[Joshua M. Smith]

I stepped into the woods today to watch a deer. It's a mid-size doe that I'm keeping an eye on. It comes to the creek every day around 4:00pm to drink. It's crossed my mind that maybe I should shoot it, but this one seems to be more for watching than anything else. It usually gets within 10 to 25 yards of me before it shies off, depending on the day. It was feeling bold today and got pretty close.

I saw what I thought was a small wood chuck off about 30, 40 yards away. Only it was the wrong color. I slowly went prone, brought my "squirrel sniper" to my shoulder, chambering a round as I did so, and beheld the biggest danged squirrel I've seen outside of captivity rooting around on the ground. I turned the safety on and back off, making a loud clicking sound. (If you've ever dealt with the safety on a Romanian trainer, you know what I mean). Mr. Godzilla Squirrel stood up, I centered the crosshairs on its chest as its head was obscured, and squeezed one off.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/WabashShootist/Game/daddyfoxsquirrel800xX.jpg
This is the biggest squirrel I have ever taken.

The squirrel toppled and didn't even thrash. It was a very clean kill, and one I'm proud of.

The deer watched all this with interest, then went back to drinking.

While skinning the animal, I found that the bullet, a Winchester XPERT .22LR HP round, began expanding almost immediately. It nicked the spine, creating a secondary projectile of a vertebrae which went partially through some muscle on the back. The spinal shot would explain the lack of thrashing. The bullet exited, leaving a hole about .30". There is not much bloodshot meat however, and I'm very pleased.

This makes three squirrel in the freezer now, and I may pass up the squirrel stew and instead make something in the oven.

I still can't get over the size of that critter though!

Josh <><

[caribou]

Looks Tastey:D

[qwert65]

how much did it way ? do you have a rough idea?

[Joshua M. Smith]

I didn't weigh it. I would say five to seven pounds.

Josh <><

[KINGMAX]

that's a big'un

[surjimmy]

If he was in the Olympic's he would have been disqualifed after the testing. He's huge.

[New User]

Did you shoot him in a city park?

I'm only kidding. I don't think I have even seen a tree rat that big in any of our city parks.

Nice harvest.

[DeathByCactus]

The squirrels at our university arn't even that big... I would definitely consider eating that... It's so.... puffy.

[HB]

That is huge!
I would say five to seven pounds.
Although it probably wasn't that heavy, a gallon of water weighs 8lbs IIRC, he is huge just not that huge....

HB

[Joshua M. Smith]

I use half gallon jugs to test .22lr bullets, and he weighed a bit more than one of those.

I had a cat once that weighed about 20 pounds and was only slightly bigger than this sucker.

Dressed, with no head and with the fat trimmed away, I have about 2.5 to three pounds of meat.

Josh <><

[janobles14]

damn....thats a hog!!

[NELSONs02]

What a fatty. What kind of scope you got there, looks cool.

[Joshua M. Smith]

The 'scope is something called an FM. I guess it's made in China. It works well, it has adjustable parallax that seems to be right on, and it gathers light well enough that I could shoot for maybe 15 minutes after I stop being able to see clearly with the naked eye. It has a lighted reticle, choice of red or green.

Magnification is 4x.

It cost me right around $50 a year or so back. Not expensive at all, and I fully expected it to fall apart by now, as hard on them as I am.

It's held up.

The only thing I don't like is that it's a bit fuzzy around the edges. No real biggie, esp for the money I paid, but it can get annoying when I'm shooting.

It will let me sink five into one hole at 50 yards.

Josh <><

[caribou]

That is a great .22
I use mine exclusivly, when .22LR is called for.
The express sights are PERFECT at their stated ranges when using Remington Thunderbolts.
I carry a spare clip or two, and the only mods I did were to shim the trigger guard metal to fit better, and sharpen'd the firing pin.I have sprayed it down many, many times with Rustolem red primer spray paint over the years.
I Put an AK-74 pull through cleaning kit in the butt trap, and this baby is probly the Rifle I would take if I could only take "ONE".....and alot of ammo for the weight.
I use mine year round, in all weather from Tundra to Ocean, +70 down to -40 , when fur can't run far because it hurts....

I bought the eldest daughter one, as well as the wife having one too.

:evil: My .22 Romy trainer is so "Good", I carved my name into it.:evil:

[qajaq59]

Are you sure it isn't a raccoon that is dressed in a costume for the Halloween party? :neener:

[Friendly, Don't Fire!]

I must admit, that is the fattest squirrel I have ever seen.:)
Maybe it was eating steroids.:confused:

[~z]

Call Boon & Crockette, that may be one for the books!
~z

[dagger dog]

Josh,

He's a big un! I don't know about eatin' him though. You're gonna need a come along to pull the hide off him, and fire up that pressure cooker to kinda soften him up,then ya might be able to roll him in some seasoned flour, drop him in some grease.Couple bottles of brown pop later, you could probably choke him down!

Those fox squirrels that size are some kind of tough, kinda like trying to eat a rubber boot.

He would make a nice mount!

[saskboy]

Wow! some old lady is going to cry when she finds out her pet squirrel is dead! You guys eat these things? What do they taste like, im going to go out and shoot a few today and cook em up......maybe :barf:

[Joshua M. Smith]

They taste like squirrel.

They're thankfully one of the few animals that don't taste like chicken!

I figure on either stewing this fella or cooking him in the oven, covered with vegetables and maybe chicken broth or cream of mushroom soup, covered with foil, until the meat falls off the bone.

There's always a way to tenderize tough meat! :)

Josh <><

[Grizfire]

Forget about Hogs...bring on the squirrelzilla wars

[briansmech]

you need to move further away from the nuke plant!!

that thing isa mutant....

[ColeK]

Josh, I’ve seen fox squirrels that big before and they will dress out about 3 pounds.
I suspect he is old and will be tuff. You might want to par boil him before you put him in the oven.

[dennisH87]

whats the hatchet for? lol

[Odd Job]

whats the hatchet for? lol

That's in case the squirrel's daddy comes looking for his boy ;)

[Joshua M. Smith]

whats the hatchet for? lol

It's a thin hatchet that has a knife-like blade. I use it to either skin and dress the entire squirrel, or just use it to take off the head and feet before taking a fillet or hunting knife to it (under the tail, twist the tail and pull).

Josh <><

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

I'm pretty sure that with that fat belly, you killed the king of the squirrels. Now the peasantry will surely run amok. Did you get his queen, jester, and knights, too?

[Joshua M. Smith]

Well sir, I got the queen and probably the prince. Not near as big as this football, but big enough.

Also popped the daddy of all grays, about size of a regular fox squirrel.

I could have shot another one or two today, but didn't really feel like cleaning 'em, and I have three in the freezer now as is.

Josh <><

[mio]

instead of cream of mushroom soup try covering him in onion soup mix. thats our favorite way to do it in the oven.

[charby]

I'd toss his tubby ass in a pressure cooker with carrots, onions and taters and serve it over some warm egg noodles

[moojpg2]

wow that thing is a monster, i thought i nabbed a big one the other day with my bow(was getting bored in the stand,broad head right in the eye at 35yds, one in a million shot), but god that is a big squirrel