# Life Is Rough!!



## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Ground up some Venison for Chili yesterday. Today I have Squirrels slow cooking for Dumplings tonight. :dance: 

big rockpile


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## Bwana (Jul 9, 2006)

...what time should I be over for dinner? :nerd: 

Dave


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## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

big rockpile said:


> Ground up some Venison for Chili yesterday. Today I have Squirrels slow cooking for Dumplings tonight. :dance:
> 
> big rockpile


Squirrels?  
I hear they taste like rat.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Cornhusker said:


> Squirrels?
> I hear they taste like rat.


Nope Taste like Chicken!!  

big rockpile


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## bgak47 (Sep 4, 2003)

Squrirrel & dumplings Big Rockpile!... Makes my mouth water! I hope to be eating dove tomorrow night. I like 'em fried with brown gravy & onions. Any other recipes? I just bought a Ruger .22mag lever-action with a Redfield 3x9 variable power scope that I hope will be good for squirrels. I don't shoot as well with open sights as I used to. I hope it'll make the difference for me on those illusive L'il critters.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Their not cutting Hickory Nuts now,their in the Acorns.

big rockpile


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i got a little sick of the smell of squirrel guts years ago and stopped eating them. i used to like them a lot. i would always clean them and soak them to fry the same day. maybe if i put them away for a few days until the smell left my nostrils i could eat them again. i have not hunted them in about 15 years.


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## Farmer Willy (Aug 7, 2005)

In a stew with taters, browned carrots and pearl onions. Slow cooked with dumplings cooked on top. Now that's good eatin, I don't care what ya say. Or, skip the dumplings and spoon it over cornbread. Life is good.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Besides Deer and Turkeys thats about all we got to hunt around here,plus the Season is open about all year.

But anymore Deer Season is open 4 months and all the Does you want to kill.

big rockpile


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## swamp man (Dec 25, 2005)

MELOC said:


> i got a little sick of the smell of squirrel guts years ago and stopped eating them. i used to like them a lot. i would always clean them and soak them to fry the same day. maybe if i put them away for a few days until the smell left my nostrils i could eat them again. i have not hunted them in about 15 years.


They do start to stink pretty fast,especially on a warm day.Since I mostly slay my tree rats on my own property.I'm never all that far from the house.I'll shoot a couple,take 'em home,clean 'em,toss 'em in the saltwater,and hit the woods for round two.Cuts down on the stank.
When I was a pup,I made a miraculous(lucky)shot with my bb gun,and nailed a squirrel in my grandma's neighbors yard,while shooting from grandmas yard.A violation like this would have definitely lead to me getting my backside whooped eight ways from sunday,so I hid it in my duffle bag,and smuggled my dead squirrel to the camphouse,where the family was heading later in the day,and squirrel huntin was allowed.My plan was to play it off like I had shot the squirrel on the camphouse property.By the time we got packed up and made the trip to the camphouse,that thing was kickin' like a mule.I had to toss it.


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## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

Squirrel is half bad unless they have been in the hedgeappled (ozark oranges) then they are down right nasty , worse than goats milk when the goats are eatin onions garlic and mint yuck


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## NJ Rich (Dec 14, 2005)

I haven't eaten squirrel in a long time. Soaked mine in salted water, drained and dried, dredge them in egg and bread crumbs. I fried them up good cause mom wouldn't cook or eat them. My memory probably thinks it was good a could be. But if I ate it now I would need to start fresh in my tasting dept.

I never stewed squirrel though. Rabbit was almost always stewed with potatos and veggies. I do miss that some.

Eating a squirrel is better than looking at an empty plate anyday.


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## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

OK, I'm gonna ask the question that DH always asks me (as if he thinks I would know the answer!) - aren't they awfully fiddly to get off the bone? And, are they really worth all that fiddling? Can't you just kill and eat something bigger?


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## Farmer Willy (Aug 7, 2005)

No more than cleaning the meat off a chicken neck. Or shelling out shrimp. Or picking the meat out of walnuts or hicory. Once cooked the meat comes off in your fingers. I'll grant you it is a might more work than pulling the wrapper off a burger.


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## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

LOL Willy - he was asking about filetting it before cooking. I did tell him I didn't think that was what people did, but I was never sure. And who bothers with shelling shrimp? He eats them whole.


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## Rockin'B (Jan 20, 2006)

Well, I hate to admit it....But, Squirrel is some of my favorite eating. I carry small "game bags" made out of white cotton pillow cases in a small back pack. I clean them just a soon as I shoot them. They skin so much easier. Toss them into the cotton bag and by then the woods have calmed down again.

Squirrel is really very good, I love it.


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## Farmer Willy (Aug 7, 2005)

mistletoad said:


> LOL Willy - he was asking about filetting it before cooking. I did tell him I didn't think that was what people did, but I was never sure. And who bothers with shelling shrimp? He eats them whole.



I geuss pulling the wrapper off that burger is just slowing him down. Stop in when you're down this way and I show him the 'squirel way'


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## swamp man (Dec 25, 2005)

mistletoad said:


> LOL Willy - he was asking about filetting it before cooking. I did tell him I didn't think that was what people did, but I was never sure. And who bothers with shelling shrimp? He eats them whole.


Parboiled or slow-cooked,the meat comes off the bone very easily.If it doesn't,it just needs to be cooked a bit longer.
Dressing a squirrel is easy,and I do it pretty much the same way I do most other mammalian game.
first,I dunk the squirrel in a bucket of water,and run my hand over the squirrel a few times with the grain of the fur.This will remove most of the loose hairs,and those things can be a pain to remove if they get stuck to the meat.
I use a small(but very sharp) hatchet to remove head,tail,and lower portion of legs.A pair of anvil-style hand pruners works well,too.
Cut skin over shoulder blades,and pull skin in both directions,removing it kinda like two socks.My buddy steps on the back legs,,and pulls up on the tail to remove the skin,but if the meat caught much shot,they tear easily using this method.
Being careful not to puncture innards,cut skin from base of tail,up through belly and ribcage,all the way up through neck.remove entrails,and scrape all that white crap off of the inside of the ribcage.
I like to blast 'em clean with the water hose before putting them in the saltwater.

There are several ways to do this,but that's how I was taught,and I can go through squirrels pretty fast this way.
A good,clean workspace makes the process much easier,but if you do it in the kitchen,your wife is gonna' get upset and not cook you any dumplings.I built a table for dressing fish/small game a coupla' years ago,using a salvaged stainless steel sink basin and a PVC hose adapter to run it off the water hose.I shoulda' built that thing a loooooong time ago,as it makes things much easier.


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## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

Thanks Swampman, sounds simple enough and not too fiddly at all. Now all we need is to find some squirrels - we have 1 that comes to eat our acorns, never in my life have I lived in a place with so few squirrels (we assume the neighbours are eating them all! lol)


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