Squirrel hunting!

[sirderrin]

I went squirrel hunting yesterday in a large pin oak flat. It is a bit early in the year but season just opened and we have had some very nice crisp morning for this time of year. I manage to limit out but it was a challenge with all the leaves. It was a lovely day and I thoroughly enjoyed the hunt!

We have two kinds of squirrels and a hybrid between them here in Texas. The cat squirrel which is the interloper and the fox squirrel which is the actual native. Fox squirrels are the larger by far and a much better eating squirrel IMHO. The cat squirrel is 1/2 the size or a bit smaller and usually much leaner and tougher to me. We are seeing a lot of hybrids between the two and I don't think its for the better but the cat squirrel really out breeds the fox squirrels....

I have enough to make a couple pots of squirrel dumplings and gravy smothered fried squirrel on a bed of rice. Will be some good eating!

[cajunlady87]

Squirrels are great tasting whether roasted over an open fire on a spit or smothered down with all kinds of great seasons and my fave is adding red wine to the mix. C'est si bon!

[woodyz]

Fox squirrels were what I was used to in KS, never even saw a gray until I went to TX and couldn't/wouldn't even try and eat one, now you say there is a crossbred. That's terrible.

We moved from TX to SC and I went my first squirrel hunt and was excited until I found out it was gray's, they taste like pine trees. I have only found Fox squirrels in one place in SC in all the years I have been here and they were protected and still became instinct.

Kill off all those gray and hybrids that you can, that sounds terrible.

[sirderrin]

Oct 9, 2020 13:20:40 GMT -7 woodyz said:

Fox squirrels were what I was used to in KS, never even saw a gray until I went to TX and couldn't/wouldn't even try and eat one, now you say there is a crossbred. That's terrible.

We moved from TX to SC and I went my first squirrel hunt and was excited until I found out it was gray's, they taste like pine trees. I have only found Fox squirrels in one place in SC in all the years I have been here and they were protected and still became instinct.

Kill off all those gray and hybrids that you can, that sounds terrible.

Sadly, it is quite impossible to kill them off... Cats eat fine long as they have not been feeding heavily on pine cones. The fox will even taste like turpentine if he feeds heavily om pine cone.