[dburkhead]

My wife said that to me this morning. I gave request a lot of thought and composed the following reply:

I know that you come from Japan and from an "urban" environment but there are some things you need to understand.

First, humans have been farmers and animal herders/keepers for about 5,000 years. That seems like a long time, but humans have been hunting, in one form or another for Five Million Years. That's 1000 times as long as we have been farming and keeping animals. There is a strong bias between men and women when it comes to hunting too. After all, among our ancestors it was the men who did the hunting while the women gathered fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables. Men tend to have more of an inclination to hunt than women (although there is some sign that's changing--a lot of women hunt these days). Culture can modify that somewhat. You have groups saying over and over again that "hunting is bad" and people start to believe it and suppress the natural urge to hunt. It's quite possible that a lot of the emotional problems many people have today comes from that very suppression.

Then there's the practical aspect. The world is not a safe place. It never has been. While Japan has been relatively safe for most people over the last few decades, that is an artificial condition. A good part of the reason that Japan is safe is that thre are large US forces stationed there to keep folk like Russia or China from deciding to add Japan to their collection. Another thing to consider is that while crime is low in Japan, the cost of that is a society where the suicide rate is among the highest in the world. The very parts of Japanese culture that makes people "safe" from others, causes emotional stresses and problems that make them more dangerous to themselves. Think about that: it's possible to fight back against a criminal, particularly if one is allowed to be armed, but it's a lot harder to fight back against the kind of problems that make suicide seem like a rational option.

As a real world example: I have been having a lot less problem with depression since I have been going fishing, both by myself and with Athena and since I started on these hikes/hunting expeditions.

Back to the world being a dangerous place. Numerous times over the course of history, great civilizations have collapsed completely. It wasn't always external wars that did it. Numerous civilizations tore themselves apart from within. What you see around us, the cities, the roads, the hospitals, the stores filled with food, can all vanish remarkably quickly. Economic collapse, war, race/class strife, poor decisions in energy policy, all sorts of things can stop food moving from the farms to the cities. The average city has only about 3 days worth of food on hand at any given time. While it's not particularly likely to happen any time soon, once it does happen it's too late to prepare for it. And so I feel the need to obtain the skills to provide food for our family in the event of disaster. Seeing that you and Athena (and Reio if you ever get him home) are fed is important to me. A large part of why I'm doing the things I'm doing is against the need to provide for you.

Now, squirrels. Yes, we have Nemo [our Chinese dwarf hamster], who is distantly releated to squirrels--about as closely related to squirrels as Mika-chan, Hoshi, and Sumisu [our goldfish] are releated to the Salmon you like to eat. The squirrels I would behunting are not the half-tame animals you see in parks or trees around town. These are wild animals. They get into farmers' crops and eat food that might otherwise end up in the store for you and me and Athena to buy and eat. The more squirrels and other animals eat, the less there is available for us and the more the food in the store costs. There's a reason that folk who spend a lot of time in the woods often refer to squirrels as "tree rats" because that is what they are. Yes, they're cute in urban parks or in a tree outside the window, but left unchecked in large numbers they rapidly become pests. The thing is, squirrels breed fast (like most other rodents). The main predators that kept squirrel population in check (wolves, wildcats, hawks, eagles, etc.) are largely gone and without hunting their populations would grow to the point that they would become a real problem. The State government watches the population of various wild animals and sets hunting seasons and limits based on what's needed to keep healthy populations. Folk who hunt are actually doing an important service in keeping the rest of the population healthy.

What I say above about squirrels is true about rabbits, deer, ducks and geese, and pretty much every other wild animal that's not on an endangered list (and it's not generally hunting that renders an animal endangered) out there. Hunting is important to keeping animal populations down to a healthy level.

So when you add everything up: the biological history of the human race, the need to prepare against possible future disasters, and the need to keep a limit on wild animal populations I hope you'll see why I consider learning and practicing hunting to be important. I hope you will be able to put your emotional response aside and support me in this. To help with that, I'll make a point of keeping the more unpleasant aspects discrete so that you don't have to deal with them directly. It would be good if you also learned--although that would be a very large step and I won't ask it of you now--so that if disaster happened, you would be able to obtain food if I became injured or ill. But, as I said, that's too big a step to ask of you now, so we'll leave that aside.

Anyway, I love you and Athena very much. That's a large part of why I'm doing this.

