It’s said that the two happiest days in a boat owner’s life are the day he got his boat and the day he got rid of it. Similarly, it was certainly a happy day many years ago when I traded a nice, older coonhound for Annabell, a dead broke gaited hunting horse, but I can’t say that the day she left was an emotional match. Annabell had faithfully carried me many miles, through thick and thin, following the cry of hounds in the enveloping darkness of Mississippi’s South Delta so I was sure I would finish out my hunting days astride a good horse. But alas, my hunting partner quit and sold his horse, even as my obsession with coon hunting began to wane.
The Annabell era — coon hunting on horseback in the South Delta
From my youth I’ve hunted with a dog of some sort including deer dogs, fox dogs, rabbit dogs, and coon dogs, not to mention a white hot, passionate love affair with falconry and Jack Russell Terriers, so my moving on to squirrel dogs caught no one off guard. I was certain that I would make the transition mounted on my trusted friend but the hassle of hooking to the trailer, catching, saddling, and loading Annabell, only to reverse the process an hour or so after dark following a long hunt and a three hour round trip began to loom large in the mind of this 63-year-old. Added to this was the expense of outfitting my 13-year-old grandson, an avid outdoorsman, with a reliable horse.
Annabell packed with the night’s harvest
The E-Bike Spark
When my squirrel hunting partner started talking about E-bikes I could not have been less interested. But as he persisted, I warmed a bit and began researching. I have never owned a traditional ATV but the E-bike began to look like a real possibility. So, after selling Annabell and my trailer I thought “what the heck” and placed my order for two bikes. Since the ground I hunt has very good ATV trails and is as flat as a pool table, I opted for hub drive bikes which have served us well thus far.
I grew up in the 60s and 70s in a vastly different world; one where most all kids rode bikes and I was no exception. But the first spin down the street in my neighborhood on my new E-bike revealed that the daredevil who jumped ramps, relished power slides, and could ride anywhere with no hands had vacated the premises. And yet it was strangely exhilarating, if not a bit scary, and I purposed to regain my former skills…less the jumps and power slides, of course!
My grandson ready to ride — the next generation of ebike hunters
Road Hunting with Squirrel Dogs and E-Bikes
After only a handful of hunts the saying “just like riding a bike” proved to be true in that a surprising degree of decades dormant mastery returned and I soon learned how to get the most out of my bike under various circumstances. We squirrel hunt fairly large WMAs ranging from 5,000 to 60,000 acres so one who hunts on foot can only peck around the edges as pertains to access on these properties. Add to this the fact that a hard charging cur dog will walk a young man to death, not to mention a senior citizen such as myself. But I knew after the first E-bike hunt that the ability to cover ground quickly was going to be a game changer, and so it is!
The squirrel dogger has no desire to tree cold tracks, that is, squirrels that went up an hour or so previous because these tend to be inaccessible in hollow den trees. So, it follows that a top squirrel dog hunts quickly with his head up, winding for hot scent rather than spending time with his nose to the ground. Our method, known as “road hunting,” lends itself perfectly to E-bike use. After putting the dogs down, we ride at 10 to 15 mph, allowing them to hunt in front of us. It’s a thrill that only a died-in-the-wool dog man can fully appreciate when his dog, motoring along at 12 mph, slams on brakes as his nose is pulled, leash-like, to that magic odor he lives for before charging into the timber, following the scent cone to its apex. When road hunting the dog will generally park within 200 yards, signaling his accomplishment by “barking up” every breath as he anticipates the arrival of his shooters. On arrival the hunters fan out around the tree and the binocular search begins. If this proves fruitless, vine pulling will often cause the quarry to move. Though fox squirrels are considerably slower, I contend that the fleeing gray squirrel, or “cat squirrel” as us southerners say, is as challenging a scattergun target as any winged quarry.
Hunting partner with his cur dog and a solid day’s work
Dog, bike, squirrels — everything you need
E-Bikes vs. ATVs for Dog Hunting
The advantages of the E-bike over walk hunting are beyond measure and need no elaboration. But what about when compared to more traditional motorized ATVs? It’s a fact that no one single mode of motorized woods transportation emerges victorious in all circumstances but I do believe that the E-bike enjoys a few advantages that are worth considering. First is cost. Even a top-of-the-line E-bike is far less expensive than a traditional ATV; particularly when trailer cost and upkeep along with increased fuel costs associated with towing are factored in.
Secondly, deploying, re-loading, and redeploying an E-bike is ridiculously easy when a particular spot proves unfruitful. I have done my share of hunting from traditional ATVs with friends and we have rarely loaded the rig so that we might move to a different spot simply because of the hassle. Remember, I’m old as are most of my hunting companions. Other considerations include fast, nearly silent transportation for deer and turkey hunting and off season use on trails and bike lanes.
The new ride — squirrels hanging off the milk crate, no trailer required
John and his “relatively maintenance-free stallion”
The Verdict
And finally, there’s the intangible (that not everyone will appreciate) of riding a big, beefy bike in the woods and the ability to choose how much exercise, if any, one wants to get. My partner in squirrel dog biking (who is some 7 years my senior), my teenaged grandson, and I all agree that we had the most fun ever squirrel hunting this season and this is attributable in great measure to E-bikes.
The grandson with his dog and the day’s take — three generations of hunters, one ebike
Not a bad day for a 13-year-old
Loading up the crate for the ride back
So, will nostalgia grip me momentarily when the nights turn cool this fall as I imagine myself in the saddle, drinking in the night sounds while waiting for the report of the hounds to reverberate through the timber? Perhaps. But I suspect that one glance into the stable that is my garage at the two relatively maintenance-free stallions waiting patiently for action will quickly silence any pining for my equine past! Happy biking!
Happy biking indeed
