jjoel

well i went for the QUAIL opener in kansas today. didn't see any quail but i did shoot a squirrel. boy my first time ever cleaning a squirrel (well by myself). i didn't even gut it i looked at that baby and though "dang im just gonna get meat from the legs' so i just took the legs and then tried to debone it. (bad idea) so i have 5 small chunks of meat from a whole squirrel. LOL. oh well. it didn't go to total waste. no im gonna look for some recipes. hmm squirrel soup?

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IAMBOB

Hello jjoel, I've only done my first gutting and preparing of game this year myself, they were also squirrels. I based my method on that written about on the Missouri fish and game dept site, but, read about many others here on the boards. Basicly, I just pinched up a lump of skin on the top back of the squirrel and used a pair of 7" wire cutters and cut the skin, left and right, around the middle of the squirrel kinda like I was making the skin into a seperate "shirt and pants" in other words, sort of like following an imaginary "belt-line". the belly skin is thinner and I did not have to cut all the way there. then I pulled the top skin up over the head like taking off a sweat shirt until the head was covered and the skin was part way down the front legs. The bottom skin I pulled down like a pair of long thermal pants or sweat pants until it was most way down the legs and to the base of the tail. Then I used a large knife and just chopped off the head and top skin at the neck. I used the wire cutters again and cut the lower front legs and feet of together with the skin. I did the same with the lower skin by cutting off the lower leg and feet and the tail together with the skin. Then I used a small knife and carefully opened up the animal from mid-chest where the lowest bone is, all the way down to the anus and pulled out all the heart lungs guts and anus stuff. This left me with a complete miniature carcass that at that point began to resemble a food product already. I put it in water with two table spoons of salt overnight in the fridge to draw out the blood. Now you are ready for what ever recipe you are using! This is loosely based on stuff I read here on the board and from links found here on the board. Hint: check out all the old posts you have time to look at. lots of good tips here! Enjoy...-BB-

jjoel

i know. i did all of that. i just screwed it up LOL. i'll do better next time, but i think i like cleaning birds better.

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IAMBOB

If you have time can you describe how you gut & clean birds? I've shot only squirrels so far.
Thanks!
-BB-

SMITTY03

You guys are taking way too much time and effort to skin a squirrel. Take the tail and raise it up. Pluck away the hair arount the anus. Take your knife and cut through the tail bone right above the anus. Don't cut it off, just cut through it and leave it attached to the hide. Step on the tail and pull the back feet with your hands. The hide will come off all the way to the head. Then, cut the head off and the hide goes with it.

RYAN SMITH

IAMBOB

Thanks Smitty I'll give that one a try next time out.
-BB-