his nice aluminum wheels. I pressure washed my boots and pant legs with the remainder of the wash time. they re-froze pretty fast, so the stench was considerably better for the remainder of the day. As the winds had continued steady and temperature dropped, rats stopped moving. 7 would be all we would skin this time. A very good day of squirrel hunting this time of year with pretty tough weather. Lefty lucked into two doubles, but Slick was the workhorse. we treed nine squirrels, one got away clean, another made it to a hole with a hole in it. I guess we were too cold and tired to get a hero pic. damn shame. we had a super fun day. The old men were lights out shooting. the young men need to practice a little. my boots are still outside, now frozen solid, everything covered by my pant legs still caked with cow shit pudding. I had to wash my field pants twice to get that awful stank off of them. I may just buy a new pair of boots, lol. Thanks fellas, good times!
I loaded up the dogs pretty early yesterday to head down Greenfield way for what has become an annual squirrel hunt with Brock and Mason. Mason's buddy Caleb joined us, too. Tough conditions yesterday with wind chills hovering around zero degrees or below, spitting snow, and it was getting colder all day long. We got off to a rather slow start. Dogs going to several dens before Lefty managed to hit one. A double actually. The boys got into position and couldn't hit anything. I fired my gun only the one time yesterday just to demonstrate how to properly bugeye a squirrel.
the other squirrel got to a hole poste haste when his/her buddy fell out of the tree. off to a couple more dens before we loaded up to make a move to another spot. one rat in the bag isn't exactly a stellar start to our day, but it was a start. next stop proved to be a bit more entertaining. we pulled in and promptly buried the truck in what I can only describe as an above ground cesspool of hellish pudding comprised of about 50% cow shit and 50% mud over a foot deep with a frozen crust on top. eventually, the truck had to be pulled out, but in the meantime, we went squirrel hunting. what sort of outdoorsmen would allow a minor inconvenience like that slow us down? took the dogs a couple of more dens before Slick found another player. about the time Slick cut loose, Brock had gone to get another truck, and Mason was up in a tree stand of theirs tying down the loose curtain that was flapping in the breeze. Caleb and I struck out after the dogs, found the squirrel and Caleb started shooting. I didn't have my gun this time, so I tried to move the squirrel, which was not too cooperative. Mason caught up with us and got into position while Caleb shot a couple more times. He nicked it and it moved around the tree to Mason who put the coup de grace head shot on him. The dogs hadn't gone too far when Slick got on another, which came quietly, but I don't remember who shot it. Not long after, Lefty got himself another. I kept the dogs on the tree while Caleb found a place to shoot. We were in a pretty thick area, so it took a minute, but he got settled and fired, fired again and rat fell. While it was falling and was racing to get Lefty off of it, I saw a second squirrel bail out and make a run for it. I moved the dogs over where the squirrel had run and Slick got on him fast, both dogs ran right to the tree and Mason put one in that squirrels noggin. We had turned back and were working our way back to where we had started. Brock was back so we kept moving. Slick found one more on the way back. Mason winged him, but the squirrel bailed from about 30 feet up and Slick couldn't catch him before he made it to a hole. We met back up with Brock and sent the dogs into another chunk of woods. I'm pretty sure Slick found one that bailed or timbered out on him as he was barking and running a good ways before stopping. We caught up with the dogs and Brock plugged that one. We hadn't gone very far when Slick cut loose on another tree not 50 yards from us. This one was tucked up pretty good, but Brock finally got him. That would be the last squirrel we would see. We still had to remove truck from the quagmire. As we approached the truck I had Slick on a lead since he never wants to quit hunting. I tried to get to what appeared to be solid ground and was promptly half way to my knees in an even more horrific goop than the truck was in. nothing to do but keep moving, praying that it didn't get any deeper. poor Slick being dragged along up to his berries in this pudding from hell. we waded out, finally. I'm happy nobody had a video camera. Da Fuck with all that? The truck got unstuck, and we moved on. my boots and the bottom 12" of my legs covered a half inch thick with now frozen cow shit frosting. fucking delightful. our next stop produced nothing but dens and nests. We had to take a drive to the last stop, and the frozen muck filling the wheels of Brocks truck were causing a problem with tire balance. pretty rough ride at 55. wisely, we stopped at a local spray car wash to clean all that shit out of his nice aluminum wheels. I pressure washed my boots and pant legs with the remainder of the wash time. they re-froze pretty fast, so the stench was considerably better for the remainder of the day. As the winds had continued steady and temperature dropped, rats stopped moving. 7 would be all we would skin this time. A very good day of squirrel hunting this time of year with pretty tough weather. Lefty lucked into two doubles, but Slick was the workhorse. we treed nine squirrels, one got away clean, another made it to a hole with a hole in it. I guess we were too cold and tired to get a hero pic. damn shame. we had a super fun day. The old men were lights out shooting. the young men need to practice a little. my boots are still outside, now frozen solid, everything covered by my pant legs still caked with cow shit pudding. I had to wash my field pants twice to get that awful stank off of them. I may just buy a new pair of boots, lol. Thanks fellas, good times!
- 24,851
- 247
Jamie, thanks again for making the trip. I have little doubt with more suitable weather we would have killed our limits. The boys would have gone through a lot more ammunition... Your trip down is something Mason and I look forward to each year. Lefty and Slick are an absolute pleasure to watch. Your company is not bad either Thanks again, already looking forward to the next time.
We will probably avoid the barnlot in the future.
Your trip down is something Mason and I look forward to each year. Lefty and Slick are an absolute pleasure to watch. Your company is not bad either Thanks again, already looking forward to the next time. We will probably avoid the barnlot in the future.
- 24,851
- 247
Some trad shooting folks may think Jamie can walk on water. He cannot. At least not liquid manure. Lol
In regards to cooking squirrel... I just did some tonight in an instant pot. For those unaware of these devices, do yourself a favor and go buy one. They are an absolute game changer for cooking various types of wild game. I cooked down Fox squirrel to finger-shredding tenderness in just 45 minutes, and that was probably even a bit too long. Wild turkey legs yield a similar result.