# squirrels



## BigJ (Nov 5, 2010)

I have read here a few times about people who havent eaten squirrel meat. my family loves it better than chicken. their easy to hunt, great for teaching kids the woods and real tasty. Just remember to skin them while they are still warm much easier and cool the meat fast. My deer season is over now [one doe and one buck ] its time to fill the rest of the freezer. Anybody have some good recipes?? 
Thanks
BigJ


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Lots of recipes found in a web search.

http://www.backwoodsbound.com/zsquir.html

http://www.bowhunting.net/susieq/squirrel.html

http://www.justgamerecipes.com/inxsqi.html


For those how don't have a clue on how to easly skin a squirrel.

http://bayoubill.com/archives/2002/080502column.html

There is all so a you tube vido for those like me that need to see how it is done.

 Al


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## Haggis (Mar 11, 2004)

BigJ said:


> I have read here a few times about people who havent eaten squirrel meat.


Given that neither Fox nor Grey squirrels seem to live outside town limits in these colder environs, I haven't hunted, or eaten, squirrel since moving to Northern Minnesota; squirrel hunting, followed closely by squirrel eating, are the only things I miss about my life in the Kentucky hills. Slipping through a dry fall forest, armed with a small bore cap or flint lock rifle, and then taking aim at so wee a target as a squirrels' head, is perhaps the greatest hunting challenge in the US of A. Of course then, if one be successful at the hunt, one has the makings of some of the finest eating avaiable to any hunter in the US of A.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

alleyyooper I use the alternative method of Skinning Squirrel.Its much easier if Gutted,Head,Tail and Feet are cut off.Plus soak them in water before skinning to keep from getting too much Hair on meat.

big rockpile


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## Dandelion Acres (Sep 27, 2010)

Not really a specific recipe, but mom used to take 5-6 squirrels and a grouse or two, put them in her big roaster all seasoned up with salt and pepper and lowrys. She would then make a moist stuffing and just kind of nestle all the critters in it and bake until tender. All I can say is you had to take all you wanted the first go round cause they were never ever any leftovers....
Dang, now I am really hungry!!! LOL.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Rock, the other method?
Seen a medal device for sale for $30.00 that fits in the stake pocket of a pick up. Saw a stand thing that sold for $60.00 too.

 Al


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Big silver grey slow cooked for 2 hours, peppered milk gravy with lots of fresh picked chanterell mushrooms in a dutch oven right out in the woods over an open fire. Big flaky hot sourdough biscuits to sop up the gravy. MMMM MM GOOOOODDDD....James


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## Dandelion Acres (Sep 27, 2010)

Man, it is time to break out the 22 and do a little hunting again.....LOL


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## BigJ (Nov 5, 2010)

Ya'll making me hungry time to get my tail out in the woods again. I'm going to try that pepper gravy recipe,I don't have any chantrels but do have a freezer full of Hen of the woods and chicken of the woods, Just started learning how identify wild mushrooms late in the season this year, but stumbled on a whole bunch of them put close to 60 Lbs. in the freezer didnt have room for all that were there so I left them in the woods for next year


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

Thats it. There is venison in the freezer, time to break out the .22 and the .410. The Oak, Hickory forest out back that borders the crop lands has a serious problem with tree rodents. Squirrel hunting is right up there with fishing in my book.


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## Ryan NC (Jan 29, 2009)

JJ Grandits said:


> Squirrel hunting is right up there with fishing in my book.


I'll second that! Sitting in the woods watching the critters puts me at ease for some reason, being able to bring home dinner warrants the time spent... Now if fall wasn't followed by winter life would be grand... ;-)


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## mullberry (May 3, 2009)

I live in a part of the country where we have squirrels . LOTS of them, they are every where . seems no one hunts them much . I should I guess.


