Podcast 197 - Squirrel hunting

Hey, I listened to the podcast 197. I'm in the Pacific NW as well, and my family had a huge grey squirrel problem. And yes, they are buggers to shoot with pellet rifles. But....if you get a live trap (local feedstore would have them) and bait it or put it under a sunflower seed bird feeder that they can't climb in/onto during the winter when nothing grows. Especially when it's really cold or snowy. Then when you catch them, you shoot them. And eat them. Winter pelts are fun too. We brought our local population to it's knees, and we now have the tiny red squirrels and chipmunks back. Who don't eat apples like the big greys or make as big a mess.

How do you like to cook them?

I've only eaten a couple. Usually have only had time to skin them out. But I've had them in stew and fried. Both ways were good, but you do have to get rid of the scent glands on the critter's legs. It's a quite mild flavored meat if the scent glands don't contaminate it. I still need to figure out the best way to do that. I really liked the fried one. Next time I do stew I'll debone everything.

Tyler Ludens wrote:How do you like to cook them?

I just got a couple on thursday, I put them in the freezer and will keep stocking up until I got about 8. Then I will throw em all in a crock pot and do a stew, add carrots and potatoes, water and flour to thicken it up. Get creative. After 8 hours or so I pull out the pieces and remove all the bones then add the meat back in. Walah, squirrel stew. You can cook em any way, the meat is dark and tough, but it tastes great. Grilled over a fire its like jerky almost.

You can also do fried and breaded. Shake and bakes good. Anything works really, its not like its going to taste bad lol