Squirrel Hunting with Original Mountain Curs

In late February, as Tennessee's squirrel season was drawing to a close, I had the opportunity to go squirrel hunting with my long-time friend, and fellow land broker, Jeff Green, his son Samuel, and Samuel's two dogs Rusty and Pearl.  

After deer season closed, I got the itch to get out in the woods again and go squirrel hunting.  I had watched hundreds of squirrels during deer season, so I had high expectations.  Well, over the course of a couple weeks, I spent many afternoons still hunting with very little success.  It seemed the only time I would see any activity at all was during the last 15 minutes of daylight.

One day I was talking to Jeff on the phone about a land deal and I mentioned proudly that I had killed a squirrel the day before.  Yep, A squirrel...

Jeff graciously congratulated me on my "success" then with a friendly mixture of pity and amusement in his voice, asked if I had ever hunted over squirrel dogs.  I hadn't, but jumped at the opportunity when he offered to bring Samuel and his dogs to Nashville.

Rusty and Pearl are Original Mountain Curs, a uniquely southern breed of dog that have been hunting the Cumberland Plateau and the Appalachain Mountains of East Tennessee since pioneer days. A full history of the breed is available at the Original Mountain Cur Breeders Association (OMCBA) website.

Rusty is the OMCBA 2010 World Tree Champion and he showed why over the course of our hour and a half-long hunt.  During that time, he had squirrels treed almost constantly.  Several made it into den trees before we could get to them, but suffice it to say that we killed more squirrels in one afternoon than I had in three weeks.   It was a blast and I was hooked!

And what a great way for fathers and sons to spend quality time together.  It was a real treat to watch Samuel work his dogs under the gentle guidance of his dad.  Seems that guidance has paid off, because Samuel is one heck of a neat kid.

He is 14 years old and an 8th grader at Faith Christian Academy in Jamestown, TN.  On top of raising dogs, he runs a fireworks stand during the summer, then transitions to selling sweet corn, then potatos until school starts back up in the fall.  My 16 year old son Hunter, who isn't easily impressed said, "he's the coolest kid in the world."  High praise indeed.

Rusty is available for stud service and pups are for sale when available.  Samuel can be reached at 931-397-4714 if you would like more information.