Winner, Winner, Squirrel Dinner

Hello folks, let’s chat…Several months ago our son bought himself a squirrel dog, a Mountain Cur. Phillip named his new dog Daisy and set about to train her himself. Phillip’s a life-long deer hunter and duck hunter, but he’s new to squirrel hunting. Daisy’s even greener, but she’s caught on fast, thanks to her owner’s determination.

Up until the season closed, Phillip was taking every opportunity to give her as much valuable experience as possible. In addition to taking her to the woods, Phillip trapped squirrel after squirrel in my backyard. Once Daisy had sniffed all around the cage, Phillip would lift the trap door and let her chase the furry critter to the nearest tree. Although Phillip’s kids were thoroughly enjoying this winner-winner-squirrel dinner game, I wondered how my sweet grands would react when the squirrel lost. And then, it happened…We all turned to watch the girls as Emerson and Carlisle paused for the briefest of memorials before erupting into enthusiastic cheers for Daisy. Like daddy, like daughters.

The last week of squirrel season, Phillip was in his own yard with Daisy and his other two dogs, Mac, a German Short Haired Pointer, and Junior the Great Dane when he spotted a couple squirrels racing through the tree tops. Why not, right? Phillip grabbed his gun and nailed ‘em. Boom! Boom!

Moments later, Phillip noticed that Mac and Daisy were all over him as he was gathering up the squirrels but Junior the Great Dane was missing. He still didn’t think much of it, not until he reached the back door and found Junior hiding behind their decorative planter. Junior, who is the size of a small horse and has a head like a little Tyke car, had stuck that big block head behind the planter and was apparently considering himself totally hidden from the loud bangs of the hunt.  Never you mind the rest of his 150-pound body. Move along.  Nothing to see here.

“Aw, poor Junior,” I said. “I feel sorry for him.”

“Me too,” Phillip admitted. “But, I couldn’t help it. I looked up to the sky and said, ‘Thank you, Lord, that he ain’t my Squirrel Dog!’”

Hugs, Shellie