Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! - The Firearms Forum

carver · 09-30-2012, 11:00 AM

It rained all day Saturday, and is still raining some this morning, a little over 3 1/2" so far. Tomorrow should see a low of 55! The wet ground will make moving around a lot quiter, and the temps will be just great! I will take the shotgun for opening day, get a few for the table, and then go to the .22.

aa1911 · 09-30-2012, 11:43 AM

very nice, I miss being able to hunt squirrels, probably my favorite hunting as I've never been skunked once! They're endangered here in WA state, lack of hardwood tree nuts I'm guessing.

Lot's of chippies though...

what's the daily limit where you're at? it was usually 7 or 8 in PA where I grew up.

bamajoey · 09-30-2012, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aa1911

very nice, I miss being able to hunt squirrels, probably my favorite hunting as I've never been skunked once! They're endangered here in WA state, lack of hardwood tree nuts I'm guessing.

Lot's of chippies though...

what's the daily limit where you're at? it was usually 7 or 8 in PA where I grew up.

As destructive as they are I sometimes wish they were endangered here. In a 18 month period before hurricane Ivan I killed 258 in my yard and garden with a pellet gun. Not only did I thin them out, the hurricane did its part.

aa1911 · 09-30-2012, 11:57 AM

when I still lived at home as a teenager, I kept my little stevens bolt gun in the kitchen against the window loaded with a CB. Used to blast 'em off the back deck when they went after the bird feeders!

after a while ya get tired of cleaning them and the freezer started filling up. Time for some pot pie!

gun runner · 09-30-2012, 03:57 PM

Squirrel Season? Theres actually a season for squirrel in Texas? I shoot them all year long, I never knew that.

Diamondback · 09-30-2012, 07:54 PM

Squirrel season in OKlahoma opened, I believe, May 15. Every year.

76Highboy · 09-30-2012, 08:33 PM

Are they tender and tasty? I have never ate them but have always wondered.

jedwil · 09-30-2012, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 76Highboy

Are they tender and tasty? I have never ate them but have always wondered.

They are tender and tasty......GOOD LUCK, MYLES......

carver · 09-30-2012, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aa1911

very nice, I miss being able to hunt squirrels, probably my favorite hunting as I've never been skunked once! They're endangered here in WA state, lack of hardwood tree nuts I'm guessing.

Lot's of chippies though...

what's the daily limit where you're at? it was usually 7 or 8 in PA where I grew up.

10 per day.

carver · 09-30-2012, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 76Highboy

Are they tender and tasty? I have never ate them but have always wondered.

Type the words "squirrel dumplings" into your search engine, and see what happens!

aa1911 · 09-30-2012, 10:03 PM

roll 'em in flour and fry them (arms/legs) or pull the meat and make pot pie, dumplings, stew, etc.. very tasty!

the average person wouldn't know it from chicken

aa1911 · 09-30-2012, 10:04 PM

10 per day is awesome! lot's of cleaning but more than I was used to. Haven't been able to squirrel hunt in quite a while now. Will have to get back to the east coast sometime again to see the leaves change and snipe some squirrels.

jstgsn · 10-01-2012, 04:47 AM

Went out Sat. with my son and grandson. got 4 in an hour. Taste great, but the real pleasure is hunting with the grandson. (The missing teeth didn't hinder him a bit.)

Maine04657 · 10-01-2012, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstgsn

Went out Sat. with my son and grandson. got 4 in an hour. Taste great, but the real pleasure is hunting with the grandson. (The missing teeth didn't hinder him a bit.)

Nothing better then taking the young ones out hunting.

carver · 10-01-2012, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstgsn

Went out Sat. with my son and grandson. got 4 in an hour. Taste great, but the real pleasure is hunting with the grandson. (The missing teeth didn't hinder him a bit.)

Great picture! I didn't get to go this morning, it was raining, and the wind was blowing. Will hit the woods tomorrow morning. I gave up hunting in the evenings, I just hate having to skin a critter in the dark!

jim summers · 10-01-2012, 11:52 AM

Here i Indiana it open Aug. 15 ends Jan. 31 limit 5 there is nothing like watching a squirrel work its way into gun range to get the ole blood pumping.

