Author Topic: Beagle for squirrels ? (Read 4072 times)

FG1 · « **on:** December 26, 2007, 02:30:22 PM »

Howdy all ,new to the forums and have a question about using a beagle for squirrel hunting. That is are they any good for hunting gray squirrels and how to go about the training? I haven't hunted gray squirrels in many years and when I did it was just still hunting and sitting . The pup I have is 8 months old and seem to have a good nose on him .

Gary G · « **Reply #1 on:** April 23, 2008, 01:56:55 PM »

Some will tree, but treeing is not bred in beagles. Trailing is, and for this reason most will spend too much time trailing. I had rather a squirrel dog not put his nose on the ground.

I once hunted with a beagle that was an excellent coon dog. I don't know if he was purebred or crossed. But he would trail and tree his own coon as good as my hounds.

torpedoman · « **Reply #2 on:** April 23, 2008, 03:51:54 PM »

I had a mutt when i was a kid that would sit under a tree and look at the squirrel never bark just tree them and stare at them most of the time the squirrel would be so busy yakking at the dog he never payed any attention to me.

BillP · « **Reply #3 on:** April 28, 2008, 05:27:37 AM »

Most of our "hunting dogs" have a hard time with game in a tree. I have seen my springer drive himself nuts trying to find a cripple pheasant that went down in a shelter belt. He knew he was on the bird but couldn't locate it. It was about 5 ft over his head on a branch. It is hard to teach most dogs to look up because it is not instinctive for them. Beagles are designed to hunt by scent and scent on the ground at that. Ideally a beagle trails by scent alone which means they don't push the bunny to fast and make him hightail out of the county. All this makes a beagle a poor candidate for a game that requires that he spot movement high in a tree. All that being said, my beagle did some amazing things and if he had hunted squirrels it would not have surprised me.

Glanceblamm · « **Reply #4 on:** May 02, 2008, 08:26:21 AM »

I had an American Spaniel breed at one time and worked hard with her everyday just to keep her close and within shotgun range of flushed game. I had many of evenings, every evening with a 50ft leash and got her conditioned to my whistle and hand signals till the leash was not needed anymore. When we hit the woods, those Squirrels would often give themselves away by running around to my side of the tree. I dont think the dog even knew that they were there.
In short, if the dog will stay ahead of you, and not too far, I think that you can count on seeing a lot of Squirrel activity no matter what the breed is.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #5 on:** May 02, 2008, 09:06:31 AM »

i had one when i was a kid we killed alot of squirrels with him but it took a while to realize he wasn't crazy . he would run rabbit like a pro . but then he would run up to trees and all around . then one day we saw a squirrel in a tree he was running around and the rest is history . run good but treed bad !
get a mt. cur dog , hear they are the rage in Carolina for limb rats !

Cheesehead · « **Reply #6 on:** May 02, 2008, 09:13:25 AM »

Is there actually a breed for squirrel hunting?

Cheese

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #7 on:** May 02, 2008, 09:24:05 AM »

they say a mt cur was raised for that , all hear say maybe .

Cheesehead · « **Reply #8 on:** May 02, 2008, 10:21:14 AM »

What is a mt cur?

Cheese

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #9 on:** May 04, 2008, 06:21:01 AM »

as far as i know its a mixed breed out of the Carolina mts.or similar area . A local breed if you will , see it written about from time to time . Try a search as i have heard they are being raised for sale now .

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #10 on:** May 04, 2008, 06:21:56 AM »

some people refer to them as a fice or fiece ( spelling might be wrong )

hillbill · « **Reply #11 on:** May 05, 2008, 04:17:15 PM »

fiest or feist i beleive is what yu mean

Cheesehead · « **Reply #12 on:** May 05, 2008, 05:12:57 PM »

The feist is an interesting dog. See link below.

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/mountainfeist.htm

Cheese

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #13 on:** May 06, 2008, 02:38:37 AM »

that's right ,

gstewart44 · « **Reply #14 on:** May 09, 2008, 07:24:06 AM »

torpedoman - I know what you are talking about with the squirrel being occupied by the dog. My mother in law has us watch her Boston terrier a few times a year and I love it when the little BT comes over. He sits by the window and watches squirrels all day long until I get home. I let him out and he immediately trees the squirrels. He doesn't bark or jump up - he just sits and stares up the oak tree. The squirrels are so busy watching the dog watching them that they never see me take aim with my 22CB round.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #15 on:** May 09, 2008, 07:29:25 AM »

gstewart44 , sir you have one of the most developed squirrel dogs around , and a natural at that . I can't begin to explain how hard it is to keep a dog from giving voice ! and that is the problem , a barking dog is trouble when hunting posted land , a quiet dog is worth his weight in 22 bullets !
you are a lucky man indeed if only a couple days a year !

hillbill · « **Reply #16 on:** May 16, 2008, 03:59:17 PM »

im of the mind that once the dog figures out what yu are after, if he is a reasonably smart dog, he will try to tree it. the only GOOD squirrel dog i had was when i was a kid and spent 7 days a week hunting.he treed silent unless he couldn't see yu or he thought yu couldn't see him. then he would bark until he noticed yu looking at him.he would follow a squirrel from tree to tree and when yu came up to shoot the squirrel he would dash around to the other side of the tree and scare the squirrel over to your side of the tree.good grief i never realized till now what a gem he was. he was collie and aussie mix.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #17 on:** May 19, 2008, 05:32:09 AM »

Another fine posted land dog !

Rock Home Isle · « **Reply #18 on:** May 15, 2010, 07:52:46 AM »

I had a little beagle named Maggie. Such a wonderful little Dog. She had great conformation and was an awesome hunter.

She went everywhere with me. Maggie would retrieve doves during dove season, which is rare to get a dog to bring doves back...dogs seem to hate that mouthful of feathers. And she loved to run down pheasants in the fall, but she got spurred one time by a big Colorado rooster. After that she'd just sit on them and wait for me to come and get them.

I really enjoyed taking her down on the sloughs in winter and hunting Ducks and Geese. If the water wasn't too deep she'd go get 'em for me, otherwise she'd sit on the bank, running back and forth; howling and barking to let know where they were. I had to get them quick or she'd scare away everything within 3 counties.

We ran a trapline together in the fall for many years. I took several beatiful Coyotes because she let me know that they were there, when I didn't have a clue.

But she really came into her own when we hunted rabbits and squirrels together. With squirrels, she'd follow them from tree to tree, barking and howlling the whole time. The squirrel would be so focussed on Maggie that I could easily slip into a nice position for a sure shot with my little .32 calibre smokepole.

Great little Dog, great little friend; I miss her much.

RB1235 · « **Reply #19 on:** May 25, 2010, 09:17:48 PM »

I've always trained my dogs to tree squirrels since a kid. I used to run beagals and would have a couple for squirrel. I would salt a skin and let dry out. Then hook to a fiching pole with weight. I'd get them to run it on the ground, then end up casting over a branch and get the used to it running up a tree. I've not had any beagals in years, but the same thing worked on mt black mouth curs 9dog on old yellar), my mother's jack russels and assorted mutts and my wife's miniature yorky. It's pretty funny to watch her hunt, a fox squirrel is bigger than her. But she is wide open full of pissinegar when she spots one.

tacklebury · « **Reply #20 on:** August 17, 2010, 06:47:46 PM »

One good place to get a dog into the chase on squirrels are large city parks. There's usually a lot of them and often they can see another dog doing it and learn quicker. I'd just keep them on a retractable lead, so they can be stopped and not actually catch them.