Another good day

smith-n-stokes

Old Mossy Horns
Keep on knocking em out! Looks like you and the dogs are getting a work out.


Sent from wherever I was at the time...
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
It was, weather was kinda bad a few days. I am back home and recuperating from them hills. We tried our best to stay on the flats close to the lake but from time to time the dogs would go up in the hills we were hunting so many dogs. My hands are absolutely worn out from skinning squirrels, even with skinners that many is a PITA.

Opening day I never saw so many hunters from so many states in my life in there. Saw some from as far away as Iowa and there was squirrels being hauled out of there by the tailgate loads. I didn't see any difference in them the last day from the first either, they have a bumper crop of them.
 

Triggernosis

Ten Pointer
Y'all using dogs, right Catfisher? I love hunting/shooting squirrels, but I just can't stand the thought of eating one of them; thus, I just don't hunt 'em much anymore.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Yes sir, I don't care enough about squirrel hunting to even go without the dogs. It is all about the dog work for me. In fact when we have a big group or if someone calls and wants me to come and they have a couple kids that want to shoot I am more than happy to carry a walking stick. I am a die hard dog head. :D

If you really like hunting them but don't eat them ask around, you usually can find someone to give them to, I have several people that I give them to here. When you kill as many as we do in a year you can't eat 'em all. You have to find a place for them.
 

Triggernosis

Ten Pointer
Question for ya - how do squirrel dogs work? Do they smell where the squirrel has been on the ground and then follow them to the tree they've gone up or do they see them in the trees?
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Combination of the two, actually a good squirrel dog uses their, eyes, ears and nose. They have to be extremely aware. Your feist are more sight oriented but many utilize their nose also.

Some even use hounds, but it takes a special hound to squirrel hunt. Not a straddle the track and work it to the tree type. I owned this one for years, she was deadly on squirrels and coons. Never opened her mouth to she was treed, she thought she was a cur. She was a Super Grand Champion.
 

ldunawa

Guest
I'm always happy to take squirrel off anyone's hands, it's pretty decent if you can keep the fur off the meat when skinning them. nccatfisher, if you ever need a hunting buddy, give me a shout- I'd love to see the dogs at work!
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I seldom get down that way, I hunt SC most of the time during deer season, in fact I hunt SC primarily for squirrels. I actually coon hunt more than I squirrel hunt.
 

Larry R

Old Mossy Horns
Dang I keep telling you, you are just having entirely to much fun. LOL. I'm like Triggernosis in a way. I don't particularly like them to eat but I vehemently hate to skin the dang things. I'd rather skin two deer than one squirrel. I've tried a couple of ways to skin them and neither method makes them any easier to skin. LOL.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Larry if you are hunting mature dogs it really is easy, when a squirrel is hot I can skin one in 30 seconds. Shoot it out send the dogs on I cut the squirrel across the middle of the back and just pull. Hide comes right off. You have it skinned and you can cut it right off and be done with it all in less than a minute. Put it in a plastic bag in your coat and go on. Now if you wait to it is cold the cut through the tail method is usually easier. Now since I have RA and don't have much grip I use a squirrel skinner if they are cold.

If you have young dogs hanging around from time to time you can't do that.
 

Southside

Ten Pointer
Nccatfisher.......I've still got this copy of FullCry. I would say having a hound that treed squirrels regularly is rare. I assume this was an English ?
 
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nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Yes, she was English. I actually know where there are several walkers that do it and do it well. In fact I sold this one last year that was tough, tougher than I was. You saw her at the tree, and the tree only. She was a barn burner, a competition dog deluxe.
 
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Southside

Ten Pointer
Yes, she was English. I actually know where there are several walkers that do it and do it well. In fact I sold this one last year that was tough, tougher than I was. You saw her at the tree, and the tree only. She was a barn burner, a competition dog deluxe.

I couldn't imagine trying to train a hound for squirrel only. I guess a lot of its up to the the dogs personal liking? I had a Plott once that would continuously scan the trees for movement but never treed anything in the daytime.
A friend of mine had a walker he ran with beagles once for rabbits. Eventually the walker learned to set up at a high spot and would cut the rabbit off. Saved himself a lot of running.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
You don't train them, you get one that starts off treeing squirrels at night and driving coon hunters crazy and go from there. Funny thing about it once they are well started on squirrels you can usually put them back in the woods at night and they make real nice combo dogs. They usually are smart enough to know when to mess with squirrels and when to go after coons. They usually just weren't given enough time at the start. That Walker in the pic was silent during the day but semi-open at night on coon.
 
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