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John's Journal... Entry 187, Day 5

REAL MEN HUNT SQUIRRELS

Doubling Up With Your Dog

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bob Owens of Tuscaloosa, Alabama is a retired forester. Now that he has plenty of time on his hands, Owens squirrel hunts during the day and coon hunts at night.

I worked in the woods professionally for 38 years, and just like the postman who goes on a hike on his off days, now that I'm retired, I still like to spend as much time as I possibly can in the woods. Having a good squirrel dog is much like having a youngster playing sports. If you have a daughter who is a softball player, a basketball player, a gymnast or a swimmer, you know that anytime she competes, you are going to watch her. The same is true if you have a son who plays football, baseball or basketball or runs track. Well, the same is also true if you have a squirrel dog. You want to go watch it perform anytime you can, and you take a lot of pride in how well your dog hunts, how many squirrels it finds, how many squirrels it brings back to you, and the joy it brings you and your friends.

Squirrel hunting also enables me to make a lot of friends and spend time with those friends. Very few people will turn down an opportunity to go squirrel hunting with a dog -- especially in my home state of Alabama during February when deer season is closed, and turkey season hasn't begun yet. I'm a hound-dog man, and I like to hunt during the day and at night. My dog will hunt coons at night and squirrels in the daytime. I like to have one dog that will do it all instead of having two dogs -- one for squirrel hunting and one for coon hunting. I live in town, so I can't have many dogs. If you have just a squirrel dog, you can only hunt it during squirrel season. If you have a coon dog, you can run it all-year long. But coon hunting is at night, and squirrel hunting is in the daytime.

By having a combination dog, I can go hunting almost any time I want to either day or night. I have coon hunted at night, taken a nap and gotten up and squirrel hunted in the morning. I like both sports. By having a hound that will hunt bushytails or ringtails, I don't have to choose between the two sports. I guess if I was strong enough, I could coon hunt all night, squirrel hunt all day and then coon hunt again that night. But I guess I don't really need to hunt that much any more. I believe that real men hunt squirrels with dogs because real men have always hunted squirrels with dogs, and I don't see any reason to change now.

 

 

Check back each day this week for more about REAL MEN HUNT SQUIRRELS ...

Day 1 - Cosby's Love For Squirrel Hunting
Day 2 - Squirrel Hunting - A Way Of Life
Day 3 - Jim Stephens' Organic Chicken
Day 4 - A Changed Man
Day 5 - Doubling Up With Your Dog


John's Journal