Inside the 1981 World Champion Squirrel Dog Hunt

Outdoor Life revisits the 1981 World Champion Squirrel Hunt in Ethel, Mississippi, where handlers and their dogs competed to tree squirrels, and explains how the contest worked.

Key points

• Origin: Dick Sheets proposed the contest to preserve the sport and improve squirrel dogs through breeding. The Yockanookany Coon Hunters Association sponsored the first championship in 1980.
• The dogs: Most were not pedigreed. The 1981 winner was Whiskey, a 4-year-old Norwegian elkhound and feist cross owned by Orville Hart of Leesburg, Ohio.
• Format: In 1981, casts were cut to two dogs, in classes under and over 35 pounds. A judge went with each cast, and handlers called their own dog treed.
• Scoring: The first dog at the tree earned 100 points and the second earned 75. Finding a trail earned nothing.
• Squirrels: The area's fox squirrels are described as unusually colorful, with some solid black.

Quick take

The article says the event shows how much good squirrel hunting depends on teamwork between handler and dog. It adds that Southern fox squirrels run big, though tales of house cat size are exaggerations.

Read the full story at Outdoor Life.