Squirrels...Hunting...Varmit pest or Game Animal?

Status
Not open for further replies.
deerhunter61

deerhunter61

Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
561
Location
In the Dallas Ft Worth area
The question is stated above...

The reason I am asking is simple. I LOVE to squirrel hunt but in Texas in the Pineywoods Squirrel tastes like Turpinetine. YUK. I have never been able to prepare it so that it tastes like anything but turpinetine.

So for years I did not hunt them but I really miss hunting them and would like to do so again...so I want a little feedback from you all as to whether you consider them game animals and therefore if you shoot them you eat them or if you think you are doing the world a favor by removing them and therefore saving the world...:D
 
gotta agree pine squirrels aint the best. I usually let em walk. Put one in an oak or pecan tree and it is a whole different story
~z
 
Well, this is a "tuffy" for me, but I feel inclined to answer for two reasons. I hunt for food and I hunt to destroy a variety of pests that plague my land here in northern Idaho.

Of the squirrels I have taken, I have found them to be decent table fare. However, since your squirrels do not taste like human-food, you seem to be facing a "hunting ethics" dilemma. What you must decide is--are squirrels pests? If they are, by all means, seek and destroy.

I don't find squirrels pests on my land that consists of 430-something acres (because there aren't any here). However, I do consider some things to be pests that many people would shun me for killing. For instance...

Porcupines--Kill trees and are a danger to the dogs.

Skunks-- Eat game-bird eggs. Nuisance to me and the dogs.

Hawks-- Kill rabbits, game-birds, chickens, and baby turkeys without remorse. (Yes, I know PETA loves people like me!) Plus, there is too many of them around here and we should have a season like crows! Hell, we should have a bounty.

Ferel cats-- See "Hawks"

Coyotes-- Kill anything useful to me and my hunting purposes. Danger to dogs.

Owls-- I like rabbits more than owls. Plus, see (hawks).

Raccoons-- Game-bird eggs, chickens, game-birds.

Flickers-- This annoying woodpecker species is overly abundant and thinks my house could make a good future home.

Bobcats-- See "coyotes"

Cougar-- I don't care if it's out of season...Do you know how many deer a cougar can go through a year?? (They only eat fresh kills by the way). That means they are wasteful AND good at what they do.

I kill animals for food or pest control (yes, it's MY land so I regulate it based on my descretion of what needs to be done. I do this in order to main a healthy balance of game). If the squirrel is a pest in some manner that you can rationalize, by all means, lower the population.

Hell, I've even shot song birds out of a cherry tree with a .410! I didn't like doing it...but I considered it collateral damage (took out some cherries too). Their friends (they were in a gang) must have got the message because they stopped picking MY forbidden fruit.

Point is, I don't like kill just to kill. Whatever that is worth...;)
 
I consider them game animals but then it isn't my eaves they are chewing a hole in or my bird feeder they are making a mess of - if it were, my opinion would change. We get nut feed and corn feed squirrels here and they are pretty tasty.
 
Game animal back here in Hoosierland, I get a big kick outta watchin' the ones on my property, and every now and then I take a few, to satistfy my squirrel and dumplin' crave.

But in the public hunting areas come the 15th of August eveybody is out there chasin' them tree rats including yours truely , only thing comes in earlier is turkey and thats only 2 week mid April, by the time squirrel season gets here anybody packin' a firearm is about to go bonkers:eek:, from sittin' in the house all summer!
 
I wish you guys were making it easier for me...but unfortunately I can not seem to get over the killing for the sake of killing. I absolutely love to hunt them in the pineywoods. It is a blast but because they feed on the fruit of pine trees they taste like turpentine and that makes them inedible. I can not justify shooting them as a pest really because I am talking about going to the Davy Crockett Nat'l forest to hunt them and they just can not be considered a pest there.

I would love to hunt the ones that primarliy eat nuts and such. I would think they would be tasty but I do not live anywhere where that is the case.

Thanks for all your responses!
 
The best I can remember, they were outstanding.

'Specially when either my uncle or Papa let me go along and Mama cooked the critters.

I skinned one like I had seen Papa and Uncle Cub. Tied the tail onto the handlebar of my bycycle. Someone stole it.

Kept the hide in my room under the bed. Not for long though. Mother was not happy.

Then, I do like Spam and Vienna Sausage also.

Better than sushi.

salty
 
Many things are better than Sushi - I tried lobster sushi once and the longer I chewed it the bigger it got.

Fried squirrel, fried potatoes, gravy, and a mess of greens can't be beat, and your cardiologist loves you.
 
Lord, Luv A Duck,

Lobster sushi???

Thats gotta be either immoral or illegal, at least in South Carolina.

Next thing, you're gonna tell about doubles with a .410.

Boggles the mind.


the poster previously known as salty
 
Grey and fox squirrel -- game animals; other squirrels -- shoot with a camera. Just my opinion. Now I certainly have no qualms about shooting pests. Someone mentioned "killing for the sake of killing" which isn't quite correct. I guess some hunters, a minority, might get off on that, but most hunters truly love the hunt and the hunted even when it comes to pests. Varmint hunting should be considered community service; in fact, if I ever go before a judge again, and I get some type of community service, I'll see if he or she would consider letting me serve out my hours varmint hunting.
 
It was one of the first game animals I ever hunted and when I was younger it was a lot of fun because it was non-stop action. Not only did I and do I enjoy it but it also helped me prepare for Deer season. Moving in the woods as quitely as possible was a necessity when hunting them and also shooting them with a .22 rifle was preparation for the upcoming deer season. It always helped my accuracy. I really miss it.
 
I eat the ones I shoot, but if I owned land and a few pecan trees I might see them as more of a nuisance and just shoot them.

Deacon8, discussion of illegal activity is generally frowned upon on this site.
 
I understand about the turpentine taste. Had a few here and there like that. Mostly though we concentrate on the little grey, or what some call cat squirrels. They are tender little things especially when smothered in a skillet of red eye gravy. Nothin better than to sit in a pecan grove, kicked back against the side of a big one watching the clouds pass, and occaisionally sniping one off the base of a close by tree.

For the most part I generally only shoot a couple a year, but here lately I have had them in my attic. Living in the burbs unfortunately, this poses a slight eradication problem in that the neighbors think they are cute and get their panties in a wad if you shoot anything, much less one of their feeder pets. Nice thing about rat shot and a long barreled pump 22. Makes it nice and quiet up there in the attic, and those that have been on the receiving end have simply went away in the trash.

They might have been fine but there is too much other stuff for them to eat around here that I don't want to chance sharing.
 
I was thinking the same thing however, local results may vary.
If there is a season/bag limit on them in your area, they are a "game animal"
~z
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

O
  • Locked
canning squirrel meat
Replies
7
Views
4K
ArmyAviator
A
M
  • Locked
Squirrel Hunting?
2 3
Replies
54
Views
4K
sadlsor
S
theboyscout
  • Locked
The Game Taste?
2 3
Replies
53
Views
3K
ironworkerwill
ironworkerwill
.308 Norma
  • Locked
A Few Questions from a Possible Newb Squirrel Hunter
2
Replies
30
Views
1K
tactikel
T
G
  • Locked
How many out there hunt squirrel? How many eat them?
2 3
Replies
58
Views
3K
RevNate
R
Back
Top