So I have a Mountian Feist mix and want to start squrill hunting. I don't know how to use a gun or shoot, I'm not ever sure I would be able to kill a squirrel tbh. But if I were to learn to shoot a gun and kill squrills. What should I train my dog to do? does the retrieve them as well or only find them?
i was just wondering if you could do a post on what exactly your dogs do for you while hunting and how you trained them.
Check your local regulations on squirrel hunting with dogs. It's not explicitly addressed everywhere, so you might need to call or email the DNR in order to get a solid answer. Squirrel is a pretty popular came though, so it will most likely have a section in the general regulations.
Next find a hunter's ed course nearby. Most of them are pretty basic, but they are usually open to answering questions about firearms and how to use them, and the courses are geared so children can pass. They have a field day where you actually use a firearm too. They are not difficult, so don't be intimidated. You will need a hunter's ed card in order to get a license anyways.
If you can, find a squirrel hunter in your area who will let you tag along. Most are pretty welcoming to new hunters. If you are on facebook, just search for your state/region and "squirrel dogs" or "squirrel hunting" and there is most likely a group you can join and ask in.
Anyways, I am literally just taking an armed walk with my dogs in the woods. The dogs will find a squirrel, put it up a tree, bark at it, and I shoot it. Depending on which dog I'm hunting I might see them for most of the hunt or they might be out of sight often, they each hunt differently. I do try to keep them within about 150 yards though, I hunt in some thick swampy areas and I don't particularly like trudging through that for a squirrel that ended up getting into a hole because I took so long to get there.
I don't do anything particularly complicated when training a dog. I do work on recall first, this is extremely important to me since I hunt on small tracts of land and do not want my dogs going onto private. I do not teach all the stuff bird hunters do, and I do not train my dogs on caged game.
If your dog has never been around gunfire, you can try taking them to a range to see how they react. Keep your distance at first and give them lots of praise and reward when someone shoots. If you go with a friend, start with something small like a .22, or a smaller gauge shotgun. I have never done this though, I just take my dog out and when they get their first good tree, I tie them to a smaller one in case they get startled, and shoot the squirrel. I immediately give it to them and I've not had a gunshy dog yet.
I try to put that dog where I know there's squirrels, so scouting out an area first is a good idea. Once the dog finds and chases a squirrel, I encourage them to bark at it if they aren't already. Don't shoot if they aren't barking unless you want a dog that doesn't bark on the tree. Lots of praise for finding that squirrel, even if they don't tree it. You want them to understand that squirrels are what you're after so encourage tracking, chasing, and treeing. If the dog goes after something you don't want to hunt, call them off and keep looking for squirrels. This is where the recall comes in handy, my dogs are trained to recall to the tone on the GPS collar so I don't have to yell if they're far away.
The best re enforcer for hunting squirrels is shooting one to the dog. You won't always get to do that right away, sometimes you need to work on the dog focusing on finding squirrels for a while. It might take a few trips, or an entire season, for it to click. Just keep getting out there and eventually everything that you need to happen will and you'll get that first squirrel down to your dog. You can use aids like skins and scents, but I just train on wild game, and I like to watch a dog figure it out.
I do not train my dogs to retrieve the squirrel, but that is a very handy thing if the squirrel lands in some thick or thorny brush. Ember's breeder trains his dogs to take it back to the truck. He does something called roading where the dog runs ahead of the truck. I do not hunt this way as I prefer to walk trails and there is nowhere to safely road my dogs here.
It seems intimidating to get started, and I know it was to me the first time I tried it, but once I'd been doing it for a bit, it wasn't much different from hiking. I just had a gun and went off trail more and sometimes came home with dinner.
