FFG Squirrel Hunting Article

In the August issue of FFG there is a story written by Jeffrey Miller titled "Squirrel Opener - An old family tradition." What a great story. He has a way with words that makes it seem as if you're on the hunt with them. I'm closing in on 60 years of age and squirrels have been a passion for as long as I can remember. There's nothing quite as relaxing as sitting in the woods on a beautiful Fall day listening to feeding squirrels and watching for a flicker of movement in the tree tops. Just a couple more months.....

Like deer hunting with more action

I share that same passion, nothing excites me more than squirrel hunting. I don't subscribe to FFG, can I read this on line or do I need to look at the news stand for a magazine. I'd love to read it...

I enjoyed reading that article.

Still my number one critter to hunt and just poke around in the woods. October in Wisconsin, a good .22 and a day to ramble is hard to beat.

Zim

good article

I missed last year's opener, was the first time since I was 12...
Bet your keister it wont happen this year.
Did not read that article, but squirrel opener was always sacred for me. I will look it up

I don't believe you can read it on line. Pick up the magazine, you'll enjoy it.
Here's the web site www.furfishgame.com

I luv to squirrel hunt, squirrel dumplings are my favorite

I can remember riding my bicycle to the woods before daylight on school days, to sneak in some hunting before heading to school. There was a group of about five of us that always reported our morning and afternoon kills to one another. I rode a bike with my single barrel shotgun for about a mile or two. My family ate every squirrel I killed. Once in a while I jumped a rabbit or a covey of quail. Fond memories. All by myself. Character building I think.

I have been time or twenty. But never got bit like hunting turkeys or deer. I do remember having some fun days getting my limit. Do most die-hard squirrel hunters hunt with rifle or shotgun?

I started with a shotgun cause that's how it was. Then as I got older I switched to a .22 and never looked back. I honestly love trapping and hunting deer, But squirrel hunting does it for me. Man I love being there, feeder trees.....

Thanks K-zoo, I will do that

Asking if died hard squirrel hunters use a rifle or a shotgun? Could lead to the biggest fight you've never seen...lol

Killed a metric ton of squirrels with both. I'm a rifleman myself, but the first few I knocked out was with a shotgun, and a few occasional rabbit hunts turned squirrely.

But I'm a rifleman

Shooting a grey squirrel in the head with a .22 makes shooting a longbeard in the head with anything seem easy. Target is slightly less wary, but not on crack. That's the difference between squirrels and turkeys.

Jeff Miller is a good friend of mine, he's got some other stories he's working on too that should be very good as well. He's a coon eater, matter of fact I think he'd eat about anything...

I'll let him know you enjoyed the article, he'll like to hear that.

So...what is the best part of the squirrel to eat?

Brains, hands down, ain't ate them since I was told about "mad cow" disease. So afterwords i became a head shooter.

The lower back is a gem on a squirrel, and a diamond on a chicken you do the math

Correct answer, is all of it. Squirrel an dumplins, the way to go.

Our season opens on the first going to get my stuff ready this weekend. My mom is who got me started on squirrel she shot an old jc higgens 12 ga which I still have. When 22's got so hard to find I switched over to a 17hmr really like that little round.
J

our family use to get together an have a squirrel hunt every year when I was young was a great time

There is no better way to get a kid started as a hunter than hunting squirrel.
Next to archery deer, squirrel hunting is my favorite. My sons and I almost always use a .22. But early season, when all the leaves are still on the trees, I will some time carry a 20 gauge.

Fried squirrel is one of my favorites.

Squirrel hunting is a blast! (see what I did there ) but they've always been a pain for me to skin.

Ducks-squirrels-deer. In that order for me. All are equal when it comes to eats.

Love my squirrel hunting i use 22 shotgun bow too hunt them depends on my mood

running my cur for squirrels has become one of my favorite pastimes since a buddy made me a rack to deep fry them in my turkey fryer..yummy

here ya go!

one method which I like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUUR6lxnAME

I've watched all the videos read all the magazine article about skinning squirrels. They are still always a royal PITA to skin. Whatever I try it never works out.

I've also tried every squirrel recipe in the book except for ones that require a pressure cooker. No matter what I try, squirrel meat is always tough and rubbery for me. And that taste of it has never been very appealing either.

I really enjoy squirrel hunting and that is probably the game animal that I have access to and which is reasonably plentiful in my area. I sure would enjoy it more if they were better to eat and easier to clean.