[theotherwaldo]

I was raised on fried squirrel. There were periods when fish, squirrel, and venison were the main sources of protein for my family. I was thankful for this food. I would not destroy any of these valuable, life-saving creatures without need. I definitely would not cause them any unneccessary pain while harvesting them. That is one of the reasons that I study and value firearms, and why I practice with them.

Hopefully I will never need to kill another squirrel, but I do wish to retain the option of hunting when at need.

[Vern Humphrey]

My wife thought squirrels were cute and gave me a lot of grief over squirrel hunting. Then one day, she started screaming, "Look at him! Shoot him! Shoot him!"

It seems a squirrel was taking advantage of her prized sunflowers.:D

[wideym]

Grandma has me shoot squirrels out of her Pecan trees. The little buggers can pack away a lot of pecans and I have a choise-pecan pie or fat tree rats. I'll go for pecan pie every time.

[Shibumi]

They're tree rats.

No different than popping prairie dogs from two counties away with bullets that shred themselves and the critter beyond all recognition or possibility of eating...

Who wants to eat rat anyway??

[MCgunner]

They're just furry rats that are edible. :D


I was raised on fried squirrel. There were periods when fish, squirrel, and venison were the main sources of protein for my family.

Well, we had chicken and T bone, but yeah, what do ya do when your kid (me) is always stuffing squirrels, rabbits, ducks, geese, and fish in the freezer? LOL

[koja48]

Correction . . . can't hunt them here, but I've always considered them more as "acrobatic rats." The light-sleeping Lab has trained the ones that escaped (some with now-naked or missing tails) to not dig holes in my lawn, and as a matter of fact, to avoid my place completely! She's a good girl . . . and she thinks they taste pretty good . . .

[Funderb]

squirrels are evil, not cute. Tree rats with fuzzy tails.

[Byte]

Here in CO we have the black ones with the bushy tails and tufted ears. They are hella cute! Pretty sure I couldn't bring myself to eat one... :barf: Rat stew by any other name? I'll pass.

Apparently, they're evil though... http://www.scarysquirrel.org/current/blackskwerls/ :evil:

Byte

[Grantman]

I don't subscribe to the 5,000,000 years of hunting perspective as playing any part between any difference between the views of males and females toward hunting because the theory of evolution holds no sway with me. Rather, from my viewpoint, males and females are wired differently. As a generalization, females often possess greater sensitivity and compassion than males, perhaps there is even greater divergence with hunting males. If you can provide a good enough reason to kill squirrels then contention shouldn't become serious. However, if you are killing squirrels simply for the sake of killing and trying to disguise this to your wife with hollow and elaborate explanations, that you may even want to believe, you will be walking into problems. It is difficult for soft-hearted and sensitive people to countenance killing, especially of things 'soft and cuddly', without a reasonable and sincere reason because killing for the sake of it is utterly opposed to the person they are.

[MCgunner]

I don't subscribe to the 5,000,000 years of hunting perspective as playing any part between any difference between the views of males and females toward hunting because the theory of evolution holds no sway with me.

Well, it's more like a couple million. Our earliest ancestors were herbivorous and then about 2 million IIRC years ago came the Habilis. They were thought to be the first to eat flesh in OUR lineage. A lot of that is conjecture, but pretty educated conjecture. I'm not sure they were squirrel hunters. Are there squirrels in Africa? :D

Just catch one of those critters and let the wife caress and pet it. When it bites the HELL out of her, she'll kill it herself. :D

http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vwsu/gened/learn-modules/top_longfor/timeline/habilis/habilis-a.html

[ronnieevans40]

I have never understood the whole argument over the squirrels. My girl also sees them as cute little critters to be watched and feed. I pointed out that they are the same as rats, the only difference is the rat has no hair on its tail. I then did some more work with her and failed to make any head way. Did I also mention bunnies are on the cute list. That is until last week when the cute little bunnies ate my Tab's snap peas and cucumbers as they sprouted out of the ground in our garden. Now I have built a "rabbit proof fence" in the garden and we have a free fire zone around the greenery. I am so waiting for one of the "tree rats" to make a mistake and join the list of pop-up targets in the back yard....

[dburkhead]

Actually, I based the 5 million on the idea that the eating of at least occasional meat goes back at least to the last common ancestor between genus "homo" and genus "pan" (the chimp branch) since both chimps and bonobos will catch and eat meat as well, that's between 5 and 7 million years ago according to the latest research I've seen.

