# Who eats Squirrel?



## Big_John (Dec 1, 2021)

Honestly never cleaned or cooked a squirrel.

After watching... I am seriously intrigued.....

Who intentionally hunts and eats Squirrel?


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## robin416 (Dec 29, 2019)

Quite a few country folk do. My father and his BIL hunted them. 

I was a kid when I had it. Can't tell you what it tasted like but I remember I had no problem with the taste.


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## Hiro (Feb 14, 2016)

I used to. They are quite tasty. I had to start shooting them again a few years ago to get any apples and just fed them to the dogs. I really have killed enough of everything and have gone soft these days. 

Though.....


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Yum. 

I grew up in the city and burbs, and now I'm in the country. I absolutely love squirrel, and I do a good job of cooking it, too. 

We haven't squirrel hunted, but we have caught a few. A few years ago, we hit one crossing the road. DH stopped, I went back to the dead squirrel and popped it into the grocery sack I had in my pocket.

Squirrel in gravy for lunch.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I have eaten squirrel. I enjoy the flavor. 

That reminds me, there are only a few weeks left of squirrel season here. I have 3 that keep raiding my feeders.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Danaus29 said:


> I have eaten squirrel. I enjoy the flavor.
> 
> That reminds me, there are only a few weeks left of squirrel season here. I have 3 that keep raiding my feeders.


Hm. Maybe I should install a bird feeder....

Nah. My Pyratolian girl would think that the bird feeder is actually a squirrel trap, and then SHE would eat the squirrels. She's a good hunter, but who wouldn't take the "fast food" way?


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## Snowfan (Nov 6, 2011)

Danaus29 said:


> I have eaten squirrel. I enjoy the flavor.
> 
> That reminds me, there are only a few weeks left of squirrel season here. I have 3 that keep raiding my feeders.


When did your squirrel season start? Our season here in Minnesota runs through the end of February. 
I agree with you about the flavor if cooked properly. Lots of recipes. Hunting them is fun, too.


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## Snowfan (Nov 6, 2011)

Hiro said:


> I used to. They are quite tasty. I had to start shooting them again a few years ago to get any apples and just fed them to the dogs. I really have killed enough of everything and have gone soft these days.
> 
> Though.....


I just saw the Foxtrot Juliet Bravo. Nice touch.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

September 1st thru January 31st.

Usually by this time of year the garden has been put to bed, the leaves have been mulched and a squirrel or two has been kind enough to join me for dinner.

Hubby parked a car and his scrap in my dedicated squirrel hunting spot. Now I have to be a bit more careful to avoid hitting my bird feeders and flowerpots. With the large number of the rodents here it's kind of like shooting fish in a barrel. Toss some corn in the yard and patiently wait inside the house. The only problem is the ones that learn the sound of the window opening.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Most everyone here "used to".
You kill one, clean one, cook one and eat one and then look in the cabinet for something else. They are like rental properties, you won't get fat off of just one.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

my son and his friends have a squirrel hunt every year. just finshed this years on saturday. they have a camp and they make squirrel stew. i've never had it. that's one thing i can't stand to have killed and i dont let them hunt on my land. i like to watch the squirrels and chipmucks running, climbing and whatnot. my son just calls them tree rats. to each his own though. ~Georgia


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## doc- (Jun 26, 2015)

I grew up on the NW Side of Chicago. My grandparents' house sat on a triple lot (It had been the farm house for the area until the land was subdivided 30 yrs earlier.) It had several apple and pear trees surrounding the house. Gramps had a pulley rigged up on the basement window so he could slowly open it with his foot like the gun port on a pirate ship and shoot squirrels out of the pear tree with his 22 rifle...(Even as a 5 y/o kid I wondered what happened to the bullets when he missed?) ...Italians are big on eating exotic stuff. Squirrel, stuffed. roasted mice, pigeons, squid, octopus, sheep head stew...I was alway afraid to open their fridge. I never knew what strange beast would be staring out at me.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

we had sheep but i dont think mom made stew from the head. we made it from cod head. cleaned good of course. no eyes or stuff like that. (what a meal that makes!)as i've mentioned before when i came in from school whatever we were having for supper was in the big stainless steel bread pan on the table but everything was cleaned . i had older brothers. i never had to clean the heads and whatnot until i married. took awhile to get use to it. 

we would also have squid. only dad would eat it. we had partridge roasted and gravy made. also seal etc. 

yesterday i was looking in the grocers for some pickled pigs tongue for my son as a surprise( he could only ever find it in quebec) they didn't have any but he told me of a place i could get the tongue just 5 min away. i can pickle it myself. then he went on to tell me those same people have camel meat, Emu and all sorts of exotic things. he said his mother in law 's favorite meat was camel. ~Georgia


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

Granddad taught me how to skin' um at 8. I will never forget the wet glove being removed sound it made. Cant think of a better way to describe the sound


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## rbelfield (Mar 30, 2015)

i love fried squirrel and milk gravy over boiled potatoes! my dad and my favorite meal!! we dont see them much on our place anymore. i think our dog runs them off.


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## StL.Ed (Mar 6, 2011)

Yup, squirrel is good. Aging the meat as the video described is also a good idea. The toughest meat I ever recall is a squirrel my brother shot, and cooked the same day.
Most meat benefits from hanging/aging before final processing


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## Wellbuilt (Dec 25, 2020)

Looks good 
the recipe Would work great with rabbit or even chicken .


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## Stockton (May 9, 2013)

I deliberately hunt and eat the young ones. They are great fried. I can the older, tougher ones and serve over rice with gravy. Actually opened a jar last night and had it for supper. Doesn't look that appetizing in the jars but tastes great.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

When I was a kid, the Fox Squirrels raided our corn crib. From the kitchen table you could open the door, slide the .22 rifle out and shoot one between spoons of Corn Flakes. Mom fried them or made gravy with them, they tasted great. Many a Sunday dinner was squirrel and dumplings.


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

I enjoy squirrel hunting and eating squirrel as well.
Favorite recipe involves deboning 3-4 squirrels and making a big iron skillet shepherds pie.
Pan fried till tender with gravy is pretty good too.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

love shooting them , I trap them also 

good eating it's like an all dark meat very small chicken


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## goodatit (May 1, 2013)

Big_John said:


> Honestly never cleaned or cooked a squirrel.
> 
> After watching... I am seriously intrigued.....
> 
> Who intentionally hunts and eats Squirrel?


neither has he


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

any one else case skin them like a racoon ?

you need a bit of bank line or thin cordage to wrap around the back paws but it leaves a very clean squirrel and you can strip the tail at the same time


then you tie that tail to your antenna on your truck
lots of methods all depends what I have for tools , time and how many I am doing

if at home I have a cable in a post I used for the opening cut on racoons slip a foot in there and pull and the hook blade razor knife makes a no hair opening cut then you can turn them inside out tight quick.

hook blade razor knife is really a handy tool for any opening cut on fur.









Wiebe Zipper Knife


For trappers, the Wiebe Zipper knife makes short work of the foot-to-foot (the money cut) and tail cut. For hunters, the Zipper is a great skinning knife for safely and precisely opening up the abdomen while field-dressing. However it's used, this simple specialty tool will save tremendous...




www.wiebeknives.com





i have tried other blades from the hardware store and something about the geometry of the Wiebe blades is just right for fur and the are priced well Wiebe Zipper Replacement Blades / 5 count


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## goodatit (May 1, 2013)

Stockton said:


> I deliberately hunt and eat the young ones. They are great fried. I can the older, tougher ones and serve over rice with gravy. Actually opened a jar last night and had it for supper. Doesn't look that appetizing in the jars but tastes great.
> 
> View attachment 103450
> 
> ...


yes


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## BACOG (May 17, 2012)

Haven't hunted them since I lived in Georgia. They are seriously good eating.


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## LostPotter (3 mo ago)

Biscuits and squirrel gravy is great and eat it a few times a year. With the lack of meat we do not eat squirrel as a main meal.


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## JRHill02 (Jun 20, 2020)

I had never bothered with squirrel meat until one summer when one of my younger daughters came out for most of a month. The DW and she went for many long walks in the forest and had a 9mm and a 10-22 along. The daughter quickly showed she was a really good shot open sights with the 10-22. They came home with several squirrels early on and I worked 'em up. Pretty easy to skin and clean. The wife cooked em down in her always the best spice mix until all I had to do was fork the bones out and she finished them with a sauce and had the squirrels over noodles. I was sold on the taste. Surprisingly, the daughter who was accustomed to a vegetarian++ raw food only diet darned near eat the whole pot. Over the next few weeks she brought a number of squirrels home on her own walks. Mostly head shots. I would've paid for a video of her telling my Ex about the events.


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## Montanarchist (Feb 24, 2005)

I tried it as a wild mountain child (age 12-14) running around the San Juans with my .22 or 20ga. At least the Rocky Mountain ones didn't have enough meat to justify a cartridge.


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## JRHill02 (Jun 20, 2020)

It's on my mind again with this thread and this year's behavior change. With virtually zero acorns this year the squirrels are giving us a continuous show out the front windows as they raid the bird feeder with the sunflower seeds. Not the same when there are acorns. We have a breeding pair of really fat western greys that have taken up residence. I won't take them as they are so much entertainment - not the least of which is they are dog TV. Sometimes I think Bubba will bust through the glass door. Its not that the greys are protected (a fun WA political story there), and the dogs don't read the 1/2" thick WA hunting regs. And the westerns don't damage equipment wiring, etc like their relatives. And they are smart 'lil critters. They know the dogs and us are watching and they tease and play it up.

And flying squirrels. We knew they are out in the forest and several have also have moved in and raid the feeders at night. Those are illusive, night active critters. Each year is so different. We aren't starving so the entertainment value is way more valuable than taking them out "because we can". It's not like times when certain species were virtually eliminated due to virtual famine and war. It takes a long time for over hunting to correct itself. But we don't have to worry because F&W has absolute control of the populations. Yeah, right.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

One of my LGDs has a particular fondness for squirrel and rabbit, so we seldom see them around here. 

That said, there was quite an accumulation of acorns on top of a 3x4 hay bale under the truck tarp. Too bad, squirrel. Not the best place to hide your nuts, when I have to grab hay for the goaties.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I looked in one of my birdhouses a few days ago to make sure there were no mice taking over. I found a cache of nuts inside.



















Too bad these nuts are Bitternut hickory. They taste terrible and leave an acid burning taste in your throat for a long time if you swallow the meat. I think the squirrels are using the bird house as a trash can.


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## SplitWoodAcres (2 mo ago)

Several years ago my neighborhood had a problem with too many squirrels and they had become a nuisance. I got permission from all the neighbors on my street and went hunting with a 22cal air rifle with a silencer. They were so used to people it wasn't even hard. 
I cleaned them and, marinaded them, fried them. They were good! 

..and yes, word spread and I was asked to come hunt the rest of the yards, except a couple who couldn't understand the problem of WAY too many squirrels.


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