Next Saturday is the last day of the Minnesota squirrel season, so I decided to take the Virginia Smoothrifle and the dogs and head into the woods since I won't be able to get out again.
My accomplices were:
Kaiah, my 6 1/2 yr old female golden retriever
022115 Squirrel Hunt 9 by fillmorelease
And Bella, my 3 yr old black lab rescued a couple years ago when she had been seriously injured and her owner abandoned her at the vet clinic. She's a sweetheart and a real hunter at heart.
022115 Squirrel Hunt 12 by fillmorelease
After two weeks of pretty cold weather, today was in the 20's, but cloudy with some wind. After walking down the south side of the first ridge seeing nothing I thought perhaps the squirrels were just staying in bed today. Then, as I worked around to the North side, a nice Fox squirrel appeared and the dogs gave chase. The squirrel only went a short ways before launching himself into a huge oak tree where he promptly went way to the top. I could see his tail, but no matter where I went around the tree, I couldn't get a shot.
Then, about 75 yards away, another fox squirrel jumped off a tree trunk running across the snow. The lab took off after it. Apparently the squirrel in my tree thought the danger had left and started to come down. It was not the best decision he made in his life! The Virginia did it's work and I had one nice Fox squirrel on the ground.
The golden and I headed to where I last saw the lab go over the edge of the hill about 100 yards away. I whistled a couple of times and up comes the lab. Then both of them went back over and before I could get to the edge, here they came back and the golden was carrying the Fox squirrel, which she promptly delivered to me! The lab must have chased that squirrel down and killed him "bare toothed!"
I stopped to clean them both. Unfortunately, the front quarters of the one the lab killed were completely crushed, but I salvaged the rest of it.
Kaiah keeps a watchful eye in the trees while Bella continues her search for more:
022115 Squirrel Hunt 2 by fillmorelease
Two nice Fox squirrels....with one shot! :wink: :grin:
022115 Squirrel Hunt 4 by fillmorelease
After cleaning and packing them into my squirrel bag, we moved on. While Kaiah pretty much stayed close to me, Bella worked the woods like a good Pheasant dog working a field for birds.
Suddenly I saw Bella perk up looking over a rise and off she went. When I got to the rise I could see her looking up into a big oak. Then Kaiah took off after something I couldn't see and about 30 yards up the hill from where Bella was. I walked around the area, but could see nothing, so I stood back just a little bit and left the dogs just mill around a while. After a few minutes I saw another big Fox squirrel move around a tree trunk just 20 yards away and half way inbetween the two original locations the dogs had gone. Not sure if it was one squirrel that had gone up the first tree then run across the tops, then Kaiah saw it, or what, but it didn't take me long to draw a bead and put it on the ground.
I spent some more time watching the trees in the area, but nothing else showed up. There were several big hollows in the group, so if there were more squirrels, they more than likely were in their nests.
022115 Squirrel Hunt 8 by fillmorelease
The wind was really picking up strongly out of the Northwest ushering in a new surge of cold air that is supposed to plunge the thermometer to well below zero tonight with -25 to -35 wind chills on Sunday.
We covered another 1/2 mile as I wanted to check on the old farm house on our lease and while we did kick out a rabbit, there was no chance for a shot. I'm sure the escalating winds had put the squirrels back into their warm nests. Rather than go back through the woods, we took the short path back to the jeep: 3/4's of a mile of field road. I had two tuckered pups who slept all the way home!
Two months to my Turkey Season! :thumbsup:
My accomplices were:
Kaiah, my 6 1/2 yr old female golden retriever
022115 Squirrel Hunt 9 by fillmoreleaseAnd Bella, my 3 yr old black lab rescued a couple years ago when she had been seriously injured and her owner abandoned her at the vet clinic. She's a sweetheart and a real hunter at heart.
022115 Squirrel Hunt 12 by fillmoreleaseAfter two weeks of pretty cold weather, today was in the 20's, but cloudy with some wind. After walking down the south side of the first ridge seeing nothing I thought perhaps the squirrels were just staying in bed today. Then, as I worked around to the North side, a nice Fox squirrel appeared and the dogs gave chase. The squirrel only went a short ways before launching himself into a huge oak tree where he promptly went way to the top. I could see his tail, but no matter where I went around the tree, I couldn't get a shot.
Then, about 75 yards away, another fox squirrel jumped off a tree trunk running across the snow. The lab took off after it. Apparently the squirrel in my tree thought the danger had left and started to come down. It was not the best decision he made in his life! The Virginia did it's work and I had one nice Fox squirrel on the ground.
The golden and I headed to where I last saw the lab go over the edge of the hill about 100 yards away. I whistled a couple of times and up comes the lab. Then both of them went back over and before I could get to the edge, here they came back and the golden was carrying the Fox squirrel, which she promptly delivered to me! The lab must have chased that squirrel down and killed him "bare toothed!"
I stopped to clean them both. Unfortunately, the front quarters of the one the lab killed were completely crushed, but I salvaged the rest of it.
Kaiah keeps a watchful eye in the trees while Bella continues her search for more:
022115 Squirrel Hunt 2 by fillmoreleaseTwo nice Fox squirrels....with one shot! :wink: :grin:
022115 Squirrel Hunt 4 by fillmoreleaseAfter cleaning and packing them into my squirrel bag, we moved on. While Kaiah pretty much stayed close to me, Bella worked the woods like a good Pheasant dog working a field for birds.
Suddenly I saw Bella perk up looking over a rise and off she went. When I got to the rise I could see her looking up into a big oak. Then Kaiah took off after something I couldn't see and about 30 yards up the hill from where Bella was. I walked around the area, but could see nothing, so I stood back just a little bit and left the dogs just mill around a while. After a few minutes I saw another big Fox squirrel move around a tree trunk just 20 yards away and half way inbetween the two original locations the dogs had gone. Not sure if it was one squirrel that had gone up the first tree then run across the tops, then Kaiah saw it, or what, but it didn't take me long to draw a bead and put it on the ground.
I spent some more time watching the trees in the area, but nothing else showed up. There were several big hollows in the group, so if there were more squirrels, they more than likely were in their nests.
022115 Squirrel Hunt 8 by fillmoreleaseThe wind was really picking up strongly out of the Northwest ushering in a new surge of cold air that is supposed to plunge the thermometer to well below zero tonight with -25 to -35 wind chills on Sunday.
We covered another 1/2 mile as I wanted to check on the old farm house on our lease and while we did kick out a rabbit, there was no chance for a shot. I'm sure the escalating winds had put the squirrels back into their warm nests. Rather than go back through the woods, we took the short path back to the jeep: 3/4's of a mile of field road. I had two tuckered pups who slept all the way home!
Two months to my Turkey Season! :thumbsup:
