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Needing some training advice

I just recently bought a male cur that is almost 2 years old. He had a grand total of 2 squirells and 1 coon knocked out on him his whole life and I beleive that is about how many times he had been taken to the woods. I have taken him to the woods about everyday since I have had him and he is actually starting to make some trees but nothing with hair in it yet. He is an extremely close hunter and rarely gets out of sight but I think that is more of a confidence issue with him and hopefully it will get better. I used to hunt English dogs so curs are new to me but I did some research before I bought him and he is bred about as good as you can get... sire is Brooks Blue thunder and dam is Killentime Goldengirl. with mostly Streak, Franklins Thunder and Jukebox breeding top and bottom. He is absolutely beautiful and great with the kids.. with that being said I am concerned that I bought a dog that might be too old to train.. especially since I don't have another dog to show him the ropes.

So my questions are these.
1. Is he too old to start training? Should I have gotten a younger dog to start?
2. Do you think that he will start hunting a little deeper? I don't want him to go a mile but out of sight would be great.
3. I thought about putting some squirell feeders out in the woods near my home to concentrate the squirells.. is that a good idea? I don't want him to start treeing the feeders.
4. Is the fact that he has made trees on his own and I haven't been able to shoot anything out to him going to hurt his progress? Tennessee has an early squirell season but it's not open yet so should I wait and hunt him when he can be rewarded for making a tree?

Like I said.. curs are new to me and I am trying to learn as much as I can about them. He is constantly looking up in the trees and winding. In the last 4 trips to the woods he has made 4 trees, 2 this evening. I don't encourage him when he starts trailing or checking trees, only when he finally picks one and settles on it. Then I pet him up and praise him. There hasn't been a squirell in any of them.. at least not on the outside. 3 of them were dens. When he picks a tree though I make him stick with it... won't let him leave until I tell him he can. Am I doing this right?

I did pick up a roadkill and let him trail it and tree on it. After he treed on it for a few minutes I let him have it. He loved every minute of it. He acts gamey as all get out.

This is a beautiful dog and I don't want to mess him up by doing something stupid. Any feedback or opinions are welocome and needed.

wish i could help you, but i am new too.

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BOB KETTLEWELL
JERUSALEM,OHIO

My opinion..

A few years back I was in the same boat you're in now, only mine was alittle female.

She was alittle older than two and had spent most of her life in a kennel never being able to tree anything. But she came from really good blood and she was showing a few good signs so I agreed to take her and give her a chance.

It took about two years to get her doing good enough to say she was well started. I dont think if your dog is showing some good signs then he's not to old to start. You just have to remember to be patient, most of these dogs do what they do naturally and you have to only teach them the things you dont want them to do. And as he gets better at finding what he's meant to hunt I would expect him to venture alittle further and hust out as needed. But then again, I've seen some dogs that don't ever hunt out more than about 75-100 yards.

As for the feeders, I dont think feeders are a bad thing. I scattered corn in the woods around the trails I would take my little Rose for her walks and let her tree the squirrels we came across. And though I'd never tell you to shoot something out of season, rewarding for good behavior is the best way to make sure it continues. Maybe find something that would work as an exceptable reward.
And it could just be me, but if the reward is meat dont give it meat from somethingyou dont want it trying to get. While cleaning dove one afternoon I had Rose playing in the field and she took some of the wings I had cut off. Two weeks later she killed a crain and came dragging it back to me like she had done something amazing.

keep taking him out. if he is treeing he will come around. this is a hard time of year to spot a squirrel unless its moving. i have one i did not really start until she was 17 months old. she just turned 2 and is doing outstanding. seems like your dog has the tools just needs to be sharpened up.

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Danny VunCannon
Home of :
Amazing Grace
Mossy Pond Modacious (MO)
Mossy Pond Amazing Gracie

I bought a female cur off a guy that said she hadn't had anything done with her. She was suppose to be two it turned out she had just turned three . I started taking her when we went trail riding. I saw her working tracks and checking trees and one day after a month or two, I saw a squirrel in a tree she was checking before I could get to her she started treeing . She kept that up the rest of the summer, and when the leaves came off I started killing squirrels. She just kept getting better. If hes bred right and you like him hunt him is age isn't a factor in my opinion.

Thanks for the input guys... I have been putting him in the woods every chance I get. He treed his first squirrel the other day. Me and my daughters were hanging some feeders And he started acting gamey and settled in on a tree and treed on it. I got to looking and he had it picked right this time. The squirrel got nervous and tried to timber out to another tree and missed his jump. Blue caught him in the ground and the fight was on! It backed him off a couple of times bUt he finally killed it. I was happy as a man could be. I think that was what he needed. He was crazy over that squirrel. Tennessee squirrel season opens in May so I am gonna hunt the hair off him when it opens. I will let you guys know how he progresses.

Thanks again.

I know one fella that got an 8 year old dog that had only been used as a stud and never been hunted. He took this dog out a few times and he treed his own squirrel, shot it out and from then on he treed everytime he found a squirrel. For a few seasons, until age slowed him down, he was tough to beat on squirrel.

to old

Your dog is not to old to make a squirreldog. A squirreldog is bread not trained. You can teach him what you do not want him to do and things like leaving a tree and coming to you when you call. If his mama treed squirrels and his papa treed squirrels he will tree squirrels. Ranging out or hunting distance is genatic and he will adjust in time. The reason most peaple can't train squirreldogs is (you don't train them), they are born to do this. He will get to old to breed but never to old to tree squirrels. Hope this helps. Rex

Blue

I have been hunting Blue as much as possible and he is slowly making progress. He has good days and bad, but even as a 2 yr old he has the experience of a 6 month old in the woods. Here is Blue on a tree we made the other day..



We are taking him to Jamestown in June and here is a pic of my daughter working him on the bench.. they are both learning! lol

good looking dog you have. do you live on signal mtn.?

Yes... on the sequatchie county side...

i use to live on hamilton co. side near boston branch. there use to be a few squirrels out in there.

If your talking about the North chick WMA i killed a turkey in there this spring. Nothing but thousands of acres of hardwoods. I am definitely going to squirrel hunt in there some. If you want we can get together for a hunt sometime. Just let me know.

Keep hunting him. I noticed one thing you said " I don't have another dog to show him the ropes". That is a blessing in disguise. More cur dogs are ruined by hunting with other dogs every year than helped. Most curs are independent and are intimidated by other dogs when they are learning to tree.

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110% agree with nccatfisher. To me its best to train them alone. then when they began to tree game introduce another dog.

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Danny VunCannon
Home of :
Amazing Grace
Mossy Pond Modacious (MO)
Mossy Pond Amazing Gracie

I put up some feeders in the summer just for some quick hunts when I get off work in the evening, and I know season is not in but a few times through the summer I try to knock a few out to my dogs just to keep them going and reward them for their hard work, but where I hunt it is hard to find the squirrel in the summer with alll the leaves and nest, I always start my dogs alone behind my house, I usually have feeders up and let them run loose until they start treeing and then I shut them up and hunt them in the evenings,but if he has made some trees on his own I would think that he just needs some hair in his mouth and he will be ok

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PR Tiger Creek Blue Kat