The Squirrel Dog,

[Texas Ranger]

From a friend.


The Squirrel Dog,
and
Lost Family Time
by Robert A. Durant
You probably are wondering about this
story title. How could a squirrel dog effect
family time togetherness? I'll need to go back
to pre-WW11 days, probably about age five
years to explain.
 
To hunt squirrels with a dog, it can be done alone,
or with a group of people. That group so often was
family members, but it could be family members
with friends, or just a group of friends. 
 
It is not necessary for everyone in the group to
even carry a gun. At about five years, I started
following dad, my older brothers. I never carried
a gun, but I was part of it. A family thing. The more
eyes the better. And I could carry the squirrels!
 
The four older brothers left home to serve in WW11.
Dad never had a lot of time to hunt and farm during
that period of time. It was down to me following a
four-year older brother.
 
He was old enough to carry the single shot .22 rifle
that would not eject the shells. I carried a long piece
of stiff wire to run down the barrel and do that. And
carry the squirrels!
 
After those four brothers returned, it was all of us back
together again. They bought cars, we could travel to
better places to hunt. They killed a lot of squirrels. My
eyes were a little more experienced in finding that treed
squirrel. And I still carried the squirrels!
 
They married, moved on. It was down to Dad and I. At
twelve I was allowed to shoot a gun. Often it was just
me and that dog alone. I learned to stand and watch
that dog trail that squirrel.
 
The squirrel often moves some to hide from that dog.
If I spotted the squirrel, I waited for that dog to make
it's decision and tree before I shot that squirrel.
 
If the dog barked treed out of sight, I tried to put a
sneak on the tree. If the squirrel does not see you,
they may move and are easier to find. But hunting
alone, one thing remained the same. I still carried
the squirrels!
 
I can't relate those early family days without my
mothers' part in it. If we brought in a number, she
fried the squirrels, then put them in the pressure
cooker to tenderize. Gravy, mashed potatoes was
part of that.
 
But if we only brought in two, she boiled the squirrels,
picked the meat off the bones, made a tomato-vegetable
squirrel stew that would feed the whole family. Often, she
put a block of chili in it.
 
Time went by. Most of the available hunting territory
became deer hunting leases. That started a war between
hunters that hunted from a stand, or those that hunted
with dogs. The stand hunters won. It became unlawful
to run, hunt deer with dogs.
 
Deer hunting lease rules became this: No dogs allowed.
Not even a squirrel dog. Since most of the available
territory is in deer leases, family groups hunting with dogs
for the most part does not happen much anymore. Which in
my view is a great loss for family togetherness.
 
After the stand hunters got laws passed making it unlawful,
to hunt deer with dogs, they came under attack. By a group
that wanted laws passed you can't shoot deer, wildlife at all
They just wanted to be able to watch deer, wildlife only on
the available territory.
 
Which indicates this to me: If you take some one's rights
away, then it becomes easier for someone to take yours
away.
 
My question is this. Why can't stand hunters secure a lease
to hunt in? Why can't wildlife observers only secure a lease
to watch wildlife. And why not let people that hunt wildlife
with dogs secure a lease to do that.
 
It would be great to see squirrel dogs come out of retirement
and family or friend's groups together again.
 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Nice article. Brings back great memories of hunting with my maternal grandfather and his old blue-tick hound, Gypsy - a retired coon dog, and Cricket - a Rat Terrier, and walking around the woods in N. Fla. On one of those trips the squirrel got in a hole and Grandpa taught me and my first cousin who was with us, how to twist a squirrel (or coon rabbit or possum) out of a hollow tree with a switch or greenbrier vine - a technique for which I became a master.

  When I was in my late teens and college and when first married I had Bertha, a 17 lb curly tailed, smooth haired mix (Mother was a dachshund/beagle cross) that refused to hut rabbits like her parents but naturally became the worlds best squirrel dog. We killed thousands of squirrels over her and the most fun was to take a younger kid along and let him do the shooting. I also spent lots of times with my buddies and even my newlywed wife. There is no telling how many hours I spent alone with Bertha trekking through the woods shooting squirrels and later in the swamps at night catching coons.

  I cannot think of any experience more enjoyable than following/accompanying a high energy little dog through the woods with good friends and family shooting squirrels.

  Thanks for triggering the memories.

[samandothers]

I have fond memories of hunting squirrel with dad.  I am younger than my 2 brothers by 8 and 10 years.  The were into other things by the time I could go squirrel hunting so it was dad and me and maybe a dog.  Without a dog we'd just walk about 200" apart.  One of us would stand still and watch the tree tops as the other would walk.  We'd usually carry different guns. One would carry a shot gun as we'd kick brush piles for rabbits to see if we'd jump some.  The other would carry a 22 rifle to pop the squirrel as it moved into site.
As previously noted in TR's article mom would cook them after dad cleaned them.  

Good memories!

[mike_belben]

They taste any good?

[WDH]

My Momma would par boil them then fry them, or boil them and make squirrel and dumplings. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   My old mentor would flour and fry them brown, wrap them loosely in foil and float them on about an inch of water in a pressure cooker and pressure cook them till tender enough they'd fall off the bone. (I don't remember the pressure setting or time he used). Of course he had not teeth by then so he wanted them tender and they were and were very good. We'd eat them with homemade coarse yellow grits he had ground, hushpuppies and home grown canned field peas he had grown. A very good meal. He was a great camp cook but it was best you did not spend too much time in the kitchen watching him. :D

[Tacotodd]

They taste any good?

Taste AWESOME when fried IIRC, just take the time that it needs & use just barely enough temperature for browning the flour. That way it'll still be edible. I even cooked some up for the wife & I this way smiley_clapping. Even SHE thought that it turned out purty good. She's a semi-foodie that likes to make clean dishes dirty. But you know how that is :(.