Back in the fifties and throughout much of the sixties, before the whitetail deer boon, squirrels were the primary game animal hunted in the woods of Red River County where I was raised. Oh, there was a huntable number of deer and a season for hunting them but the majority of hunters back then were targeting small game; squirrels, rabbits and before the die off, bobwhite quail. Camps were set up by squirrel hunters and several days were often spent ‘at camp’ hunting and cooking squirrel. These camps were the predecessor to present day deer camps.
I grew up hunting and eating squirrel and on occasion, usually a couple times each year, I had the opportunity to hunt them with a borrowed squirrel dog. My brother in law was friends with Mr. Guthrie, and old gentlemen that lived near us who owned a big raw boned mixed breed hound that most closely resembled a black and tan but had traits of several breeds, everything from the ears of a beagle to the markings of a Walker. We hunted the woods near Mr. Guthrie’s home place and the old dog knew the woods well. Once we set out on a hunt, he would head straight to old den trees where he expected to sniff out the scent of squirrel. These hunts were exciting and usually productive. The hound, we’ll call him Tolar but honestly I’ve forgotten his name, was what old houndsmen called a ‘big running’ dog. I can still remember watching Tolar disappear into the brush and hear that deep bellowing baying informing us that he had treed a squirrel.
I, like many folks from the eastern part of the state, became enamored with deer hunting in the seventies and largely left the squirrels alone, we didn’t wish to disturb the deer we hunted in the fall. This remained the trend to the present day and the woods are now full of squirrels, both fox squirrels in the higher elevations and ‘cat’ of grey squirrels down in the bottomlands.
I still pursue deer at a serious level and have hunted them from Canada to Mexico and lots of places in-between but thanks to a longtime friendship with a lifelong squirrel hunter and squirrel dog trainer, Donny Lynch, my interest in hunting and setting down to a plate of smothered squirrel and gravy has been rekindled.
I first began visiting with Donny almost three decades ago when I was doing a weekly fishing column for what was then the largest newspaper in the state. Donny was guiding fishing trips on several east Texas lakes and he supplied me and my readers with current, accurate fish catching tips. But even back then, after I gleaned the needed fishing tips, our phone visits often morphed into discussion on hunting and cooking squirrel.
I recently invited Donny to be a guest on my radio show and was very pleased at all the positive response he received from out informal chats. I was happy to learn that there are still folks around interested in hunting squirrels, especially hunting them with dogs.
In our interviews, Donny pointed out that hunting with dogs is an ‘action’ sport and ideal for youngsters. “I’ve exposed a great number of young hunters to squirrel hunting with dogs and without exception, they all enjoy the fact that they are on the move and actively pursuing squirrels rather than setting and waiting for them to become active in the tree branches. The smaller dogs I train and hunt with are well suited for hunting smaller tracts of land and they are easy to for younger (or older) hunters to keep up with”.
Donny’s dogs are trained to basically hunt in a circle of about one hundred yard diameter. When one area is thoroughly covered by his dogs, he moves them to a new area and they again put their nose to the ground. A well trained squirrel dog also uses its eyes as well as nose to locate squirrels on the ground or in the trees.
Squirrel dogs come in all sizes and mixes of breeds but Donny’s dogs, now named Lynch Dawgs, are small in stature but long on squirrel hunting instincts. As he points out there are two types of squirrel dogs, the cur and feist. As a rule cur dogs are a bit larger than the feist and tend to range a bit farther out. Some say it takes a cur a bit longer to bond with their owner but once that bond is made, it never leaves. Feist are smaller dogs and as a general rule, tend to range in closer than the cur, making them ideal for hunting small tracts of land. Lynch Dawgs are silent when scent trailing squirrels on the ground and only bark when the squirrel is treed.
A few friends and I are eagerly awaiting a squirrel hunt with Donny. One of my good friends has a few acres loaded with native pecans trees which are home to countless squirrels that have previously not been hunted. We are planning a hunt in mid January followed by a midwinter cookout, probably a big fish fry or barbeque. We might even plan on dressing and cooking some of the squirrels we harvest.
Squirrel meat is very flavorful and as Donny says, “If you like chicken, you have to like squirrel”. Newby squirrel cooks are quick to learn that older squirrels, just like older chickens, can be a bit tough and are turned off the first time they set down to a stack of crispy fired and VERY tough pieces of fried squirrel. Older squirrels can be tasty fried if par boiled first, then fried or baked as smothered squirrel and gravy. Young squirrels, just like fryer chickens, are tender when fried. I plan to write a mid January column that focuses on our hunt and camp cooked meal afterwards.
Donny is very particular about who purchases his dogs and targets homes where the dogs are not only used to hunt but also as family pets. For more information, Contact Donny Lynch at 903-601-0671.
Email outdoors writer Luke Clayton through his website www.catfishradio.org
