Shooting and eating squirrels

[Fullbore]

I don't know if anybody posted this yet? I par boil mine in a regular sauce pan. It works just like pressure cooking one, but prolly a whole lot easier. Simply dress the squirrels, wash and rinse and put them in a pan in cold water so they are covered up. I boil the fox squirrels for about a half an hour longer than the grays. Put them on to boil, then turn down the heat and cover them with a lid. Should take about an hour. The meat will be very tender and fall off the bone. I roll it in flour and pan fry it. Then make gravy with the drippings. Try the gravy on mashed sweet potatoes. You talk about good. Candy the sweet spuds with brown sugar and butter, then simply cover them with squirrel gravy and start chowing it down.

 

[oakswamper]

I have 2 daughters (25 and 22) and a nephew (11) that fight over squirrels when I cook them (if I tell them lol).

Season some flower with salt, pepper, garlic salt. Roll squirrel in the flower and fry in a cast iron skillet with oil until brown (I use bacon grease) I have a monster cast iron skillet 18" so it fits a lot of them in it. after it's brown add enough water to the skillet to half way cover the squirrels, I add half a stick of butter and cover skillet (tight seal) with heavy tinfoil.
Put it in the oven at 225 degrees for a couple hours and they will fall apart. If I have all the kids here I add a couple pounds of chicken gizzards prepared the same way right with the squirrel and they are fork tender and very tasty.

Then I take all the meat out of pan and make gravy with the liquid thats left, make some homemade biscuits and sit back and watch the kids fight lol

I do my rabbit the same way

 

[brock ratcliff]

Sounds like there are some mighty fine squirrel chefs around here! Keep the ideas coming, I'm planning a squirrel feast before long and could use all the input you guys have to give!

 

[xbowguy]

Gonna start calling you Treeratcliff. rotflmao

 

[brock ratcliff]

Gonna start calling you Treeratcliff. rotflmao

Ha! I've been called worse...recently. I plan to shoot 'em up tomorrow morning if I can. I may have to go into the shop for a bit and that could really mess up my "woods time". My mother shares my life-long hatred of dining on squirrel, so after actually having some that didn't make me sick to eat, I called her and told her I was gonna kill some to fix her. Gonna prolly have my siblings over too, along with my liberal, tree-huggin SIL.... hehe.

 

[xbowguy]

Gonna start calling you Treeratcliff. rotflmao

Meant that in a Good Way!

 

[Fullbore]

I would prolly say that squirrel hunting is a close second to my deer hunting. I look as forward to opening day of squack season as much as the bow opener. I guess it's because of my love of eating them is part of the reason. If I had a last meal, it would be fried squirrels and sweet potatoes with squirrel gravy and wash it down with a cold Busch Light! Lol.

 

[finelyshedded]

I prepare my squirrel just like Ron. Love to hunt them and eat em!

 

[brock ratcliff]

I left the pizza shop at 1pm, ran some errands and made it home with time to sight in one of my old 22's. It didn't take long, and when I finished I figured I should run across to the neighbor's for a little bit to see how good of a job I'd done dialing it in. I was in the woods maybe 30 minutes, shot at 3 and killed three. Shot two of the three through the head, the third was about a 70 yard shot so I was just happy to knock it out of the tree. Won't be long 'till we have enough for a serious squirrel feast!

 

[bowhunter1023]

Nice shooting Brock!

 

[xbowguy]

I left the pizza shop at 1pm, ran some errands and made it home with time to sight in one of my old 22's. It didn't take long, and when I finished I figured I should run across to the neighbor's for a little bit to see how good of a job I'd done dialing it in. I was in the woods maybe 30 minutes, shot at 3 and killed three. Shot two of the three through the head, the third was about a 70 yard shot so I was just happy to knock it out of the tree. Won't be long 'till we have enough for a serious squirrel feast!

Great Shooting Brock! I seen the pic first and I though "Ut-Oh....firepower went up Brock is gettin' serious!" :smiley_clap:

 

[brock ratcliff]

That's right, Ric, the fooling around is over with. Actually, I think I shoot that lil Ruger about as well as any of 'em. I just hadn't shot that Savage in quite a while and it needed the dust blown off it. Still, I kinda liked watching them fold up through the scope, probably gonna have to do that again.

 

[Fullbore]

Ain't nothing more enjoyable than squirrel hunting with a .22! Uh, other than bow hunting deer! Lol. A .22 is all I use to hunt bushy tails. Very challenging, especially in September and October. By the way, great shooting Brock!

 

[finelyshedded]

Great shooting Brock! Head shots are the best.

If you par boil your squirrels longer till the meat does fall off the bone, separate it from the bone and shred it up and put in some of your best barbeque and it makes great sandwiches TOO. Something different.

 

[xbowguy]

I sure hope to help ZJ get a doe tonight. Gonna take the .17 out soon and see if I can find some head-less squirrels at the feeders. We have WAY TOO many and Diane wants to try them. Thanks for the motivation Brock!

 

[brock ratcliff]

That's awesome, Rick. I hope you stacked 'em deep and am looking forward to the update! No squirrel hunting for me today. My bride woke me up early and drug me off to Menards. Looks like I'll be busy catching up on "honey-do's" for some time to come. On the bright side, I did get a wicked nail gun... I'm gonna be building some treestands and shooting huts in the future I'd guess.

Mason and I are deer hunting tomorrow evening, and squirrel hunting Monday morning. Good luck to ZJ!

 

[brock ratcliff]

Great shooting Brock! Head shots are the best.

If you par boil your squirrels longer till the meat does fall off the bone, separate it from the bone and shred it up and put in some of your best barbeque and it makes great sandwiches TOO. Something different.

20 years ago I did have BBQ squirrel sandwiches that weren't too bad. But back then, I was usually neck-deep in beer, so I can't really say if I liked it. I will give it another try though!

 

[Huckleberry Finn]

I had one great morning with my .22 and shot 4 squirrels in about an hour. Just took a slow walk through a property and it seemed like I just stopped, shot, and moved on. I haven't had a morning like that since.

I noticed that the latest Field and Stream had an article on it. The author had a good last line - when the squirrel is coming towards you, it never feels like "small" game.

 

[xbowguy]

I had one great morning with my .22 and shot 4 squirrels in about an hour. Just took a slow walk through a property and it seemed like I just stopped, shot, and moved on. I haven't had a morning like that since.

Squirrels just seen to move better on some days. I've sat on a good oak tree before and seen very little. Got a limit on the same tree the next day. Same with the feeders.....Be 6-8 one day and only 1 the next day?

 

[badger]

Awesome thread Brock! No squirrels go to waste around our place.