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## BigJ (Nov 5, 2010)

I loves me some squirrel meat, I was gonna go out today but it's snowing way to hard here in S. Mn. An interesting note: I saw a show on the travel channel a while back about England and some of the high end restaurants are putting squirrel on their menus at upwards of a $100.00 a plate. Tree Rat ala gourmet
Big J


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Seems wild game dinners sold at resturants command high prices every where. One such resturant near here gets $30.00 for a plate of roast elk. The elk are pen raised too not wild.

Wonder who is pen raising squirrels?

 Al


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## poppyandnan (Oct 30, 2010)

Squirrel is good, just takes so many to make a meal! I do love wild rabbit.....any of you? I plan to can some this winter.....


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## Frenchy (Sep 28, 2005)

yep it's that time again ....... got my deer also so now its time to pick up the .22 an go cruise my property got me 51 acres of mixed hard woods loaded with hickory, red an white oaks, wild cherry, an so many other kinds of trees the squirrels are just thick here got both greys an fox an have been seeing a few blacks here lately not sure just what they are though ........ I even seen this fall a pied fox squirrel wish I would've had my camera with me ........


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

The blacks are just a color variation of the greys. We're getting a lot of them in the village now. They're kind of cool looking. The snow we got up her in beautiful Western New York has put some of the hunting on hold for awhile.


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## Haggis (Mar 11, 2004)

I've seen a great many color vaiations among squirrels, of all species, but the strangest squirrel I've ever seen was while hunting in "The Land Between the Lakes"; western Kentucky. For almost a week I sat in a stand and watched a grey squirrel about its business, the odd thing was that this particular grey squirrel was the size of a grown groundhog. It had a nest in a tree, but, weight being a certain factor, it only foraged on the ground. I told the fellows in camp about the squirrel and gleened the expected hoots, but then one of the fellows, being a minister, was asked to come along and set with me long enough to see it. He did and I was vindicated among my mess mates, but looking back on the time and event, I wish now I had put an arrow in the varmint (the squirrel not the minister) and had it "officially weighed" and stuffed.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

Yes, so true. It costs a fortune to stuff a minister. And then you have to explain to your wife why he sits on the mantle.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

In England, gray squirrels are considered a nuisance pest and thus can be taken any time of the year. If one is trapped, it is illegal to release it back into the wild and must be "humanely destroyed". 

Martin


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## Haggis (Mar 11, 2004)

Paquebot said:


> In England, gray squirrels are considered a nuisance pest and thus can be taken any time of the year. If one is trapped, it is illegal to release it back into the wild and must be "humanely destroyed".
> 
> Martin


Many years ago, and again, in Kentucky, I ran a trap line for the 70-ish day season; the furs made the half of my yearly income. In Kentucky, and at that time, it was against the law to trap or snare a squirrel, BUT, at the same time it was against the law to waste a squirrel (or rabbit or grouse) if it was killed by a snare or trap. It one day occurred to me that I accidently caught a great many squirrels in my mink sets, then it occurred to me to set a number of "mink sets" where they were more likely to "accidently" catch squirrels. After that it was a rare day I didn't go home with some pelts to sell, and a limit of squirrels for the table. (Going home of the evening with cash in the making and groceries for supper is a big deal when one is raising five children.)

Truth be that with a half dozen to a dozen 110 conibear traps a body can completely wipe out a local population of squirrels without firing a shot; what with squirrels being territorial and all. Squirrels have a powerful fondness for running along logs or poles lying over or along a flow of water (as do mink), and squirrels will run atop downed logs and poles in the open woods. Of course, the easiest place, and way, to catch squirrels is to lean a sturdy pole against a "den tree", and then set several 110 conibears along the top of the pole (always making sure to tie off the trap so a four legged lover of squirrel does not make off with an easy meal).


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

I wouldn't touch it myself. my son and his friends on the other hand go on a squirrel hunt every year. i just sent him off with homemade bread etc. the hunt is tomorrow. i think there is a prize for the one who shoots the most. afterwards, they make stew right there at the camp. ~Georgia


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