I bet you haven't shot many turkeys in the head

I'm practicing or trying to learn how to post a picture

HA ! It WORKED !!!!

They don't get tough from frying them?

Look like chicken wings....I could probably fool the family if they're not rubbery.

That's fine looking plate of squirrels you got there VH60!

......that's your problem, you never tried the pressure cooker. Pressure cook for a few minutes(let cool a little or the meat will fall off the bone) then dip in egg, batter and fry

One tip that helped me from pulling off the tails while skinning. After you cut through the tail bone take the point of your knife and lay it flat against the back and go straight down and work it to the side of the back. Pull your knife back up and go back in and do the other side.Plus extend your cut up the back of the legs a little. Think of it like having a stuck radiator hose and you take a screwdriver and slip it under the hose and work it back and forth around the neck. Thats what your doing with the knife flat along the back.

Now on the cooking side of it once you got your squirrel cleaned and quartered up. Take your knife and score it like you would a carp. You increased your surface area a bunch for breading/flour and the oil gets down in the slits and the meat cooks up lot better easier to eat.
Justin

Tweed , my best friend growing up was from the backwoods of West Virginia . They moved up when his father got transferred to work at a local gas pipeline station . I ate over his house one time and his mother made a plate of fried squirrel . I was from a family of rabbit hunters and you DO NOT shoot squirrels in front of a rabbit hound !!! Or else !!! LOL . I'd never had them before . They were better than rabbit IMO . They were tender and had great flavor . His mom told me that you have to par boil them first till just tender , allow to cool then coat and fry . They are to this day my favorite game meat . PS . i also learned how to make cornbread from her . Combine the two and it can't be beat !

I have a .22, but I prefer the .32 rocklock...



( wife would kill me if she knew I posted a photo of the bed unmade. LOL )

Mike

Great gun man!

How successful are you squirrel shooting with that?

To skin a squirrel easy, get on it the minute it hits the ground. Cut through the base of the tail and make sure you just cut through the two white sinews and not too deep into the hide. Stand on either the tail or back legs and pull, hide will come off in 2 pieces. If you head shot the squirrel with a .22 you can do this and gut the critter without even getting your hands bloody.

Zim

I agree VH60, squirrel tastes better than rabbit. My daughters and wife agree, probably their favorite wild game meal.

I'll let you know. LOL

I've been so busy ( I travel a lot for work ) since I bought it that I haven't had more than a few chances to take it out and actually hunt with it. And the few times I was able to get out... We had so much rain and flooding I couldn't get to my primo squirrel spots.

But I've been home for a few weeks and I plan on going in the morning. It's hot as blazes right now, but season is open and the water is down... so I'm going to try in the morning.

It's so stinkin' hot if I shoot any they may be precooked.

Mike

I got my first taste of squirrel hunting from my biological father close to 60 years ago. I was somewhere between 3 and 5 years old, but I very clearly remember the Fox squirrel we spotted on the side of a big beech. He handed me the old 550-1 Remington .22 and I did my best to hold it up and shoot at that squirrel. Of course I missed, then the beast scampered quickly into a hole in the beech. I could, if it still stands, walk directly to that beech tree tomorrow morning. Squirrel hunting holds a special place in my heart because of that man and that old .22 rifle. I have it to this day, and if I'm squirrel hunting I'm carrying that rifle. My long-dead older brother was a decent woodcarver and he fancy'd up the walnut stock on that rifle a couple years after the above hunt took place. It has a bunch of oak leaves on it, as well as two ivory squirrel inlays that he carved from piano keys. It is a family heirloom that my All Purpose Boy Jr. will end up with in a few years.
As for cleaning a head-shot squirrel (where else would you aim??), I use the old method shown in the above video. Back in my squirrel-cleaning glory days I could shuck one in 90 seconds flat!

I can kill five squirrels a day, only 1 Tom turkey a year...nope, I sure haven't, when Ya do the math,but shot the fire outta squirrels with a .22. Made that 3 inch mag turkey load of #5 seem boring.

I stand by my statement, and I have bow killed a gobbler...don't get on a high horse less you can handle getting bucked off.

In NC our squirrels have what we call "woffs or wolves" in October. It is a larvae just under the skin. Old timers won't eat squirrel until the wolves are gone, usually when the leaves have all fallen.

Do you see lots of larvae in August?

The farmer down the road as a sweetcorn market.He ask me to get some squirrels clean out.And yes the FFG story was good!

