Nice pile of grays you have there. Do you have a squirrel dog? If so what kind? I've been kind of interested in a dog for a while but not so sure what to get. The bench legged fiest or rat terrier has raised my eyebrows.
Could not pass on this 10-22 .Weaver 1.5-7 tree rat beware ! already have one but need another for grandson to use on pop-pop time . old new
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Nice pile of grays you have there. Do you have a squirrel dog? If so what kind? I've been kind of interested in a dog for a while but not so sure what to get. The bench legged fiest or rat terrier has raised my eyebrows.
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Have no dog at present time , but have owned some . Had a long legged fiest that was special but my best was a bluetick hound that was much better on squirrels than coons .
A very overlooked past time now days! Many of us grew up cutting our teeth on these types of hunts.
I have a few .22's that I love dearly but lately, my go to for shooting the tree rats has been a .22 pistol (just because it is a ton of fun) and my air rifle.
The older I get, the more fun I have in the hunt and getting one shot at a time with the air rifle puts some of the fun back in to it. I agree though, for kids, nothing better than a good .22 with some optics to get them excited about it all.
As a marksmenship instructor for a number of years, I pretty much all but gave up on shooting (for fun). Then my daughter came along. I built a range at the house and quickly learned that shooting targets does little for the childs imagination. Clay targets are awesome. We now buy the mini discs for more fun. I found an old farm dump from yesteryear and have been getting glass bottles to blow up. Nothing like interaction for the kids to see the damage! Although my range goes out to more than 200 yards, we have more fun standing at 10 meters and plinking.
Good luck with the grandson. Way to make it fun for him!!!
I have OCD "Obsessive Crappie Disorder"
fried squirrel ,gravy and biscuits were a staple in our house when I was a little chap . Dumplings were also a weekly deal during the fall till quail and rabbit seasons came around . were no deer back then in our area . very different today .
I would get a dog that had proven treeing parents on both side of the blood line if your going to get a pup and work it all the way. Or buy a fully finished dog and buy it in the woods after you see what it can do.
I'm kinda partial to original Mountain Curs ...but a lot of good treeing feist too. I think the little fiest may actually be the better squirrelers but I like the versatility of the Mountain cur and I like a little bigger dog.
I love Blueticks, seems every hunt that could use a hound I have seen Blueticks excel. Granted a Walker is faster and may get a coon treed quicker, but in my own opinion it seems they can slick tree more than Blueticks and Walkers push deer into the next county to fast. Best rabbit hound I ever had the pleasure to hunt with was a Bluetick/Beagle mix. And like you the best squirrel dog was a bluetick with the exception of my uncle's Dachshund that absolutely hated squirrels, but he shredded them as fast as they hit the ground. See very few Blueticks in Florida, Walkers seem to rule here, but Blueticks were very popular in Louisiana when I was there. Black & Tans are the other hound breed I am fond of.
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Remember that you can trade squirrel tails to Mepps for spinners.
Clint
Far West Kentucky
Old enough to know better and way too old to care!SpeckledSlab thanked you for this post
I've had squirrel dogs off & on most of my life. I raised a litter out of my old dog (a long legged jack russell) and kept 2 of his pups. These were the best squirrels dogs that I'd ever owned. Only 1 left now and he's 13. He and I are getting a little too old for much hunting now. Here's a couple pics.
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