I've found several SMN versions of Squirrel Hunter or The Squirrel Hunters. They all differ in the chording and the key signature, but the actual notes are pretty stable. The fact that the chords and the key signature differ is just a function of the fact that the tune's modal and it doesn't fit the conventions of western music notation very well. In the five or six versions I've looked at so far, the first two measures center on E and B notes and then the third measure goes to G before the turnaround in measure 4. The structure is similar to Red-Haired Boy or Salt Creek.
One challenge on the dulcimer is that the melody requires a G note in two different octaves. I'm pretty sure I can get the melody going across all the strings in a DAd tuning an using chords to avoid that low D string. In a drone style the tune is more challenging, at least to play it in A. I suppose you could tune EAD. The E and A would be reverse drones for the key of A and the melody could be played on the melody string starting on the 8th fret, going down to the 3 and up as high as 11 or 12.
That's a weird tuning, though, isn't it?
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Dusty T., Northern California
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As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
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updated by @dusty: 11/21/20 05:28:56PM