I may have been stretching the meaning of "hunt" but not by any more than earliest agriculture stretches the meaning of "farming."

[ltetmhs]

Mountain Cur keeps them in check around here. About every other time I come home she'll present me with her half eaten trophy. Otherwise, I'll justr sit on the deck and shoot them under the bird feeder. 65# bow G5 S.G.H. really does a number on the little critters. Tasty too.

[Grantman]

http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vwsu/gened/l...habilis-a.html

Aah, Leakey's reconstructed 'skull 1470'... a supporting reason in itself for my perspective :rolleyes:

[Vern Humphrey]

Who wants to eat rat anyway??

In Arkansas, we have a saying, "If you don't eat squirrel, you just ain't right.":p

[EatBugs]

They are not cute for very long. Those college campus grays steal your lunch and bite.

[NavajoNPaleFace]

Nearly all animals are edible. Perhaps all are if you know what you are doing in the preparation.

In a dire nutritional crunch I will try tree rats as I hunted and had to eat them growing up (along with many wild animals).

My position now is as long as I can afford it and the stores continue to sell beef, poultry, pork, seafood, veal, lamb and the like I am gonna take that road. :)

[Mike U.]

Since they decided to make my attic their home, tree rats have taken on vermin status and are eliminated on sight. I plug up one hole they've chewed in my roof, a week later I find another under the eave. :cuss:
I've killed between 50-60 since January here. It's like the little vermin are coming off a conveyeor belt or something. I just took a month off because I'm recovering from a triple bypass, but soon...soon ya little rat-bastids... :fire:

Now, houses are being built in my regular line-of-fire so I have to find another line-of-fire, dagnabit... :banghead:

[one-shot-one]

life is too short to eat "ugly" critters! :neener: :D

[jimmyraythomason]

Squirrels are delicious and about as close to rats as elephants are to pigs.

[hso]

Cute doesn't factor into whether an animal "should" be hunted or not. In the SE US squirrels can be very destructive to houses and crops when they are not balanced by predators. Being cute doesn't prevent them from being destructive nor does it ensure they have balanced populations or whether they're edible.

[MCgunner]

Well, good point dburkhead. After all, insectivores are technically carnivorous. Chimps eat lots of termites and, yes, will kill and eat other critters. Hominids sorta rely on tools, though, and the way I understand it, Habilis was the first of the real tool makers, making tools rather than poking sticks into termite mounds. I know, personally, I'd have a hard time running down a squirrel without a tool, in my case a good .22 pistol or rifle. I suppose if I just HAD to when I was a kid, I could have learned to shoot a bow or toss a sling good enough to hunt with. Actually, I think fashioning a trap would be more effective, bait it with a few juicy pecans. :D I know traps work really well for hogs and I reckon a pit trap would work about as well as my welded steel frame with a spring door on the front. Snares are easy to make, but it took intelligence beyond your average chimp to figure that out. I think humans gave up being able to climb very well when they started walking erect. Chimps do much better at running down things arboreal. I've read that they have a rather high success rate when hunting as a group, a testament to their intelligence, but still, they have a ways to go to build actual tools. Without tools, a human might be able to clean up a lion's scraps, but he ain't gonna be able to run down his own prey, and what does he do with it when he catches it? LOL I don't keep up real well with this stuff, though, just sorta interests me as does other scientific subjects and I read stuff on it when I have time.

[MCgunner]

Nearly all animals are edible. Perhaps all are if you know what you are doing in the preparation.

Best not eat the frogs in the Amazon. :D Some of 'em will kill you quite dead quite quick. Might be able to prepare it, but like that Japanese puffer fish, I wouldn't trust MY life to the chef, especially if it was me! ROFLMAO!

Hey, you can eat a lot of things, but not all are that tasty. Squirrel, though, are quite tasty! Don't knock it if you ain't tried it.

[dagger dog]

Go out to the dump shoot a big rat and skin it, then go into the woods and shoot a squirrel, skin it.

Lay them both side by side, see any difference? A little rat meat never hurt anybody!:D

[Funderb]

I have shot and eaten the great tree rat.
Taste like meat, is whitish meat.
Hell, I was hungry and out of stir fry.

