After the hunt pic

English · October 27, 2005, 05:28:24 PM

Took Buster out this afternoon and had a ball. My friend and I were able to shoot these three out to Buster but he treed a whole lot more. The leaves are really starting to fall so things are just going to get better.

Mike

M. R. Byrd · October 27, 2005, 06:00:15 PM

Mike,

Thanks for the report and the photo. I have one of those "ugly" gun dogs that should be able to "ugly" them to death, but unfortunately, I live in treeless Western Kansas.

If any dog could "ugly" them, mine could.

God Bless,
Maynard Reece Byrd

Vermonster · October 28, 2005, 07:14:04 AM

English,

Nice pic. I used to love hunting squirrels. Just curious, but we had only gray's in Vermont, and at my uncles in Penn. they had the "Fox" squirrels, which were a little bigger and had a little rust coloring to them. Your's seem to have the coloring of Fox but size of Gray. Which are they????

English · October 28, 2005, 09:57:40 AM

Vermontster, that is a mixed bag. The two on the left are Fox squirrels and the one on the left is a gray squirrel. I have been told by several people from down south that our gray squirrels are huge. I do know that sometimes we do kill small Grays but most of them are larger like the one in the pic.

Mike

Vermonster · October 28, 2005, 03:28:13 PM

Our gray's in Vermont were pretty good size, but the Fox squirrels had them beat. They were nice sized critters....

Jay Edward (deceased) · October 28, 2005, 05:56:02 PM

Great image Mike. Looks like you've got a 'well oiled machine'.

By-the-by... I thought the Fox was supposed to be bigger than the Gray. Enlighten me will ya?

- J

English · October 28, 2005, 06:26:54 PM

You are correct, Jay. The Fox are bigger. You can see in the pic that the tail of the Gray is shorter. If you could see the bodies better you could see that the Gray is indeed a smaller squirrel. Many Grays are even smaller than the one in the picture. I'd say that one is average for around here but we do get some of the 'little' ones. I know the biologists claim that the two species seldom if ever cross but I've seen more than one that I would swear was a cross. I wish I'd have got a pic of the squirrels I got with another buddy on Tuesday. We took a Fox, 3 Grays and a Black. The Black was of the smaller variety of Gray. By the way a Black is nothing more than a color variant of the Gray around here. There will be Grays and Blacks in the same litters at times. Now before someone corrects me on this I've done a lot of study and realize that in certain parts of the country different color phazes of the squirrels varies. For instance some areas have Blacks that are a color variant of the Fox species. There are even White colored squirrels. I have some pics somewhere and I'll try and post some of the different colored squirrels I've collected.

Mike

Jay Edward (deceased) · October 28, 2005, 07:24:05 PM

Thanks Mike. I've an old hunting book by Landis that treats the squirrels like big game and the .22 like a big game hunting rifle. I like the approach as it takes the 'plinking' out so this type of hunting.

I'll be looking forward to seeing those pictures of the variants.

Ed B. · October 30, 2005, 09:58:43 AM

Looks like you and Jon had a nice hunt. You really have a good dog there with Buster. Any chance you'll be getting your Cur/Feist cross from Yukon, or has that ship sailed?

I took Roxy out the other day and had 6 trees and saw three squirrels. I had my dumb luck again though and couldn't get two of them. One nested up and one made it to a nest wounded. The one I did get again gave the old .22 a workout. I was shooting different shells than I am used to and they don't shoot the same. Roxy was happy to see that one come down.
Happy hunting,
Ed

English · October 30, 2005, 01:03:55 PM

Jay, I'd sure admire to read that book. Do you have a title per chance that I could try and find through the local library?

Ed, sure wish you'd have been there. John and I wished we had your eagle eye more than once while looking over a big ole oak tree. Seems the dogs always tree on the biggest, leafiest tree they can find!

Sounds like Roxy is really doing a good job for you. I think you oughta start carrying that shot gun! HEHEHE! I had one like that yesterday. I never did get that squirrel out of the tree. Another one was hit and made it into a hole. I've lost several to poor shooting so I guess I better get out and shoot some rounds and make sure me and the gun are zeroed in.

Mike

osceola · October 31, 2005, 03:29:44 AM

hi fellas nice bunch of squirrels, but what kinda dog do you have? up here in the fingerlakes region in new york we have plenty of black squirrels and lots of fox squirrels tried a jack russel dog once but he wouldnt bark tree just jump up and down so i gave him to a fella for a pet. sure love squirrel hunting but now i just sit and use a 22lr with scope not as much fun as it would be with a dog but the squirrels here are plentiful and all varieties fox black gray reds anyway i sure enjoyed reading the post thanks for sharing and good hunting.

English · October 31, 2005, 04:55:54 AM

Osceola, welcome to the dog hunting forums. I breed and train Treeing Feist. These dogs #1 goal is to tree squirrels. They are a lot of fun. They handle good, hunt for you, and love to be spoiled house dogs! Buster is my house dog. He's probably sleeping on my bed right now...or at my wife's feet. I think you should consider a feist dog. Also most of them will tree a coon. Now they won't run a cold track for an hour to do it but they will tree more than you would expect while hunting with you not crossing into the next section. The Mountain Curs are good dogs as well but the Treeing Feist are what I've settled on for suiting my needs. A website you should check out is WWW.Sqdog.com This site will give you a wealth of info on squirrel dogs. By the way I do know of a good feist female in Pennsylvania that is due in the next week or so. I could put you in touch with the breeder if you are so inclined.

