Squirrel hunters?

There are fox, grey and red squirrels.
IN DNR has a season on fox and grey.
Reds may be taken any time.

Reds are often called "Pineys".

Piney below

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Hookeye

Now that is what we call a red squirrel in Michigan. Pesky suckers if they get around the house. My son keeps his 17 by the door to shoot every on he sees in the pine trees behind the house. He lives in the house he grew up in.

When he was in high school (turns 45 Dec 4th) he trapped them all winter behind the house. I got stuck with skinning them for him to sell at the fur sale I managed. Got a buck--buck and a half for them. The fur is really nice in the winter. Not long but a beautiful red.

No closed season on reds in Michigan either.

One time I thought that I was shooting a grey squirrel by the tail that showed off the limb. When it hit the ground it was a red with a grey trail cross breed. I should have had it mounted as the damage was slight as I always hunt squirrel with my shot gun as my eyes never have been worth a darn with shooting a 22.

I agree, here in PA, we have the grey, "black phase" grey, fox, and red squirrels, the so called "piney". They are territorial and I have seen them attacking and killing baby or smaller squirrels in their territory. Our squirrel and grouse season opened Saturday, I personally flushed 5-6 and had some other hunters flush another to me. I got one shot off but no connection. I'm going again tomorrow to try again.

Types of Squirrels

Here in TN we have gray and fox squirrels, but in certain parts of the MS Delta, there is also distinct black squirrels.

SlayerOfBunnies said:

Around here, we have fox squirrels, grey squirrels, red squirrels and apparently black squirrels. Here's a fox and a red next to each other - our fox squirrels are huge and the reds are maybe 2x the size of a chipmunk...

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Do you eat those little red squirrels.

Longhunter1700 said:

Do you eat those little red squirrels.

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Yep. Small but tasty .

Shot two of them yesterday: one with a .22, the other with a broadhead. Good opportunity for the 6yo to practice skinning. We kept the tails, and froze the meat; looking forward to squirrel and dumplings soon!

This was such a good thread and makes me sorry I don't ever come over to the hunting thread.

I grew up hunting squirrels in the Big Thicket area of East Texas with my grandfather. We mostly hunted with a dog. This is where I learned staunch gun safety as we'd have a group (usually 3 men and myself) and 1 or 2 dogs. This was a really good time as stealth was not necessary we'd stroll down old logging roads and all the older men cut up in between the dog treeing, I started this when I was 6-7 years olds and carried a heavy (to me) tube fed .22 semi-auto. My "job" was to shoot into tangles of vines or nests to try and move the squirrel. The men mostly carried 12 ga while my grandpa had one of those ole hump back Browning auto 16..

Once I was a teen we had moved and mostly my GP (he retired) left his old crowd we started still hunting and we had some good woods. We later acquired a pretty good dog and did some more of the congenial hunting.


We ate them mostly either in dumplins or fried after short trip to the pressure cooker then pan fried and smothered in gravy. Had to leave the heads on, GP and an aunt liked the brain, Now days I don't hunt them hard but occasionally have to go on a killin spree when they get to eating too much of my chicken feed. I have a few 10/22's and one Ruger American Rimfire in .22LR for this.













d (after a little

the pressure cooker then pan fried and smothered in gravy.

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That's it right there. Sometimes, T alone is not enough to break down muscle tissue. You gotta add P to T.

Had to leave the heads on, GP and an aunt liked the brain,

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Brains are mostly composed of neurons (aka 'nerve cells'), and many of those are coated in myelin, which is extra fat. That is, the brain has HUGE amounts of fat.

Now, for almost a century, we've been told that fat is bad for us, that the key to health is low fat, high carbs.

It's turning out that was as wrong as smoking is good for you.

The new version is, low carbs (< 50 g/day), moderate protein, high fat.

It's the ketogenic diet: high animal fat: bacon, eggs, butter, duck, lard, nuts, marbled ribeye with the fat still on ... brains.

Veganism kills. Poetic justice in some way.

low carbs (< 50 g/day)

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To be clear, that means cut the following:
bread, potatoes, fruit, ice cream, sodas, juices, candy, cake, honey, sugar, etc.

But bacon and (squirrel) brains are so good.

Which suggests for squirrels, maybe the head shot isn't such a good idea.

Finally broke in the Predator, bugger jumped just as I shot so the head shot moved a bit further down. . 22wmr is usually a bit much but I really like how this rifle handles and shoots.