[buck460XVR]

rabbits are cute too, till they start knawin' on my blueberry bushes......then they are dead.

[MCgunner]

Go out to the dump shoot a big rat and skin it, then go into the woods and shoot a squirrel, skin it.

Lay them both side by side, see any difference? A little rat meat never hurt anybody!



Rats have a huge thymus gland. I could probably tell the difference. :neener:

I've had some good camp meals of fried tree rat and boiled dandelion greens. Beats the hell out of Dinty Moore beef stew, or at least breaks the monotony.

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Deer are a LOT cuter than squirrels, and I kill them too. My dogs are the cutest things on earth - one of them anyway, and I shoot feral dogs, too. Being cute ain't enough to save you if you're a pest.

With bush tails, without bushy tails.... Rats - the other other white meat.

[lazyeye]

In college my buddies and I would go out to the farm land and shoot from a truck as we moved around the pasture.
The farmers loved us because we kept the pest population down and in turn their herds didn't break limbs in squirrel holes, and we had a great time shooting as fast as we could at the limitless supply of squirrels.

My parents always thought that we were being rednecks and cruel up until squirrels started eating their chicken's eggs. Then my dad asked for my .22 :)

[dalepres]

Killing them is required. I don't think PITA would like it at all if you cooked them alive.

[Vern Humphrey]

I once had a lady ask me, "WHO would want to kill a deer?"

I said, "You HAVE to kill them. Otherwise, they keep jumping out of the frying pan."

[TooTaxed]

A few years ago I moved into a house with a lovely pecan tree behind the house (Atlanta). I was really looking forward to the pecans...but the squirrels got there first. They couldn't wait until the pecans were ripe...they would grab a green pecan, take a bite, throw it down and grab another.

So, I gave up on my dreams of pecan pie...but squirrels are cute, so I could live with that.

Then they declared war! Started chattering when we came out the back door, and peed from above, pissy mist falling on us! I decided that if I couldn't have pecan pie, I'd have squirrel stew! Waited until the neighbors were away, and offed one.

Downer! The darn thing was inedible, flavored by those green pecans! I hung the skin, with head and tail attached, from the tree...they just avoided that limb.

My father came up with the solution...BB gun! We stung 'em pretty well, and most of them stayed away. And we had a lot of sport peppering them on the run.

We wound up with three hard cases...an old male who would rush for cover to a crotch high in the tree; a young male who would run down the trunk and across the yard into the neighbor's yard, and a young female who would run along a certain low limb, jump to the garage roof, and escape from there. The young male gave us a lot of sport hitting him on the run, but still returned for more.:)

I cut off the limb the female used. The next time I came out of the house, she sprang for the missing limb...pancaked on the garage roof and rolled over the edge to splat on the ground! I was laughing so hard she got away before I could shoot.:p

Anyway, we did get a few pecans, and a lot of sport...:D And I haven't liked squirrels since.

[TooTaxed]

DaggerDog, while in Vietnam we Special Forces grunts lived with the Vietnamese and ate with them. I developed a real fondness for roast paddy rat...well fed, healthy little animals. But stay away from the city rats! They were a mess of mange, and their diet was...well...not appealing!:eek:

[koja48]

And they became even less cute when the arborist informed me I have significant squirrel damage to large limbs in my gorgeous old maples last week (they gnaw thru the bark & lick the sap . . . damaged areas that they keep open become diseased & rotten over time.). Can't legally shoot them in WA State, so I'll just hope my Lab keeps them at bay and any that are chewing on my trees fall victim to tragic accidents. 'Course now, if one of them acts rabid or charges . . .

[TooTaxed]

Koja48, try stinging them with BB guns..i.e., the trusty old Red Rider. Won't kill them, but they sure don't like being stung. It's best to get your neighbors' approval so you won't be informed on...:uhoh:

[koja48]

Thanks . . . I'll use an airsoft gun & the neighbor has the same problem, but isn't a shootist so I don't anticipate any issues on that front. Maggie nailed one this morning when it fell off the fence trying to beat a hasty retreat . . . she made a nice retrieve, too! A couple years ago, someone called LE because I was shooting an airgun (re-zeroing after I swapped scopes). Since I was using a backstopped pellet trap in accordance with the local regs ~ " . . . in a safe manner not posing potential for injury to people or harm to property . . . ," the responding officer spent some time shooting the thing after he arrived. I was severely chastised for having a ". . . dang that's a nice, accurate" air rifle.

