Squirrel rifle .... western style!

[longcruise]

Well, here in the west we don't have much in the line of your standard eating size squirrels, but we do have these guys;

Season is coming in pretty soon. The "season" is when the young of the year are big enough to make a decent size target! :haha:

Nope, we don't eat em. Just shoot em. These here are your poor man's prairie dog. :haha: It takes a big gun. I like at least a .54. Kinda like shooting a playing card edge. The bigger the ball, the better!

 

[Bill Hall]

I had a friend who called those "grave robbers". Bill

 

[hoochiepapa]

I used to have an acquaintance that ate them!
I think he died. :grin:

 

[Brent]

Well, here in the west we don't have much in the line of your standard eating size squirrels,

Then you are missing out on the best eating, most fun to hunt, squirrel in all of north America: Abert's squirrel, aka tassel eared squirrels, aka, Kiabab Squirrel. Big as an eastern fox squirrel and twice as challenging to hunt.

And absolute dynamite on the grill...

 

[BillinOregon]

Had no idee, Professor Brent!

 

[BrownBear]

Ahhhhh, picket pins. I wonder how many folks learned their marksmanship as a kid with these guys and a pocket full of 22 shells? :thumbsup:

 

[hoochiepapa]

Well, here in the west we don't have much in the line of your standard eating size squirrels,

Then you are missing out on the best eating, most fun to hunt, squirrel in all of north America: Abert's squirrel, aka tassel eared squirrels, aka, Kiabab Squirrel. Big as an eastern fox squirrel and twice as challenging to hunt.

And absolute dynamite on the grill...

I don't feel there are enough of them here in CO to hunt. You don't see them very often. My folks had them at their feeders when they lived in the mountains, but we never saw too many. At least I wouldn't have felt comfortable killing them.

 

[Black Hand]

The pine squirrels seen in these parts make a tasty meal. We prefer them simmered in a stew (a couple of hours cooking tenderizes them), though they can be eaten roasted on a stick. For a 4-5 man mess, 2-3 squirrels supplemented with a couple of handfuls of barley (and other stuff) will make a filling meal.

 

[longcruise]

Then you are missing out on the best eating, most fun to hunt, squirrel in all of north America: Abert's squirrel,.......

We have some here in the lower elevations. They seem to favor ponderosa forest. Like Brines said, they are not too commonly seen. I'd pop one if it presented, but not something I'd go off to hunt on purpose.

The pine squirrels seen in these parts make a tasty meal. We prefer them simmered in a stew (a couple of hours cooking tenderizes them), though they can be eaten roasted on a stick. For a 4-5 man mess, 2-3 squirrels supplemented with a couple of handfuls of barley (and other stuff) will make a filling meal.

We have loads of those too. I always figured it would take about five or six per person to make a meal.

 

[Brent]

You don't see them because you aren't looking for them, but they are, or at least can be, pretty abundant. I often shot 3-5 in a morning. Not easy though. Shots can be long when they are in the tops of mature Doug fir or Ponderosa. Man, they hit the ground with a hell of a thud when you take one way up there.

I often found them around red squirrel middens above the Ponderosa zone where they regularly raided the middens, but lower down they are even more abundant. You can scout for them in the fall by looking for stripped twigs beneath Ponderosa or Englemann Spruce. However, reds will also do this, so you have to learn to discriminate between the two by bite marks.

Never had a problem with the red squirrels either, other than not a lot of groceries on one. Tasted fine when I ate them in Northern MN.

 

[hoochiepapa]

A friend of mine from out of state thought it would be a great idea to hunt and eat those tiny pine squirrels. Said they tasted like turpentine.

 

[Black Hand]

A friend of mine from out of state thought it would be a great idea to hunt and eat those tiny pine squirrels. Said they tasted like turpentine.

That's what I had been told too. I guess they were wrong. I've eaten quite a few and not one tasted even-faintly of turpentine.

 

[Brent]

A friend of mine from out of state thought it would be a great idea to hunt and eat those tiny pine squirrels. Said they tasted like turpentine.

Probably an internet expert....

 

[hoochiepapa]

Maybe I'll have to try them. This fall.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Pine squirrels are not tree rats, more like tree mice.

 

[Brent]

Pine squirrels are not tree rats, more like tree mice.

But then what do you call real tree mice?

 

[hoochiepapa]

I was watching them when I was up in the "country" this past weekend, and man, they're small! Is there any eating there?

 

[TGJaeger]

I was watching them when I was up in the "country" this past weekend, and man, they're small! Is there any eating there?

Last elk hunt, one of the kids shot a pine squirrel and wanted to eat it. He skinned it and everything but when we cooked it up there wasn't enough meat to bother with. The kid did keep the skin to tan - we "salted the hide" with a salt shaker and kept it in a sandwich bag.

 

[Black Hand]

I was watching them when I was up in the "country" this past weekend, and man, they're small! Is there any eating there?

Each average-sized squirrel has about as much meat as a small/medium chicken drumstick...

 

[Celt5494]

............ :shocked2: ..................................... :idunno: