12/9/2023 0 Comments Mountain feist squirrel dog![]() ![]() Compact, but deep-chested, he has the build of a hunting dog bred to move quickly over steep terrain. His color blends with the striped bars of light and dark cast by the bare branches on this sunny February morning. He’s a shadow on a zipline, with a black brindle coat blotched with white at the chest. Like his father Stubby, Little Stubby wears the perfect camouflage. Little Stubby on the hunt Colin Moore The History of the Mountain Feist Small wonder there are so many squirrels to hone Little Stubby’s hunting skills, and he’s making the most of the chance to range over new country. Clusters of acorns and hickory nuts, washed down from the ridgelines by recent hard rains, can be seen in all directions. For the previous two years, there have been bumper crops of nuts in this corner of Trigg County, according to Knight. The squirrels on Harold Knight’s farm have been eating well. Hence, nothing is guaranteed, and it’s feast or famine for gray and fox squirrels. The multiplier effect of successive generations would decimate the natural food supply, including the mast a forest depends on for regeneration. If given a steady food supply, squirrels and other critters that depended on nuts would flourish to levels that threaten tree propagation. A Heavy Fall Mast Crop Leads to Squirrels Galoreīiologists who study such things tell us that the reason the mast crop is so unpredictable each year is due to the fecundity of the squirrel population. And thanks to seasons that extend into January and February, hunters in several southern and midwestern states can take advantage of cold-weather squirrel hunting. Hunters who use dogs consider late winter and early spring the best time to hunt squirrels because the leaves are off the trees, making the little rodents easier to spot whether they’re moving or not. Winter is a good time to hunt squirrels because there are no leaves on the trees and they are easier to spot. February is the last month of Kentucky’s two-part squirrel season that begins in August, and dreams of monster bucks go into hibernation as interest in bushytails revives. Squirrels are abundant in this part of the state, though fairly underutilized when deer season kicks in and most hunters swap their shotguns and. It’s late February, and the group is hunting some of Knight’s property in southwestern Kentucky. To him, the trees of the forest are extensions of the ground, albeit ones that he can’t cross, but his ears and eyes go where his legs can’t. He pauses occasionally to vacuum scents off the forest floor and periodically scans the terrain ahead. The dog’s pointed ears alternately come to full attention as he listens and watches, then droop when he is on the move in a series of zigzagging spurts. It’s the treeing part, not a squirrel’s end, that interests him the most. Little Stubby picks up the limp squirrel in his mouth and walks to within a few feet of Coffey, where he drops it unceremoniously on the mat of leaves and returns to minesweeping the forest floor. Colin Moore Hunting Squirrels in the Winter Harold Knight taking a shot at a squirrel. The rifle cracks and the bushytail tumbles down through the branches. ![]() Knight yells out that he sees it and draws a bead. This squirrel’s gray coat plastered against the trunk isn’t easy to spot, but Knight finds it through his scope. The ensuing commotion in the leafless canopy causes the squirrel to scramble upward a few more feet. Little Stubby continues to fidget around the tree as Cochran arrives and begins to shake a grapevine trailing down from the oak. Coffey and Cochran handle the runners and jumpers, while Knight takes care of the bushytails that decide to hunker down. Ronnie Coffey and Jeff Cochran are armed with 20-gauge shotguns loaded with high-brass No. More frantic barks implore the hunters to hurry up. He followed a gray squirrel’s scent line or he saw it scamper up the oak. Voicing an unbroken series of chopping barks, Little Stubby, a mountain feist squirrel dog, is standing on his short hind legs with his forepaws leaning against a tall white oak. Harold Knight sounds convinced as he heads toward the source of the commotion. “If that dog trees, you can believe there’s a squirrel up there somewhere.” Coffey and Little Stubby with a day's worth of squirrels on the tailgate.
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