Squirrel taste:

here are some more for the hungry at heart.I have a friend who is like the uber-redneck.He traps beaver and whatnot.Beaver and nutria are excellent fried up and simmered in gravy.Same kin as squirrells and wabbits and rats so no big deal to me eatin it.You get alot of meat at one time esp. with beavers.
 
GONOVRIT said:
Thats a myth. Sure it hasn't been on mythbusters yet but I've been eating these tree rats for over 20yrs haven't ever been sick from eating them before the first frost. I've only seen a handful of warbles on squirrels in that time, that part was cut off and the rest was cooked, no problemo! Do people actually believe that when we get a good frost outside a squirrel in a nest or den is going to have frost on its skin so cold that it will kill a parasite on the inside of its body??? Cooking them takes care of any of that.
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Huh, interesting....never thought about it that way....just raised with that knowledge. Never actually seen the parasites but ive never ate em until after the frost so i guess i just put two an two together and believed it
 
Not to hijack but....I prefer beaver. Properly washed, just shave the fur off and lightly rub to moistened perfection. Be careful though, sometimes the game smell can't be washed out. And if it smells like a fresh spring rain it is probably bad too.
 
Jeff B said:
I used to eat them all the time as a kid. We would slow cook the meat off the bones, strain & save the stock. Seperate the bones from the meat, put stock & meat back together add veggies, season to taste & make stew. I perfer to grade a potato in the stock to thicken it some folks like corn starch.
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This is similar to the way I've had 'em ....brown in some bacon fat, then slow cook with vegatables for stew.
I also had it with shake n bake, but as I recall you need to give it a light coat of oil before you shake it or it ends up dry n tough. tastes like wabbbit!
 
GotWood said:
Not to hijack but....I prefer beaver. Properly washed, just shave the fur off and lightly rub to moistened perfection. Be careful though, sometimes the game smell can't be washed out. And if it smells like a fresh spring rain it is probably bad too.
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:lol:
 
All the rabbits I have killed looked pretty gross covered in tics and such. I was afraid a lime disease or something and never see them after the first frost. So you guys are saying its ok to eat them?
 
GubNi said:
All the rabbits I have killed looked pretty gross covered in tics and such. I was afraid a lime disease or something and never see them after the first frost. So you guys are saying its ok to eat them?
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Lyme disease isn't transferable through eating the meat of the animal.
 
Used to hunt rabbit and squirrels all the time. I remember when I was a kid, I couldn't sleep the night before Squirrel season as it was Aug 15 and the first game we could hunt for the seaon back in Indiana. It was better than Christmas :lol:
Our favorite was/is to clean squirrel and quarter ( basically front and back legs plus back) roll in flour,salt and pepper. Brown well in oil,remove squirrel. Add milk to oil to create a thin gravy. Add back the squirrel and simmer for 60 minutes.
 
redneckjeep87 said:
Huh, interesting....never thought about it that way....just raised with that knowledge. Never actually seen the parasites but ive never ate em until after the frost so i guess i just put two an two together and believed it
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No biggy, the majority of people believe that.
 
GotWood said:
Not to hijack but....I prefer beaver. Properly washed, just shave the fur off and lightly rub to moistened perfection. Be careful though, sometimes the game smell can't be washed out. And if it smells like a fresh spring rain it is probably bad too.
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.
I was gonna say "tastes like chicken" and, yes it really does, unless it's in a stew (better) - but holy :poop:! I really don't think there's anything left to say now... :smokin:
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Uh, except the fresh spring rain part. :rolleyes:
 
/dev/yj said:
I really don't think there's anything left to say now...
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Except when hunting *anything* with a scattergun, best use a metal detector to insure you got ALL the pellets... Ain't nothing worse than chowing down and bustin' a molar on a stray #8 :flipoff2:

I prefer tree rats & wabbits double crusted with egg/Panko and deep fried, unless it's an old buds Mom doing the stew & gravy!
 
Im surprised I didnt see anyone say the made gravy with squirrel,just like sausage gravy except with squirrel meat. Its how my grandma always fixed it and I LOVED it!
 
Macdaddy4738 said:
kind of a thread hijack, but what about raccoon, or opossum?
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Not sure about raccoon, but 'possum is really greasy and loaded with "nuggets". BTW, squirrel is great par boil the meat off the bones and then make stew. Also, the legs make great Buffalo wings.
 
its pretty good as long as you boil it first. cooked myself the first time the other day and didnt boil it. boy was it stretchy and tough. just make sure after you kill it that it dont have the wobbles. little lumps all of em from where flies lay eggs in em. shouldnt have to worry about it much now though since its frosted a few good times
 
yoder519 said:
its pretty good as long as you boil it first. cooked myself the first time the other day and didnt boil it. boy was it stretchy and tough. just make sure after you kill it that it dont have the wobbles. little lumps all of em from where flies lay eggs in em. shouldnt have to worry about it much now though since its frosted a few good times
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I never take any game until after the first frost because of the wobbles.
 
Made me think of this clip from land of the lost.
But on a serious note squirrels are great to eat. We mostly made a stew out of them. Made it just like chicken stew, we always threw a little chicken in there with it. Taste GREAT!!!

http://youtu.be/TJ402U4cN3Q
 
I can't wait to shoot a squirrel now. Funny thing about this whole thing is that my 6 yr old boy wants to help me shoot them. On a side note my landlord is going to give me some live chickens to kill and cook/freeze and my boy wants to help me kill the chickens as well, lol.
 
As for parasites, fleas, ticks, and mites. They will usually abandon their host if you can let the animal cool down a while on a cool or cold day. Hang them in the shade instead of a gamevest if their buggy, or lay them in the truckbed on your way home and the wind will cool them and most of the bugs go looking for another warm place to live, or blow away in the wind or they die. Squirrels are tasty, but hard to skin until you get the hang of it. Do not hang them on a branch exposed to the sky to cool them. I had a hawk take my rabbit I draped over a limb w it's white belly facing up years ago while I continued to hunt. I saw it swooping in from 50yrds away and yelled and ran, but the bird was not impressed w my efforts to stop it from a nice dinner!!
 
twistedjeepster said:
I can't wait to shoot a squirrel now. Funny thing about this whole thing is that my 6 yr old boy wants to help me shoot them. On a side note my landlord is going to give me some live chickens to kill and cook/freeze and my boy wants to help me kill the chickens as well, lol.
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We have slaughtered about 12 chickens this year. I bet we have about 60 pounds of chicken in the freezer.
 
Gonna bump this old thread instead of starting a new one. Does anyone know the legalities of hunting squirrels in city limits? Is it illegal to discharge a .22 in the city limits? Can you use a strong enough BB gun? I just moved into a new house and I have some land, but it is in the city limits, so just wondering the legalities of shoting these tree rats in my back yard. And yes, I do plan on eating them :)
 
pellet gun or bow and arrow.
 
BigClay said:
Gonna bump this old thread instead of starting a new one. Does anyone know the legalities of hunting squirrels in city limits? Is it illegal to discharge a .22 in the city limits? Can you use a strong enough BB gun? I just moved into a new house and I have some land, but it is in the city limits, so just wondering the legalities of shoting these tree rats in my back yard. And yes, I do plan on eating them :)
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It's still not legal but I've used some super-x subsonics and they are pretty quiet and do plenty of damage to take down rabbits, birds, etc.
 
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