My very first, best, smartest dog ever, Sheba, had a high prey drive. Fortunately, by the time I was old enough to realize this, evolution had taken it's course, and we only had very fast squirrels, no woodchucks within miles of us, and the other "catchable creatures" had either gotten faster or moved away. She was smart smart though - only tangled with a porcupine once.

But instinct is instinct, and probably the only way she survived as a stray, which she was before my family got her.