[Griz44]

With bush tails, without bushy tails.... Rats - the other other white meat.

2 billion screaming Asians can't be wrong! I have eaten both, but prefer the ones with the bushy tails. If you are hungry enough, meat is meat no matter where it comes from. Just ask George Donner... (1846, sorry, think he is dead now)

[texfed]

If I'm going to eat it or it's causing me problems on my property It's time to get the lead out!
That steak looked cute before it was processed too! But I love steak!:what:

[Guillermo]

Deer are lovely creatures and have the added benefit of being delicious.

As to the "tree rats" I find them to be a lot of fun to take with a .22 pistol. Besides, they are tasty.

Fun to hunt, good to eat...sounds like a nice combination to me.

[paintballdude902]

my ex girlfriend gave me alot of crap for it....then one day we were walking in the park and one started throwing pecans at us i said "see those dang things dont eat nuts, they use them for ammo"

[CSA 357]

YOU CAN EAT THE RATS...............ILL EAT THE SQUIRRELS , THEY LIVE IN TREES NOT IN SEWERS, THEY DONT EAT TRASH, THEY ARE NOT THE SAME! BUT THEY ARE BUILT ALIKE:confused:

[308win]

I must be defective because to me - Jessica Simpson is cute; squirrel is food and sport. Course, I guess Jessi . . . oh, never mind.

[conwict]

Don't take this the wrong way, because it is cool that you gave such a long explanation to your wife, but I don't think it really needs any justification, any more than any other animal you kill.

Now that you mention it, when I mention squirrel hunting most people seem to react like I said "hunting neighborhood cats" or "hunting puppies."

I really hate when people anthropromorphise animals...

[JShirley]

When I was maybe three (I remember, but don't remember my mom freaking out about it, so I think I must have been too young to explain), I was sitting on the ground in the back yard. My legs were in front of me, as young children's legs sometimes are.

And a squirrel came up and bit my big toe.

I have waged relentless war on them since. :D

[conwict]

And a squirrel came up and bit my big toe.

That same day, there was a leak at the local nuclear power plant that was covered up by the government. They rounded up all the survivors...except for one. And then...CAPTAIN SQUIRRELY WAS BORN!

Okay, just kidding...I'll be going to bed now.

[stevelyn]

Growing up in rural WV, I killed and ate a lot of tree rat, but up here in AK the red squills are pests and taste like spruce trees. I turn them inside out with the .17 and also set out a few 1 1/2 long spring Oneidas to catch them when they go scurrying across the top of the fence.

[cliffy]

Damn, such mixed feelings! I wouldn't eat the little rodents, but I admire their perpensity to survival during long Michigan winters. They are rats, true, but they bury acorns that sprout in the spring and usually where I don't need more Oaks! I have over thirty Black Oak, 100 foot monsters in my back yard already. One massive Oak presses against my house! I love it, but it creaks my home in heavy winds, while squirrels drop half-eaten acorns on my roof from August till STOP! My deck is constantly covered in chewed acorns throughout the fall. Still, they don't wake me as much as the Raccoons screeching in my back yard near the too close creek in the early a.m. Fritz, my really fat Woodchuck, causes me the least sleeping problems. The Chipmunks do occasionally wake me up with their CONSTANT chatter! Crows drive me crazy with their continual bickering over the owls in my back yard. I rarely get to sleep till noon. If squirrels are your biggest problem, shoot them! Because deer eating my low-hung trees are welcome to them. My back yard shall always belong to the mink, muskrat, deer, raccoon, opposum, rabbits, snapping turtles, box turtles, water snakes, spawning salmon, chipmunks, herons, and whatever that likes my back yard. My front lawn is another story. I plan to plant more grass seed there. I do like the grubs for fishing bait, however. cliffy, consumed by nature.

[Mike U.]

