Fox squirrels

[azmntman]

Now your confusing me calling fox squirrels "reds."
We have red squirrels here, they are not fox squirrels. They are much smaller than grey squirrels, but bigger than chipmunks. And, are anything but enjoyable or entertaining when one is hunting. If they see you, they find a perch where they can see you and start barking incessantly for unbelievably long periods of time. Not worth shooting for the meat but you'll want to just to cease the noise after a half hour or more.
They're mostly found in areas with a lot of pines. I'm considering carrying a slingshot when I hunt areas with lots of them.

We call those little ones pine squirrels.

YES! Could not remember the name, thats them! they eat good but need several apiece. about 1/3 or less size than our tassel eared ones (Aberts?)

 

[Spikebuck]

Ron, you're makin' me hungry with those pictures! :surrender: :grin:

Many years ago growing up we ate a LOT of squirrel. Mom did as good with squirrel and squirrel gravy as I've ever tasted. A plate full looked just like your last picture.

Mike

 

[sidelock]

When I was a young man I and my brother kept our family in meat. Mostly squirrels. Many was the day we each would bring home 20 grays. Never was any wasted. And today I would rather have a heaping plate of fried squirrel than the best steak on the east coast.

 

[tenngun]

Love them tree rats, and I think the Fox taste better then the grey. Some times grey is all I see, next week it is all fox. Fact is I like em more then venison.

 

[dragnetbill]

I call them something not allowed on the forum; two years ago one packed nine pine cones into the crannies of my trucks engine compartment and chewed through a wiring harness. A $460 repair.
No closed season for me.

 

[robinsroost]

I would rather have a heaping plate of fried squirrel than the best steak.

I am with you on this one. When I was growing up, if it wasn't for rabbits and squirrels we might not have had meat on the table, mostly squirrels. Keep yer powder dry.........robin :hmm:

 

[hanshi]

Here in Va, the little ones are usually called "red" squirrels; same thing however.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

We have both but when I was a kid it was mostly greys. IF you got a fox squirrel it was like getting a 8 pt. buck :haha: weren't many of them. Dan.

 

[csitas]

As a kid I liked the red fox squirrel. Mepps paid a premium for thier tails. I hear you guys pushing them for table fare but, I see no mention of a pressure cooker. They taste fantasic, but how do you chew them?

 

[nagant]

I sent a couple tail bundles to mepps too, forgot about that. For eating brown them good and cover for a low and slow cook like in NWTF longhunters picture, that made me hungry!

 

[Spikebuck]

I see no mention of a pressure cooker. They taste fantasic, but how do you chew them?

I mentioned it in my post:

I pressure cook them and that makes them just as tender as a young gray.

Pressure cookers make squirrel meat of all sizes and ages just fall off the bone. :thumbsup: Then you can use the juice in the bottom to make gravy.

 

[robinsroost]

If you put the browned pieces in a croc-pot with a 1/2 cup of dry white wine they tender up right nice. Oh, and we called the small red squirrels "piney's". They taste just like squirrel only more tender, and if you're curious, chipmunks taste like squirrel too...........robin :hmm:

 

[don hepler]

My grandmother, would para-boil the fox squirrels. I don't know if I spelled that right, but she would boil to tenderize, then fry them, like a gray squirrel.

I'll never forget the opening days of squirrel season's growing up. The old school bus, coming to a screeching halt, at grandma's. I run in the house, change cloths, grab my 511 Remington 22 and head off to a patch of woods, we called "square" woods. Just a 4 or 5 acre patch of hickory and white oaks, in remote W.Va., that was an absolute honey hole, for squirrels, both gray and fox.

Next day we'd have fried squirrel, gravy and taters, just like the picture.

Better than steak, is absolutely correct.

Them little red squirrels were not in our part of the country, but I have heard them called Mountain Boomers and Fairy Diddles.

 

[azmntman]

My grandmother, would para-boil the fox squirrels. I don't know if I spelled that right, but she would boil to tenderize, then fry them, like a gray squirrel.

:metoo: :thumbsup:

 

[CG6018]

I grew up hunting gray squirrels in Preston Co., WV, and par-boiling and frying were the steps needed to produce a wonderful meal of squirrel, gravy, and biscuits.

It was also there that I learned the "fairy diddle" name for the red squirrels. What really stuck, was the reason the reds were given this name. :shocked2:

 

[Wes/Tex]

So, the Texas kid had to look it up! Never once heard of making "steer squirrels" in my whole put-together life! :shocked2: :hmm:

But when one of our goofy Rock Squirrels goes galloping by toting a young'un, it'll give you a Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot moment! :rotf:
http://home.texasbackyardwildlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IMG_2459.jpg

 

[George]

Never once heard of making "steer squirrels" in my whole put-together life! :shocked2: :hmm:

That's an impressively long-lasting myth. I have a description of it from 1822 with a fancy Latin name, it is recorded as having been a common folk belief in Missouri, Canada, and states along the Ohio valley, and I'm sure others, and is said to involve several species of squirrels. It's not true, of course. No one knows what got it started, several explanations have been put forward.

Things like this are fascinating, and say a lot about the way we come to our beliefs. Another one, the existence of the "horn snake", is of much longer duration, and is still going strong in certain areas.

Spence

 

[don hepler]

How bout the hoop snake, where it bites it's tale and rolls down a hill.

That's what I heard, when I was a kid. Of course they also told me that an owl hooting, was a giraffe.

 

[George]

How bout the hoop snake, where it bites it's tale and rolls down a hill.

Same snake.

Spence

 

[Vaino]

from my experiences hunting squirrels, size wise smallest to biggest...fox, gray, red or pine and chickaree which are more of a brownish red.

My nephew invited his friend to squirrel hunt and at quitting time I had 5 grays, my nephew had 2 grays and his friend said he had 7. Looked at his vest and the game bag was nearly flat, so asked him if he stashed the squirrels and had to go and pick them up. He started to empty the game bag and out came 7 chickarees which are barely bigger than chipmunks. The chickarees require excellent marksmanship, but he was using a 12 ga.

When I hunted fox squirrels I always sat in the woods bordering corn fields sand many times saw a moving bright yellow ear of corn before seeing the fox squirrel.

In the areas I hunt, there aren't as many fox squirrels because they don't bury nuts or have nut nests like the grays and a hard winter can greatly reduce their numbers. I would say the ratio when hunting in my areas is 10 grays to one fox......Fred