gopher slayer

squirrels are just gophers with furry tail. or a rat witha fluffy tail. there is no way that those things can taste nearly as good as beef. get a cow.

802

Personaly I have never had squirrel befor. I know that hear in Tx most are considerd game anemels, but not all. I have taken my shere thow!

I consider them as pest, they have cost me so muc money in repars to my home, and that is why I started to despose of them.

Dont get me wrong, they do not go to waset, My dogs love them! and they have proven to be good bate for cyotes.

I do tink that I will try them!

fuzzjocky2

I love to eat squirrel my dad showed me this way to clean a squirrel some 38 years ago
take a sharp knife with the squirrel on its back cut through its tail at the base but don’t cut through the skin on the other side .now slice the skin down the out side of the back legs only making about a 2 or 3 inch slice in the skin next grab both back legs
and step on the base of the tail keeping your foot on its tail pull up on the back legs and the skin will come right off leaving a triangular piece of skin attached to its belly and back legs grab the point of the triangular piece of skin and pull the remaining skin off . keeping your foot on the squirrels tail through the whole process. you will find that it takes only a couple of minutes to skin one and will have very little if any hair on the meat when your done

dpv

love squirrel. Love hunting them too. Started off hunting them with my Sheridan air rifle as a kid. surprised I didn't eradicate the whole danged species. At a bunch of em but left plenty for the buzzards too. These days I try to not kill em if I can't eat em. Although I have pinned one to a tree about 15 feet off the ground when deer hunting during bow season before because the damned thing wouldn't quit barking at me. As for eating groundhog I understand they make a hell of a pot roast if you clean it right.

David

TheOldGunDealer

Killer243

one thing you need to remember is that those little buggers will freeze in your freezer just like a steak or chicken. there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for shooting them and leaving them in the field,NONE. now, im not flaming you, what you do is your business, but us old time/longtime hunterslearned from our fathers,grandfathers and great grandfathers that to shoot something without using it is wrong.out here, the populations have fallen dramatically due to the viet namise in our area pouching them year round. recently, there were several arrests of the local VC due to this, with at least 3 bunchs of them possessing over 50-60 a pop ( law during season is 4 a day,4 in possession). dont get me wrong, im not a raceist period,but it seems that there the only ones who do this out here (california) . takem with ya,they are really good and very high in protein. there easy to clean, and will slip right in a ziplock bag in the field, and right into a small ice chest, or into the back of your hunting vest. if you only get 1 or two, stick those litle buggers in the freezer till you get more. i do think though that youll find out that it really doesnt take more than 2-3 to feed a family of 4, as there alitle bigger than they look, or than you think they would be. i shot one about 10 years ago that weighedright at 5 lbs (no exageration either)which i donated to the local college for further testing as it was HUGH! HE was so old, he had no teeth to speak of, and would have been like eating boot leather anyway. if you dont want them, go ahead and clean them and freeze them anyway, then ask around to your friends and see who likes to eat them. i think youll find that just about anyone will take them.

good luck to ya, and as someone else said
'waste not,want not!"

NemisusDM

Hey 243,
I just consider squirrels "Tree Rabbits" lol...
They are great to eat and are actually healthier than chicken and have more protein than beef. Plus they keep in the freezer for a long time, up to one year but, taste best eaten within 3 months of kill.

The Arkansas Game Commission has some great info on cooking game including squirrel....

[link]http://www.agfc.com/education/recipes_details.html[/link]

[link]http://www.agfc.com/pdf/brochures/agfc_cooking_squirrel.pdf[/link]

Happy Hunting!!!!! and eatin'

30-06lover

I love hunting squirrel and eating them! I killed four today, but one made me feel a little bad. I blew it out of the tree with a 12 gauge shotgun. When i found it on the ground, its back legs were paralyzed and it was trying to pull itself with its front legs. I had to stomp it with my boot several times, made me feel awful bad. Has this happend to any of you guys?

NemisusDM

Hey 30-06lover,
It happened to me on my first squirrel of the season last year. I had the "fever" and didn't place my shot right. I use an old Marlin bolt 22 with CCI Stingers and made a gut shot, poor thing was flipping on the ground, kinda killed the mood since, I didn't want to make it suffer, just wanted a quick kill. After that bad shot, I made sure to aim right and it payed off. I go for shoulder shots, and placed the next two shots right on the money. After field dressing I could see that the bullet went through the lungs and heart and severed the spine at the base of the neck. Those squirrels were dead before they hit the ground.

Good Hunting,

boogersnotshot

Hey All:

I've been unemployed for two years, and find I need to stretch my food dollars as far as I can. I did a Google search for eating squirrel, and found this chat trail.

I've got lots of squirrels in my neighborhood and an air gun to shoot them with. I take them with clean head shots. I agree with the others here in that I hate to wound them or see them suffer. Head shots are quick and painless.

My real point in writing is to get more information about cleaning and eating them. I live in the Dallas, Texas area and all the squirrels here are red squirrels. One of you stated you don't like to eat red ones. Why? Do the rest of you agree, or have any of you eaten them and disagree?

As far as cleaning them, I read somewhere that you must be careful to wear gloves as their fur or skin poses a health risk. Once you are down to the meat it isn't a problem. Has anyone heard of this?

I've never eaten squirrel before, but I used to have a Cherokee girlfriend who said her father used to shoot them all the time and she ate them frequently as a kid. This is where I got the idea that there is free meat running around in my back yard that I could take advantage of. Obviously, many of you agree. Do any of you have any tips or cautions for a first-timer like me for cleaning them and disposing of the remains?

Thanks, all. I appreciate any advice you can give me. Free food is free food. I believe God supplies all our needs, and I'm in need now, so thank you Lord for helping me out.

boogersnotshot

Hey Fuzzjockey:

This sounds like a very simple and efficient method. I've never hunted before, so please allow me to ask a few uneducated questions.

When you say to cut the skin down the outside of the back legs, can you elaborate? Are you starting the cut from the initial cut you make on the tail? Do the second cuts go across the thigh, or around the base of the leg, or down the cneter of the leg, or something else? I'm assuming that the intent is to have the skin peel from the tail, around the legs to the lower belly and then completely off the animal like a sleeve or a sock.

Do you cut the head and feet off before you skin the animal or leave them on? I guess the skin would slip right off without it's feet or head, but I guess you could also peel the skin first and cut the head off and be left with a single piece of flesh to discard.

Have you tried soaking the squirrel in water first, as suggested by another member?

Thanks for your help.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey all:
After searching the web further, I was able to answer my own questions. If these help you, great, if I am mistaken, please correct me. The cuts should create a thin strip of skin leading up the back from the base of the tail, then around the base of the legs to the belly. The head and feet do not need to be removed first. After peeling the skin up and over the arms and head, keep hold of it. Then peel the "pants" or remaining skin off the hind quarters. After that you may cut the feet and heads off and be left with a single piece of flesh. Some like to keep the head as the brains are considered a delecacy by some. Recent medical advice cautions against eating squirrel brains as it may lead to degenerative brain disease in humans.

I found a few good web sites with greater information on skinning. One includes step by step instructions with diagrams: http://bayoubill.com/archives/2002/080502column.html

This site mentions a foul gland by the kidney of a red squirrel that ruins the taste of the meat.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts...191383,00.html

This site has an excellent description of skinning, preping and cooking squirrels with a few good recipes.
http://www.agfc.com/pdf/brochures/ag...g_squirrel.pdf

Hope this helps.