Anyone have an extra copy they would like to sell? I can't find FFG anywhere around here. I'd like to read the article.

[quote=charles]In NC our squirrels have what we call "woffs or wolves" in October. It is a larvae just under the skin. Old timers won't eat squirrel until the wolves are gone, usually when the leaves have all fallen.

The wolves are gone after the first good frost.

There's also a good article in the Sept. issue of FFG written by our own Hal Sullivan titled "Stalking Squirrels with a .410" Give it a read.

Been a long time since I've hunted squirrel

I have read Hals write up and got me now use my 410 to get them when the season open the start of next month.I had miss the write of last month FFG I will have to look for it and read it.

I also sell the skins,it is extra for the ammo.I put them up like mink but the old way with the legs on the belly side.on the boards of mink also,My guy buys all I come up with

It's been many years since I hunted squirrels with my .410. But I seem to remember regularly killing them well beyond 15 yards range. Maybe I just got lucky a lot.

I love to hunt squirrels. It was my grandpas passion and hunting them little suckers is how I learned to be a woodsman. Slipping through the woods as quiet as you can and sitting as still as you can just looking and listening I learned so much about the woods,and latter on in life myself. I have killed them with a rifle,shotgun,and even a few with a bow. I love that my boys know that when August 1st rolls around we will be in the woods to kill a mess of them.We love to kill them,we love to eat them. There is just something relaxing about slipping around in the woods after them.

Four or five years ago I was bow hunting a couple of particular deer pretty hard. All I could think about was one or the other of these two big boys. I knew where they ate,slept and pooped. I had seen them both on numerous occasions which as most know is VERY rare. One evening I had the biggest one ,a 160's 10 pointer,within 15 yards. I heard him coming and thought he was going to be on my right side so I was at full draw and ready,when he stepped out on my left and I couldnt move. I was frustrated and consumed with these deer to say the least. I was so bugged up I was going crazy. My youngest was 4 or 5 at the time and one evening he wanted to go hunting,but that deer was on my mind. I wrestled with it for hours,but gave in and took my boy. I killed 5 squirrels in a matter of no time and that little guy was just as excited as if it was Christmas day.Something happened to me on that late October day. Im not sure what it was but being in the woods with my youngest pointing out deer tracks and finding a turkey feather, and just slowing down I was rejuvenated. I never saw either of those deer again even though I hunted them pretty hard. What I remember the most about that fall was my little guy running over and picking up each of those squirrels as they fell, the smile on his face and the proud look in his eyes.

I found the one mag that was wrote about and read it. It brought back of the years ago when I had went with my dad and sit under the white pines and got grays there and they where bigger then the other places I had hunt with my dad. Use to call them in also i got to the point I use my mouth then a caller to call them in and had always had them come in. Still able to call; them in just use my mouth.

ilbucksndux, great story, that's what it's all about.

I just saw this post, but I really appreciate the feedback. I have fond memories of growing up squirrel hunting, and hoped to capture that in the article.

I used to ride my bike down to the woods to hunt before school, then again after school. All the boys kept a running total and compared stories every day. Even checked my rabbit box before school.

lots of good and easy ways to do them, you can make up a small gambrel and do them just like a coon

a hook blade razor knife can make very short work of them leaving very little fur behind

love squirrel hunting , don't get out as much as I would like , I get a few in the yard now from time to time but that isn't hunting it is trapping them in live traps , the up side is I can clean them all at once for the day

my Great Aunts is my favorite place to squirrel hunt , she gets some fat ones , a good mix of hemlock and oak , and they seem to come from everywhere when she starts feeding the birds.

when my son was having a hard time seeing deer , my brother asked him how close were the squirrel, he said about 20 yards. everyone at deer camps then told him how close the squirrels were where they were setting , all 10 feet or less with a few under 5 , great practice for deer hunting is to sit so still you have a squirrel run across the toe of your boot or very close to it.

That's the same thing I look for. It takes about a half hour for the forest to wake back up once I'm in my stand. Then...slowly...it all comes back to life. I know when a squirrel busts me and starts cussing me out that I'm doing something wrong.

From a long line of squrrel hunter ant missed an opening morn since I was 2 that's the first time daddy took me, killed my first I was so little I couldn't latchback my 410, daddy would latch it back then I sneak a couple of yards and get the shot thank I was 5, still some of my favorite hunting in the fall, in August and Sep I eat at least one meal of squrrel a day!