Mike

English · October 31, 2005, 05:01:08 AM

Here's some more pics of feist for Osceola.

Mike

English · October 31, 2005, 05:05:14 AM

HMMMM...messed that attempt up. Let's try it again.

Mike

RatherBHuntin · October 31, 2005, 01:13:22 PM

Mike,
While at the hunting camp this weekend, we got to talking about the times when my cousins ran dogs for deer. They used hounds usually, but my cousin says that the hunters started complaining that his hounds were running the deer to hard, so they went to a pack of beagles instead of hounds. They used one of the older bitch hounds to train that pack of beagles, which worked like champs, best "deer hounds" you ever seen he said. Well eventually they lost most of that pack, but had one that bred with a Feist.

Finally I get to the point. He saw that feist nearly catch a rabbit in an open pasture decided to take him to hunting camp too. All the folks laughed (this is after he done showed up their hounds with his beagles once before, let em out of the truck and they took off all on their own, ran em just like they were supposed to). So he makes a bet with the loudest of the bunch that his beagle/feist would beat all them hounds to the next road a ridge over while hot on a buck. Sure enough, that little beagle/feist ran that deer across the road a full 80 yards in front of that hound. There was a healthy serving of humble pie to be sure.

It was a good story as told to me and I thought I would share it with you, as I know how you love the feists. He doesn't run dogs anymore, and just has one lab, which is the camp deer tracker. In three years he has never lost a deer that was shot well, but one. They found it several weeks later, at exactly the spot old Digger was trying to get to, but they wouldn't let him because they thought the deer ran the other way.

English · November 01, 2005, 08:19:09 AM

Glenn, not all feist will put that kind of drive in a cross but I've seen several that would. I've got a couple that will flat fly out and find a tree. I've seen some that were just incredible. Especially if the feist has a little Finnish Spitz in it. Cool story and I bet your relative had a lot of fun with that little dog. On another note I've thought about training one to blood trail deer. Most really don't have the nose for it but if I find the right one I might give it a try.

Mike

Quick Draw · November 01, 2005, 07:48:31 PM

Do any of ya'll run deer with dogs??? I heard about it in South Carolina, in act a buddy of mine hunts there and they have dog drives for deer. I was just wondering if its just a southern thing, dog drives that it is, or if it common in alot of places.
Quick Draw

RatherBHuntin · November 02, 2005, 02:24:13 AM

My cousins used to do it in Alabama, but it is nearly a thing of the past now, it is beeing regulated out of existence. I have a friend in Florida that took me with him hunting once, he also used dogs. It is allowed in Georgia, but there are stipulations and restrictions.

osceola · November 02, 2005, 03:15:11 AM

Mike that little blk white feist is a nice looking dog, But they remind me of the fox terriers wich i used to have years back. Anyway id be very interested in hunting one of them.
I sure appreciate you showing the pictures . They are very nice dogs and wish ya lots of good hunting. Also do all the squirrel dog hunters use .22 or shot guns the video i saw used 12gauge shotguns. Anyway i sure enjoy this forum ..

English · November 02, 2005, 12:21:08 PM

Osceola, there is a strong terrier influence in this breed. The breed almost went extinct after WWII when people no longer hunted for subsistence. The breed most probably began by crossing over small dogs that the Indians had with some of the terriers brought over from the British Isles by immigrants. Then when interest began to pick up again years later they used terrier blood once again to diversify the gene pool and intensify the prey drive. The result is that many of the Feist in existence today look similar to the Terrier dogs in their back ground. I had one here that simply looked like a 25 lb Rat Terrier. Some looke like the Fox Terriers while others take more after the Manchester Terriers. The true original "Olde Timey" Feist were actually bench legged. The move to the longer legged more conventional built dogs was a result of the terrier influence and breeding toward a dog that could be more competitive in the competition circles. There are also a couple of lines that have a heavy Finish Spitz influence in them. My partners have 3 of these between them and they look to be the real deal!

I personally use both, a .22 and a shotgun. Depends on the hunting conditions, the dogs I"m using, how wild the squirrels are and other considerations. In leaves or with a young pup that simply needs "fur in it's mouth" the 12 guage comes out. Now the 20 is plenty big but I happen to have a little 12 that is light and easy to carry. My next squirrel gun purchase will be a single shot 20 guage with short barrel and a full choke. Squirrels are notoriously tough to kill with a shot gun. I find that full powered #5 shot loads are about perfect for the timber we have. When the leaves are on as they still are here I nearly always carry a shotgun. Most squirrels you see right now will only be seen once they've spooked and began to "timber" out...that is to run and jump from tree top to tree top. They are incredibly quick when they do this. Don't believe it? Try running and keeping up with one! LOL

Once the leaves come off I use a scoped .22. This is what I prefer! I have just finished building up a Ruger 10-22 just for squirrel hunting. I put the final touch on it yesterday and took it out this morning to sight it in. All I can say is WOW! I can't wait to take it to the woods tomorrow.

Hope this helps you some.

Mike