I only eat striated skeletal muscle.
Brains will never be on the menu.
If I need more fat I'll get it elsewhere.
Grew up on a farm, we didn't do that funky stuff.

There are fox, grey and red squirrels.
IN DNR has a season on fox and grey.
Reds may be taken any time.

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Yes. 3 different species, but even hunters still confuse them.

Fox squirrels are the very large red/gray color ones.

Gray squirrels are a little smaller and are gray are most common, but can be about any color. You see a lot of black ones, especially the urban park ones.

Red ones are the small ones, and they don't play well with the other two species, and tend to run the larger ones out of their territory. They are often treated as pests and used to be in Ohio until a change in the laws in recent years, due to hunter misidentification, usually confusing the redish colored fox squirrels as red squirrels. They often call them pineys here as well.

Thery have tough hydes, and are tough to skin, which makes some believe the meat is tough, but what is pretty much true of anything, if its too tough, you didn't cook it long enough. My favorite method these days is to throw a couple in the crock pot with potatoes carrots and onions, and seasonings and turn it before leaving for work, so i can come home to a ready to serve dinner.

A 22lr to the head works well.

I only eat striated skeletal muscle.
Brains will never be on the menu.
If I need more fat I'll get it elsewhere.
Grew up on a farm, we didn't do that funky stuff.

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<Laughs> Most don't.

But I grew up in the mid-south, and had a 'relative' (adopted mom of a friend) who would cook the whole squirrel (field dressed, of course) including the head and neck. She'd then pop the skull open with a heavy spoon and ate the brain. She loved them. I tried one then, but don't remember it what it tasted like. But I have no memories of "ick". But then, I'm a biologist, and we eat a lot of stuff that others won't.

Hammered a couple more today - left the brains out there for the scavengers.

I will let a fox squirrel go if I can get a grey or black instead as they are easier to skin and more tender from the get go.

When I started hunting squirrels with my dad back around 1955 black squirrels were protected in Michigan. Some biologist thought there was some thing special about them, NOT. That was about all you saw. Some one finally woke the state up that the black was nothing more than a phase of a grey squirrel.

I hunted over dogs a few times. The main dogs we hunted over were border collies that were nothing more than plain old farm dogs. I challenged my buddy that owned one of the border collies that I could get my limit of 5 still hunting before he and another guy could get their 10. I should have kept my big mouth shut as I was one short when they filled up.

I prefer to still hunt while the mast is still in the trees with plenty of leaves on the trees. The squirrels cutting the mast of the branches gives away there location, shaking the limbs and leaves to get the mast. The leaves cover up my approach.

If still hunting with a partner we take turns moving ahead a few steps while the other guy watches for squirrels moving to hide from the moving hunter. Typing this brings back memories of my dad and I doing this when I started hunting. Squirrel hunting is about all the hunting we did together as my folks divorced when I was very young.

Hammered a couple more today - left the brains out there for the scavengers.

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<laugher>

SlayerOfBunnies said:

Hammered a couple more today - left the brains out there for the scavengers.

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But you are a slayer of bunnies!
Are you a slayer of squirrelies also??!!
"Show me the Bunny"!!!!!!

AStone said:

<laugher>

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The wife used to like to eat the brains too!
Don't tell her I said so!
But, I liked 'em also. Really good scrambled with eggs. Best scrambled with pork brains. Bad for you, but tasted good!
Now-a-days, if it tastes good, spit it out!

Really good scrambled with eggs.

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This.

Quote from here.

Brain is primarily prized for its texture – done right, it’s like biting into a creamy, fatty cloud. Before using them in a recipe, brains should first be poached; do this just like you would poach an egg. After that, it’s up to you! An easy way to use brain in a recipe you already know is to make it with scrambled eggs. Chop the brains up into small pieces. Heat some fat in a skillet, cook the brains a little, then add the eggs and cook exactly the way you would cook scrambled eggs at any other time.

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Gun Master said:

But you are a slayer of bunnies!
Are you a slayer of squirrelies also??!!
"Show me the Bunny"!!!!!!

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I chose that name back when there used to be huntable numbers of rabbits around here. Danged coyotes have put a smackdown on them but they seem to have trouble reaching the squirrels.

Anyway SOB is a more amusing abbreviation than SOS so I'll keep it.

Anyway SOB is a more amusing abbreviation than SOS so I'll keep it.

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So, if we abbreviate your name SOB, you'll be ok?

That also stands for "Shortness of Breath" (after all that hunting, or whatever).