2024/2025 Squirrel Hunting Thread...........

[yellowhammer]

I hear you, Ed, and understand completely. If I didn't personally know this guy I wouldn't do it either.

 

[ETipp]

Okay all you PA boys. Only one more day until your squirrel season opens. R U Ready?

 

[snakebit]

I was told that same thing by my dad when I was a kid. It never made a lot of sense to me but I do as @ETipp Does and split em all the way up to the throat and saw through the pelvis before pulling any guts out. Cut the windpipe as far up as possible and ya got a handle to pull the lungs out. Everything comes out including the colon before it gets cut off.

our bow and ml seasons are in September so days can be very hot. But nights can be very cold. We get a deer to camp asap and pull the skin off and get it into cloth bags. It's plenty cool by morning and we can put it in coolers with ice if we will be hunting for a few days.

That's always my main concern. If it's warm there WILL be eggs on the meat. When it's hung and dry we hit it with a torch with one of those heat shrink blasters on it. You can hear the eggs popping and any hair still on it gets burned off.

I never heard about that. Think it would work pretty good. What I was told in AK is that the local practice is to keep citic acid powder and a spray bottle. Mix the powder with water and spray the entire carcass and keep it hung and dry. Said to defeat the flies.

It works pretty good. And easy to get.

 

[yellowhammer]

Fly eggs, yellowjackets, wolves, spoilage... Easy to see why the old timers waited till the first frost.

 

[snakebit]

Okay all you PA boys. Only one more day until your squirrel season opens. R U Ready?

Im ready. Clothes are freshly sprayed with permetherin, (however ya spell it), speed loaders are filled, .310's are in the weasel skin, patches are cut, I just need to place them in the mink oil can. I'll run an alcohol patch down her gullet tomorrow evening, slap a load in here and be up at 4.

 

[snakebit]

Im ready. Clothes are freshly sprayed with permetherin, (however ya spell it), speed loaders are filled, .310's are in the weasel skin, patches are cut, I just need to place them in the mink oil can. I'll run an alcohol patch down her gullet tomorrow evening, slap a load in here and be up at 4.

I just gotta remember to set the coffee pot timer, and but spare wafers and fuel in the thermacell. Maybe tickle the stone with my kabar.

 

[ETipp]

Im ready. Clothes are freshly sprayed with permetherin, (however ya spell it), speed loaders are filled, .310's are in the weasel skin, patches are cut, I just need to place them in the mink oil can. I'll run an alcohol patch down her gullet tomorrow evening, slap a load in here and be up at 4.

Atta boy!

 

[ETipp]

Im ready. Clothes are freshly sprayed with permetherin, (however ya spell it), speed loaders are filled, .310's are in the weasel skin, patches are cut, I just need to place them in the mink oil can. I'll run an alcohol patch down her gullet tomorrow evening, slap a load in here and be up at 4.

Just remember to put in some ear plugs before you go to bed so can't hear your Crockett rifle talking to you in the middle of the night. Wouldn't want you going to the woods all worn out and all.

 

[ETipp]

Fly eggs, yellowjackets, wolves, spoilage... Easy to see why the old timers waited till the first frost.

Oh geeze, they were under achievers. It takes a serious, dedicated hunter to tackle the insects and heat in order to squirrel hunt during early season.

 

[Jim K]

I’ve been saying it this evening. “One more day. One more day”. Even got my wife to repeat it with me. Lol

 

[Hermit Tim]

I don’t want to sound too calloused but the facts are, I don’t want anyone touching my wild game meat. Also, I do not trust processors at all. Out of all my life hunting and killing critters, only one deer did I take in. When I went to pick it up, they came out with a small box of meat. Never again.

I absolutely know how my wild game has been handled. The wife and I do it all ourselves.

Exactly. Back in the nineties I used to get mine processed. I might shoot a big body deer and get much less meat than I expected. Then the next one might be a tiny spike that miraculously produces a big box of meat. Never questioned it. Then, with the last one I took in, there was no loin in my box. So I talked to the order taker there and he told me to just stop by and they would give some loin. Next time I talked to him he told me they don't keep anybody's meat separate and they had plenty of loin in the cooler. Turns out all the meat is pretty much mixed into the cooler or freezer and boxes are packed for customers basically by the size of deer they killed. Got pretty good with a knife and never went back. I like self sufficiency anyway...

 

[Hermit Tim]

This knife, to be precise...

 

[yellowhammer]

... he told me they don't keep anybody's meat separate...

NO... uh-uh...

I just don't think Bill would do that to me. I've known him for 25 years. He only cuts for people he knows. I'm going to ask him about that..,

 

[longcruise]

It works pretty good. And easy to get.

Yeah, I had to order the citric acid powder from a pharmacy. It's not prescriptive so I dunno?? Probably can get init off Amazon.

Fly eggs, yellowjackets, wolves, spoilage... Easy to see why the old timers waited till the first frost.

I think they killed and took the amount of meat they could eat till it spoiled andeft the rest.

 

[Hermit Tim]

NO... uh-uh...

I just don't think Bill would do that to me. I've known him for 25 years. He only cuts for people he knows. I'm going to ask him about that..,

The guy at the shop I was using was a guy I worked with. He worked there on the weekends. They properly processed the meat, wrapped and labeled it, then put it in their big walk in freezer or cooler one. Don't remember which. But it was allegedly organized where this section was tenderloin, that section was ground, and so on. So the meat wasn't haphazardly handled. Just no chance your meat will actually be your meat. Was enough for me to do it myself. Never know how somebody else handled their deer after the kill.

 

[Hermit Tim]

Those guys also had a pretty big operation. They took in at least dozens of deer every weekend and stayed covered up. So I guess they didn't have time to keep track of each specific animal. I'm glad squirrels don't go to a processing house...

 

[snakebit]

Just remember to put in some ear plugs before you go to bed so can't hear your Crockett rifle talking to you in the middle of the night. Wouldn't want you going to the woods all worn out and all.

I may just put her a$$ in the truck the night before. I'd hate to have to drop a chunk of butter in my coffee first thing in the morning. I'm glad we brought up hunting prep. I think I'm out of gallon zip locks.

 

[Jim K]

Well on top of being extremely excited for opening day Saturday, I just got a text from my friend who bailed me out and is finishing my flintlock I started. It’s done!!! Going up Sunday after church to pick it up. Pictures to follow boys!!

 

[Hermit Tim]

Well on top of being extremely excited for opening day Saturday, I just got a text from my friend who bailed me out and is finishing my flintlock I started. It’s done!!! Going up Sunday after church to pick it up. Pictures to follow boys!!

Well that is great. Looking forward to the pictures.

 

[snakebit]

Well on top of being extremely excited for opening day Saturday, I just got a text from my friend who bailed me out and is finishing my flintlock I started. It’s done!!! Going up Sunday after church to pick it up. Pictures to follow boys!!

Good deal Jim!