It is a super great sport and they taste sooooooooo good bye fellas i have typed myself into going later dudes.

whirley · 10-01-2012, 12:17 PM

Squirrels are great to hunt and great to eat. They're ideal for starting very young people to hunt. Tough to skin, however try this. To skin, cut the skin through about midsection, all around the body. Then, work the skin loose until you can get your fingers under the skin, then pull in opposite directions. Skin should come off like pulling gloves off inside out. Cut off head, tail and feet. THEN eviscerate, pull out the entrails. Soak in salt water to remove blood clots, etc. Then make stew. I use either a pressure cooker or a slow cooker. With fresh biscuits, you'll enjoy a fine meal. I started my sons on squirrels and forty years later our grandchildren come here to hunt squirrels and eat Grma's squirrel stew and stickey buns!.

carver · 10-01-2012, 12:37 PM

Split hide just under the base of the tail, and on down both back legs. Flip squirrel over, step on tail, hard. Grab both back legs, and pull!!! Skin will come of completely, including the head. Cut off the feet, cut off legs next to the body at the joints. Cut back, and rib cage in half, cut off the head, and clean the head, ears, eyes, nose, and whiskers. The head is the best part of the squirrel! And the brain is just about as good as it gets! You can't fry the head, so make a stew, or dumplings!

Maine04657 · 10-01-2012, 02:41 PM

We have two types of squirrels here in Maine red and grey. Red are open season you can shoot all you want all year long these ones are more like rats they infest barns and outbuildings and your home if your not on them very very small and not really eatin critters unless your real hungry.

The gray ones are few and FAR between up here up here in the real Maine. There are few but in all my time in the woods I have never seen one. I have seen them in town and such but never out in the woods.

noslolo · 10-09-2012, 09:00 AM

I'm going next week with my father in law. Last year I got tags to take my Son on a youth hunt, but he backed out when he found out he was going to have to help with the cleaning.

He never talked about again until I told him that I was going with his Pap. Now he wants to go, but he's now 12 and has not completed the hunter safety course required in PA. So he will have to wait till next spring. I'm pretty excited that he is interested again. My rule was if we shoot it, we eat it, there is no waste here.

09-30-2012, 11:00 AM	#1
carver TFF Moderator/Host Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: DAV, Deep in the Pineywoods of East Texas, just west of Shreveport, LA Contributor Posts: 11,552	Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! It rained all day Saturday, and is still raining some this morning, a little over 3 1/2" so far. Tomorrow should see a low of 55! The wet ground will make moving around a lot quiter, and the temps will be just great! I will take the shotgun for opening day, get a few for the table, and then go to the .22. __________________ Y'all be safe now, ya hear! Lamentations Chapter 5: 1. Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. 2. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. 3. We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers [are] as widows. 5. Our necks [are] under persecution: we labour, [and] have no rest. 16. The crown is fallen [from] our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! 21. Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. -->

09-30-2012, 11:43 AM	#2
aa1911 Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Pacific Northwest Posts: 3,122	Re: Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! very nice, I miss being able to hunt squirrels, probably my favorite hunting as I've never been skunked once! They're endangered here in WA state, lack of hardwood tree nuts I'm guessing. Lot's of chippies though... what's the daily limit where you're at? it was usually 7 or 8 in PA where I grew up. __________________ "Loud noises don't end gunfights.... well placed shots do."

09-30-2012, 11:57 AM	#4
aa1911 Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Pacific Northwest Posts: 3,122	Re: Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! when I still lived at home as a teenager, I kept my little stevens bolt gun in the kitchen against the window loaded with a CB. Used to blast 'em off the back deck when they went after the bird feeders! after a while ya get tired of cleaning them and the freezer started filling up. Time for some pot pie! __________________ "Loud noises don't end gunfights.... well placed shots do."

09-30-2012, 03:57 PM	#5
gun runner Former Guest Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: South Texas Contributor Posts: 1,871	Re: Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! Squirrel Season? Theres actually a season for squirrel in Texas? I shoot them all year long, I never knew that.

09-30-2012, 07:54 PM	#6
Diamondback Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Silver City, Oklahoma Posts: 706	Re: Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! Squirrel season in OKlahoma opened, I believe, May 15. Every year.

09-30-2012, 08:33 PM	#7
76Highboy Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Meridian, Idaho Contributor Posts: 7,094	Re: Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! Are they tender and tasty? I have never ate them but have always wondered.

09-30-2012, 10:03 PM	#11
aa1911 Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Pacific Northwest Posts: 3,122	Re: Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! roll 'em in flour and fry them (arms/legs) or pull the meat and make pot pie, dumplings, stew, etc.. very tasty! the average person wouldn't know it from chicken __________________ "Loud noises don't end gunfights.... well placed shots do."

09-30-2012, 10:04 PM	#12
aa1911 Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Pacific Northwest Posts: 3,122	Re: Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! 10 per day is awesome! lot's of cleaning but more than I was used to. Haven't been able to squirrel hunt in quite a while now. Will have to get back to the east coast sometime again to see the leaves change and snipe some squirrels. __________________ "Loud noises don't end gunfights.... well placed shots do."

10-01-2012, 04:47 AM	#13
jstgsn Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Milford, Delaware Contributor Posts: 1,314	Re: Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! Went out Sat. with my son and grandson. got 4 in an hour. Taste great, but the real pleasure is hunting with the grandson. (The missing teeth didn't hinder him a bit.) __________________ Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he will just kill you. Last edited by jstgsn; 04-21-2013 at 06:59 PM..

10-01-2012, 11:52 AM	#16
jim summers Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: I reside in southern Indiana, you can almost step out of my back door and be setting on Patoka Lake Posts: 1,058	Re: Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! Here i Indiana it open Aug. 15 ends Jan. 31 limit 5 there is nothing like watching a squirrel work its way into gun range to get the ole blood pumping. It is a super great sport and they taste sooooooooo good bye fellas i have typed myself into going later dudes. __________________ To Whom Much Is Given, Much Is Required.

10-01-2012, 12:17 PM	#17
whirley V.I.P. Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Contributor Posts: 464	Re: Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! Squirrels are great to hunt and great to eat. They're ideal for starting very young people to hunt. Tough to skin, however try this. To skin, cut the skin through about midsection, all around the body. Then, work the skin loose until you can get your fingers under the skin, then pull in opposite directions. Skin should come off like pulling gloves off inside out. Cut off head, tail and feet. THEN eviscerate, pull out the entrails. Soak in salt water to remove blood clots, etc. Then make stew. I use either a pressure cooker or a slow cooker. With fresh biscuits, you'll enjoy a fine meal. I started my sons on squirrels and forty years later our grandchildren come here to hunt squirrels and eat Grma's squirrel stew and stickey buns!.

10-01-2012, 12:37 PM	#18
carver TFF Moderator/Host Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: DAV, Deep in the Pineywoods of East Texas, just west of Shreveport, LA Contributor Posts: 11,552	Re: Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! Split hide just under the base of the tail, and on down both back legs. Flip squirrel over, step on tail, hard. Grab both back legs, and pull!!! Skin will come of completely, including the head. Cut off the feet, cut off legs next to the body at the joints. Cut back, and rib cage in half, cut off the head, and clean the head, ears, eyes, nose, and whiskers. The head is the best part of the squirrel! And the brain is just about as good as it gets! You can't fry the head, so make a stew, or dumplings! __________________ Y'all be safe now, ya hear! Lamentations Chapter 5: 1. Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. 2. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. 3. We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers [are] as widows. 5. Our necks [are] under persecution: we labour, [and] have no rest. 16. The crown is fallen [from] our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! 21. Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

10-01-2012, 02:41 PM	#19
Maine04657 V.I.P. Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Maine Posts: 328	Re: Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! We have two types of squirrels here in Maine red and grey. Red are open season you can shoot all you want all year long these ones are more like rats they infest barns and outbuildings and your home if your not on them very very small and not really eatin critters unless your real hungry. The gray ones are few and FAR between up here up here in the real Maine. There are few but in all my time in the woods I have never seen one. I have seen them in town and such but never out in the woods.

10-09-2012, 09:00 AM	#20
noslolo Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Johnstown PA Posts: 1,559	Re: Squirrel season opens here tomorrow! I'm going next week with my father in law. Last year I got tags to take my Son on a youth hunt, but he backed out when he found out he was going to have to help with the cleaning. He never talked about again until I told him that I was going with his Pap. Now he wants to go, but he's now 12 and has not completed the hunter safety course required in PA. So he will have to wait till next spring. I'm pretty excited that he is interested again. My rule was if we shoot it, we eat it, there is no waste here. __________________ I'm a heck of a "obesito illegitimo"