Recently I had the opportunity to head out into the woods and do some squirrel hunting. Hunting squirrels in the summer is much more difficult than in the winter, as they have a ton of lush green foliage to hide behind. Still, I managed to take six of the little guys and quickly set about dressing and cleaning them.
Not one to hunt simply for pleasure, I only hunt animals I can eat. Many people dismiss squirrels as edible game, referring to them as tree rats that are unfit to dine on. I obviously disagree. Cleaned and prepared properly (southern fried is the best in my opinion), squirrel meat is a tasty addition to any diet. Some people claim they taste like chicken but, while I can see the resemblance, squirrel is a bit darker and tastier than chicken.
Of course, in a survival situation squirrel meat can be very valuable so it helps to have experience hunting and preparing them. Eastern gray squirrels, and their cousin the western gray squirrel, are prevalent across nearly the entire territory of the United States and Canada. The larger fox squirrel is found throughout the Eastern U.S., as well as the Midwest and Texas. In the wild they usually inhabit dense hardwood forests where they have plenty of acorns, walnuts, pecans, and other crops to forage. They also thrive in suburban and many urban areas where they are largely free from depredation and able to forage freely amongst mast bearing trees and urban bird feeders.
Squirrel Hunting
Hunting squirrels is fairly easy in the winter. I prefer to find a spot where there are a few active squirrels and sit quietly nearby until they relax enough to come back down out of the trees to forage amongst the leaves for acorns or other mast crops. Once they’re on the ground it’s easy to pick them off with a little .22 rifle or, if you’re up for the challenge, a rimfire pistol. If you’re hunting them in the summer, or just can’t get them down out of the trees, a shotgun loaded with non-toxic heavy dove loads or some equivalent (#7.5 or #8 shot) works equally well.
As mentioned earlier, hunting squirrels in the spring and summer is considerably more difficult than hunting in the autumn and winter. They are maddeningly difficult to spot amongst all the foliage, and wild squirrels are much more cunning than their urban counterparts. They are very skilled at always positioning themselves on the opposite side of the tree from your position, eliminating any chance for a clean shot.
I’ve found using squirrel calls makes it much easier to get an open shot. The Haydel squirrel call combo pack includes a 3-in-1 barker and a whistle that imitates a baby squirrel in distress. Sounding the whistle alerts all squirrels in the area to a possible predator and sends them running for cover, giving you ample opportunity to spot and harvest one. The barker is best used with a partner who activates it by depressing a plunger to imitate the barks and chatter of a group of squirrels.
Meat Preparation
When hunting squirrels, I always take along a portable cooler with some ice sealed in plastic bags. Once you’ve harvested your squirrel, quickly field dress it by removing the head, feet, and tail, and then skinning and gutting it. Toss it into the cooler to quickly bring its body temperature down. This prevents the “gamey” taste many people complain about when dining on wild animals.
Preparing squirrels to eat is a straightforward process once skinned and gutted. Simply take your skinned and gutted squirrel and cut it into quarters. To fry up your squirrels using a traditional southern recipe, you’ll need:
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 cup Buffalo wing sauce
- 2 cups self-rising flour
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 to 4 squirrels, quartered
- Peanut oil
Cooking Process
- Soak your squirrel pieces overnight in a salt water and meat tenderizer brine.
- Heat the oil to 350 degrees.
- Combine the flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine the eggs and water and mix well. Slowly pour the Buffalo wing sauce into the egg mixture and continue to mix well.
- Dip the squirrel quarters in the egg mixture and roll well in the flour mix. Fry the squirrel in the oil for about 10-15 minutes until golden and crispy. Serves about 4 people.
I also like to baste w BBQ sauce & cook in crockpot. Easy yummy.
I like to brown my squirrel, after I have battered it, and slow cook it in a cast iron pot with some onions and enough water to make gravy. Keep a check on it and stir to keep from sticking. Cook some rice so the gravy has something to go on, and you really don’t need anything else.
When I was a kid, we would have what essentially was squirrel pot pie. It’s easy, cut the squirrels up into quarters, Apply salt, pepper, and your preferred seasonings. Add oil (now I prefer homemade ghee or duck fat) to a medium hot cast iron skillet, brown the meat in the skillet, then toss into a crockpot on high for a couple of hours or until the meat comes off the bone with a fork. While the meat is in the pot, small dice (¼-½”) potatoes (size and variety your choice), carrots, onions, (also diced), salt and pepper, and toss into a medium hot skillet with any oil left in the skillet adding more if needed, just to get some caramelization (browning for flavor). Just before you take the veggies from the skillet, add minced garlic to your liking, let cook until garlic is fragrant. Take off heat immediately as soon as you smell it.
When the meat in the crockpot is falling off the bone tender, use a couple of forks to separate all the meat from the bones. Toss the bones, put the meat back into the crock pot and add the potatoes, carrots and onions, a can of your favorite cream soup and even cooked quartered mushrooms, if you have some on hand. Stir well and heat this in the crockpot until the potatoes are tender. Season to taste as you go.
Set your oven for 350℉. Take a store bought pie crust and put it into a buttered or greased 9” pie plate and fill it with your meat mixture. Cover it with a second crust and vent it per the package instructions. Brush the top crust with an egg wash and stick it into the oven for 20 minutes OR until the crust is golden brown and delicious, Your oven may take less or more time. Let it rest for 20-30 minutes after you take it from the oven. It will be very HOT and very tasty!
Enjoy!
I have never hunted any game in the summer, and I know it’s been a long time since I’ve hunted but Dad taught me at a young age when I was in the woods and squirrels came out to play or forage and would stop and hunker down on the opposite side of the tree to find a rock, nut, or small branch to throw on the opposite side and they’d scurry away from the sound and boom, you get a good clean shot. Worked so many times!
Good article, on a topic not often addressed. My granddad always kept a “squirrel dog”; some small mutt, small enough not to intimidate the squirrels. They would often expose themselves to bark at the dog, making for an easy shot.
Young tender squirrel, fried with biscuits and gravy, is the best of all breakfasts! But old boars can be nearly too tough to chew.
When I was young my Dad would occasionally bring a .22 rifle home from our hardware store and shoot squirrels out of the trees around our house. They were skinned and put in the freezer until we had accumulated enough to feed our large family, then Mom cooked them. I only recall having them once for supper. After that Dad gave up because they weren’t a big hit. A few years later we were accidentally catching possums in our garbage cans, but Mom drew the line there, so the maid gleefully took them home to feed her own family. I never did get to try possum stew.
Been a while since I have partaken in squirrel hunting; however, I have two hunting strategies to add…I would carry a short twig to throw on the other side of the tree when the critters hide on the opposite side of the tree to fool them into coming around. The other I picked up from a Field & Stream article back in the day. That is to carry a “wax load” for my shotgun in the even the critters would make it back to their nest after shooting them. The wax load was good for blowing them out of the nest in a tall tree. Any shotgun shell can be modified into a wax load…open the shell up, dump the shot into a melted container of hot wax and then repour into the opened shell…wait for a few minutes while the wax hardens, then turn over and tap lightly to bring the mixture forward. Provides for a formidable round…the article I remember said that wax loads were known to have taken a bear. Don’t know about that; but, it certainly worked for my purposes at the time. Thanks for the article.