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John's Journal... Entry 215, Day 4

TRICKS IN THE TREETOPS

Bark Them Out

Editor's Note: Regardless of how many years you've hunted squirrels, each season you tend to forget some of the basics. You even may refuse to learn any new skills, believing that you've always taken squirrels with the hunting tactics you use.

Most serious squirrel hunters have used some kind of squirrel barkers before. I have accidentally developed a technique that allows me and my hunting partner to both take more squirrels in a shorter time. When Ray McIntyre of Grand Island, Florida, and I squirrel hunted together, I gave him one of my Knight and Hale 4-in-1 squirrel calls. I told McIntyre, "I've noticed that when one squirrel starts barking often another squirrel will bark back to the first squirrel. Before long you'll have three or four squirrels barking at the same time. Let's try and stay 50- to 60-yards apart, and move slowly and quietly through the woods. When you hear me bark on the 4-in-1, then you answer on your call. If we hear any other squirrels answer, then whichever one of us is closest to that squirrel can sneak in and take it."

McIntyre agreed. We slipped through the woods barking back and forth to each other. To our surprise from the instant we started until we both had limited out on squirrels three hours later, we kept bushytails barking all morning. As soon as one of us would shoot, the other would begin to bark rapidly, which seemed to cause other nearby squirrels to come out of their holes and nests and also bark. The hunter doing the calling then would start stalking the squirrel he'd heard barking. When he took the shot, the second hunter would begin barking and locate another squirrel. Using this tactic, one of us always had a squirrel to bark at or stalk. We both learned that this double-barking tactic tricked more squirrels into giving away their locations and enabled us to have more fun hunting than ever before.

TOMORROW: THE CADILLAC OF SQUIRREL DOGS

 

 

Check back each day this week for more about TRICKS IN THE TREETOPS ...

Day 1 - Stalk To Squirrels
Day 2 - Location, Location, Location
Day 3 - Squirrel Calling - Use Mr. Squirrel
Day 4 - Bark Them Out
Day 5 - The Cadillac of Squirrel Dogs


John's Journal