Yeah, yeah, yeah...tree rats are all cute and fuzzy and they're playfulness is fun to watch...it's all fun'n'games till they chew thru your roof causing leak after leak and playing tag and chase in your attic at all hours of the freakin' night! Chewing thru the electrical wiring up there leaving you wondering if you'll wake up one night with a burning ceiling collapsing all around you and dying a horrible death in your own bed. It's all fun and games till your property gets destroyed and you find yourself living in fear of a cute and fuzzy rodent. :cuss:
DEATH TO ALL THE LI'L FUZZY TAILED VERMIN!! KILL'EM ALL! :fire::evil:







Okay...now that I've got that offa my chest I think I'll go pour another cup of coffee and eat a coupla more Percocets. ;):D

[Dookie]

And they became even less cute when the arborist informed me I have significant squirrel damage to large limbs in my gorgeous old maples last week (they gnaw thru the bark & lick the sap . . . damaged areas that they keep open become diseased & rotten over time.). Can't legally shoot them in WA State, so I'll just hope my Lab keeps them at bay and any that are chewing on my trees fall victim to tragic accidents. 'Course now, if one of them acts rabid or charges . . .The only tree squirrels we can't shoot are the Douglas, northern flying and western gray squirrels, all the rest are non game species and are able to be hunted. But if it involves depredation then you can dispatch them.

Western Gray Squirrel

http://msnucleus.org/watersheds/tule/images/WesternGray.jpg

[koja48]

Thanks, Dook, but the State game laws read differently, unless I misinterpreted them. Grays are legal on the west side, but I think fox squirrels are protected (they're likely registered as Democratic/deceased/imprisoned voters). However, I am sad to report a couple tragic, accidental squirrel deaths. Seems as if they fell out of my trees and the light-sleeping Lab evidently caught them. Ma Nature is a harsh mistress, but on the other hand, dead squirrels don't chew bark . . .

[cottonmouth]

Feed 'em to me! I tooh this after opening morning a couple years ago. I was shooting my Fausti .410 O/U.

J.B.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/cottonmouth_/HPIM1735.jpg

[CSA 357]

Cotton, You Awut To Let Me Have That 410, I Bet Them Squirrels Would Like It That Way!:d

[cottonmouth]

I don't think these eight would care eigther way CSA!!

J.B.

[snow]

I believe they are tree rats also. I have eaten squirrel as a kid because I had no choice. It was what my grandmother fixed. Now they are just pest that chew through my roof and get into the attic and store pecans and acorns everywhere. I can't shoot them because I live in the city limits but the local lowes has provided me with a few live traps and I promptly dispatch them with a frog jig. Then to the dump they go. Just recently I planted some onions, broccoli and turnips they little rats dug up my onions. I am thinking about rigging the trees in my yard with electric fencing. Now thats will be a barbecue.

[JKimball]

When I was a kid I used my trusty BB gun to shoot a squirrel that had taken up residence in our woodpile. My friend and I dressed it and skinned it and cooked it up on his BBQ grill. Before we could eat it his mom found out what we were doing and told us not to eat it.

Can't say that I felt too bad about her making that decision for us.

[5ptdeerhunter]

I think squirrels are just about the cutest animals. I love watching them while I am at work. There is one that will walk right up to you if you stand there still enough. If I could have any wild animal for a pet I would want a squirrel. Maybe one day I will find a baby one and I can raise it. But although I think they are adorable they do taste great, so I don't have any problem shooting them.

[Loosedhorse]

I have had the privilege of hunting distant big game with ridiculously powerful rifles.

ALMOST AS FUN is sneaking aroud in late Fall with an iron-sighted .22 pistol, trying to get close enough for a shot before the stupid squirrel stops barking at me and just vanishes.

And I always brake to avoid squirrels when I'm driving. But I won't swerve: there are limits to my kindness. :evil:

[moooose102]

shave the fur off the tail, and let one loose in the house. she will be begging you to get rid of the rat! that is what squirrels are. rats, that live in tree's, and if given the oppertunity, your home. kill the little tree rats and get it over with! i have the same situation here. i wait till my wife goes out shopping, or takes the kids to school, etc. then out comes the sheridan and a hunting i will go! the neighbors are to close to shoot a 22, so i have to use the pellet gun. but my trusty sheridan does a good job on them rats.

[TooTaxed]

5pt DeerHunter, there's a reason you don't see squirrels commonly raised as pets. They are cute when immature, but grown up they will destroy your house interior...as a friend of mine found out...almost as bad as raccoons, which are simply larger and more powerful.

[Vern Humphrey]

If I could have any wild animal for a pet I would want a squirrel.
I used to raise squirrels. I trained them to be attack squirrels -- like attack dogs, except attack dogs go for the throat.:neener:

[Six Feet Under]

The squirrels in our yard keep eating all the bamboo... I'm considering borrowing my friend's break-action pellet gun (shoots something like 1000fps) and punching a couple tickets on a lazy Saturday...:)

[Loyalist Dave]

They are called limb bacon for a reason!

