squirels?
 

I am new to small game hunting i mostly deer hunted and was hearing that people are eating squirels and was wondering what kind of squirels you ate. I live in maine and all i know about is the red and grey squirels. Is there a different kind or do you eat one of them? Any information will be a help i dont really want to eat the wrong thing lol.:D

andy_o
 

If your choice of squirrels is between the Red (pine squirrel) and the eastern grey. The choice is simple, go for the grey's. Not only are they bigger, they taste a whole lot better. Good luck hunting and be safe

coyote Caller

RE: andy_o
 

Coyote caller is confused as reds are about 1.5 times the size of any grey. I havent noticed a difrence in taste between greys or reds and eat both varieties. Just shoot them in the head with your 22lr and stick them in a frying pan, good stuff!

I don't think so!!!
 

Treedog:
I will disagree with you this time. The red or pine squirrel is NOT 1.5 times bigger than the grey squirrel. Look it up. The red squirrel or pine squirrel which favor pine forest, and feed heavily on pine seeds is the smallest of the tree squirrels. The scientific name for the pine squirrel is (TAMIASCIURUS HUDSONICUS) it is a northern squirrel ranging from Alaska through canada, and a lot of the north eastern and mid-western states. Maine and Michigan are two of the states with a large population of red squirrels. I am from Michigan and I can personally tell you the red squirrel is not bigger. You might be thinking of the fox squirrel. which has a reddish brown coloration and a lot of people call a red squirrel. The fox squirrel IS 1.5 times bigger than the grey.
Sorry but your wrong this time.

Coyote Caller

RE: I don't think so!!!
 

The reds are bigger than the greys in NC, and the fox are bigger than both.

Our red may not be the same "breed" you mentioned.

RE: I don't think so!!!
 

Coyote hunter:
Take it easy, don’t hyperventilate. There might be cross breeds, or habitat, that make a certain species larger/smaller from state to state.

RE: I don't think so!!!
 

I live in maine and know that our greys are way bigger than reds. We have two around our house that are bigger than my cat. If you have red squirrels bigger than our greys than i would love to see a pic of them. Anyways thanks for the information, I take it that you can eat both so ill have to give them a try.

Idaho hunter.....
 

I'm not hyperventilating or trying to get into some mass argument with anyone here. But what I was trying to tell tree dog was just fact. I have also hunted Maine, and I know the squirrels that andy_o is talking about. Why is everyone being so offensive is beyond me. I'm sure in different states people call certain animals by different names. Just as they do fish. Example is the bream, I have never heard of a bream until I went to live in Arkansas. I was fishing for bream, and catching nothing but sunfish and bluegills. Then I was told they were all bream. Go figure. Sorry If I offended anyone here.

Coyote caller

Here is a picture of the red squirrel
 

This is a picture of the red squirrel I was talking about...They're just about 1.5 times bigger than a chimpmunk. Again sorry if I offended anyone.

RE: Here is a picture of the red squirrel
 

No offense here. I'll see if I can get a pic of a red and grey together from NC.

RE: Here is a picture of the red squirrel
 

NC is home to 7 species of squirrel. One of which is the white squirrels of Brevard, NC.

RE: Here is a picture of the red squirrel
 

Moral of the story: you aren't going to eat a 'wrong' squirrel, but you probably want to get the biggest ones possible. [8D]

RE: squirels?
 

Well in virginia, the red squirrel, or pine squirrel is tiny like the one pictured above. We have greys which are bigger. Then there are fox squirrels that can be as big as groundhogs.

RE: squirels?
 

our reds are nasty ,tough, pine-tree-tastin-rotten little creeps that are just glorified -tree climbin' chipmunks. In NY you can hunt them year round, no season no limit kill em all says the game dept.
the only big limbrats we have are greys and fox squirells, and the greys are tasty( never ate a fox squirrel) . the fox "rats" ive seen( im a taxidermist) look exactly like red treerats but MUCH bigger.

RE: squirels?
 

My mistake coyote caller, here in Oklahoma we call fox squirrels reds. Never gave a thought about an actualy species being called reds. We only have fox and greys here. Thanks for the correction.

RE: squirels?
 

we have reds and bigger grey ones here in my part of new york. The red ones will chase the greys all over the place. I dont think we have fox squirrels, if we do, i dont know about it I havent eaten either of them, but i plan on hunting them soon.

RE: squirels?
 

You guys that aint hunted them yet are missing out on some good times. Not only are they fun to hunt but taste great, just fry them up like chicken or a porkchop, get some biscuits,gravy, potatoes, and eggs and you have an excellent meal.

RE: Idaho hunter.....
 

your are right on that one coyote aller actually here in WI alot of people call the fox squirrel a red and these are1 1/2 larger than the greys both are tasty.

RE: Squirrels
 

In WI we have mostly Grey, Reds and Fox. There are some area's where a very dominate black squirrel is found...which I was told is really a grey with some altered genes. The best way to prepare squirrel in my opinion is in soup. It can help "mask" the gamey smell that some animals seem to get via their diet. Personal favorite is making a barley soup and in place of beef add squirrel.... mmmmmmm

gluck

RE: Squirrels
 

Red. Grey, Brown, Purple, Pink, Yellow, Black. I wouldnt care what color it was; i still wouldnt eat it [X(]

RE: Squirrels
 

wouldnt eat it what squirrels are good...well live in iowa and as far as i have seen we have only one squirrel and its brown/tan colored...thats the only kind ive seen in the backyard and the woods....

RE: Squirrels
 

Where i live, we've shot fox squirrels as bigas 3lbs. ;) We have greys, red, fox, and even albinos. And, I have a rare black fox squirrel. When I was a kid;)