LD

[tube_ee]

--Shannon

[eldiabloe1]

Here is a good squirrel of death story for you guys
http://www.vtwinmama.com/demonic_squirrel_riding_story.htm

[Mike U.]

ROTFLMAO!! That was SWEET!

Thanks eldiabloe1!

My ribs ache now... :D

[TooTaxed]

ELDIABLOE1, that is quite a Tail...OOps, I mean tale!

Something new...I'm at war!

Yesterday morning I noticed the insulated plastic cooler I store my birdseed in (safe from mice!) was damp inside and full of weevils.:uhoh: I dragged it into the middle of the yard and opened the lid to dry, figuring the birds would eat the weevils crawling all over the inside and lid.

In the afternoon I noticed a spray of seed coming from the cooler...investigated, and surprised a squirrel inside throwing pawfulls of seed into the air in wild ectasy! Said squirrel promptly departed, and I closed the lid.

This morning I went out to see if the inside was dry and the weevils gone...and discovered my hard plastic cooler is now like swiss cheese! :what: Perhaps a dozen holes chewed into it in various locations, shreds of plastic and foam insulation littering the ground!

Enough is enough! I got out my pellet gun and zeroed it, and am watching the cooler for signs of activity. It's time I had squirrel stew again...Past time!:evil:

[ds92]

It seems that womenfolk only like animals when they have no interaction with them. once chipmunks got into our garage, i've heard requests out the wazoo to "kill all them chipmunks you see" from everybody in my house

[ilbob]

how will you eat them if you don't kill them first? they tend to run off your plate if still alive.

[Vern Humphrey]

It seems that womenfolk only like animals when they have no interaction with them. once chipmunks got into our garage, i've heard requests out the wazoo to "kill all them chipmunks you see" from everybody in my house
My wife was never really comfortable with me hunting. But she had some prize sunflowers. And one day I heard her screaming, "Get your gun! Shoot them! Shoot them!"

The squirrels were goging on her sunflowers.

[308win]

When we moved to Ohio we began our on-going relationship with the ground squirrels. My wife first thought they were cute until they dug up her $10/ea bulbs, took one bite of them, and left the remainder on the ground to move onto the next one. Gopher bombs are the ticket.

[KBintheSLC]

Hunting is important to keeping animal populations down to a healthy level.

Great arguments....

If the above statement is true, when will they legalize "human season"? I highly doubt that our population level is anywhere near "healthy".

Oh... I forgot... humans were created in the image of god right?

Yeah right. ;)

[dburkhead]

I don't think this is the time or place for that argument.

[Tacbandit]

:eek:
Quote:
"Go out to the dump shoot a big rat and skin it, then go into the woods and shoot a squirrel, skin it.

Lay them both side by side, see any difference? A little rat meat never hurt anybody!




So true...And besides, for those of you that like to frequent various eating establishments with any regularity, you might be surprised to find out some of the things you have eaten over the course of time...I promise they would make a squirrel seem very appetizing...:barf:

[rallyhound]

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t171/rallyhound/squirrel003.jpg

[Guillermo]

rallyhound,

I think that is called "squirrel veal"

[308win]

RallyHound - Yes he is cute now but wait until he is hanging onto the end of your thumb with his 3/8 inch long incisors.:eek:

[ronto]

After chewing holes in my barn, eating my tomato crop, diggig holes in my lawn, shutting off the power to my house by shorting out the transformer twice, eating acorns off the trees before they hit the ground for the deer and turkeys ....They look much more cute to me with a load of #6 shot up their breezers.

[Vern Humphrey]

RallyHound - Yes he is cute now but wait until he is hanging onto the end of your thumb with his 3/8 inch long incisors.
Reminds me of a book I read written by a fellow named MacDougal. He and his family were sailing across the Pacific, and their sail boat was rammed and sunk by a whale. They were adrift for months in a rubber raft and a dinghy.

"At first we were afraid the sharks would eat the MacDougals. Then we realized the MacDougals could eat the sharks.":D

[BruceRDucer]

Well they ain't all CUTE. That's a dang lie!
:neener::neener::neener::neener::neener::neener::neener: