Squirrel Hunting Indiana Style!

What do you do with them ?

Roast em like chicken. Many cooks fry em. Fox squirrel have much more meat than blacks/greys.
 
Sat last Saturday morning in the stand and at first light saw movement on the feeder. From 90yds away I could here crunching and scrabbling around. It got light enough to see and there he was, the biggest fox squirrel I have ever seen in my life. He'd jump around and shake the whole wooden feeder, dern thing was bigger than any house cat I've ever seen. I don't eat squirrel and just enjoy watching them run around but Frankensquirrel would have fed a family of 5 with leftovers.

Nice looking bunch of treerats.
 
I've only had squirrel pan fried with gravy. It was kind of tough but tasty. My step dad's an only WV mountain man and he swears by pressure cooking them first to make it tender. Do any of you pressure cook them first?
 
So, I would like to pick squirrel hunting brain.

My son is 9, and has a nice 10/22 to shoot around with. I like food, and I like new food, and squirrels kinda make me think cornish mammal hen, so I am thinking of taking him out for them sometime.

My question... What kind of squirrels are prominent in the SW Idaho area? I know of a few places to go where I have seen them around, outside of Boise, and I am thinking they are fox squirrels, but I have never thought of them in this way before, so never bothered to find out.

Any hints, thoughts, advice?
 
Right, I might not have worded it very well... I am wondering if the squirrels around here, like the ones my mother in law feeds, are Fox or not, because if they are, I know where to find them outside city limits, and I am pretty sure they are open year round, no limit. If they are fox. I should post pics, shouldn't I?
 
I didn't have a picture

So, I googled "Fox Squirrel" and the opening page had 4 pictures of them.

Also if you look back up near the original post of this thread, all the squirrels laying on the truck tailgate are fox squirrels.

Also, if you google "gray squirrel" you will find several photos of them. Now I'm in Missouri and we have the Eastern gray squirrel which runs much smaller bodied than the Fox or sometimes called Red squirrels.

Match the pictures to what your MIL is feeding and you'll know what you are hunting. :D

From my perspective, the Fox or Red variety are much easier to hunt than the grays. The grays seldom sit still and once shot at are "poof gone" for the day. The Reds will come back out 15-20 mins following a shot and don't seem to be in perpetual motion!

Good hunting to you and your son.
 
Our Fox Rats are a gray color with a sort of bandit face. I'll try to get the one that torments my GSPs to pose for a picture to post up.
 
Looks like a good time. I had a neighbor when I lived with my parents that let me take his currs out late in the year, I always enjoyed it. Sqwack hunting in our area has fell off in the last several years, plenty of sqwacks but most hunters are just after big game. If not for a kennal full of beagles to feed I'd prolly get me a fiest and start try'in to thin the population down.
 
Looks good to me. I use to hunt squirrel when I lived in the Sierras. Very tastey. I moved to Arkansas for a few years and had to use my 44 mag to hunt them (4 gr. of bullseye under a shot casing loaded with BBs) because the neighbors frowned on the idea of using a 22. They said that it carried too far and I had to admit that it would, but I just couldnt see using a 12 guage. It worked out quite well. I use it down here now.
 
Shoot, if I took my pellet gun out in the back yard I could take down half a dozen easy...:) Of course the Yard Nazis would have a fit....
 
Sand creek kennelss, do you breed them? I currently do rabbit hunting with a beagle and would love to add a squirel dog to my family. Do they also do coons at night or would i need a coon hound for that?

I currently live in NE indiana and would love to talk to you more about this if you do breed them.
 
what do I hunt'em w/?

When I had my Win 9422m, I hunted using the 22mag. Sold it and went back to my Rem Nylon 66 using 22lr.

Other times I've used 12 ga shotgun, but 20ga or even .410 would be good.

While sitting in the deer woods in IL I can't count the number of squirrels (both Fox and Gray) that have gotten my adrenalin running. I think I'll "collect" a few squirrels before the next deer season from that wood lot just to cut down on the "confusion" those critters cause.

My favorite method of cooking was slow in a crock pot. Cooked'em til the meat fell off the bones, picked out the bones, drained off the water, moved the meat to a skillet and juiced up the meat with BBQ sauce...onto a kaiser roll and down the hatch.

...or put the meat back in the "squirrel stock" in the crock pot, add potatoes, onions, carrots and cook til veggies are soft and you've got squirrel stew. Either way, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.
 
I use a .22 rifle, and yes we raise them

We use our Curs for Squirrels and Coons, I actually treed and killed 11 3 nights ago, one hell of a hunt!! I usually use a .22 rifle when the leaves are off, or a 12 gauge shotty in early season, and then a .410 or 20 gauge late in season (now) cause they are gettin used o the dogs and are hittin there dens fast!!

MORDIS
these curs are a corky dog, not your average beagle or lab. You are more than welcome to come down for a Afternoon Sq.hunt then we will hit the coon woods, the dogs we breed are natural tree and game dogs, it takes alot of shoe leather just taking them for walks in the woods, then the switch flips, I have seen them start at 4 months old ( rare) and seen them start at 2 years old...they all start just a matter of when and how hard...give me a call and we can talk dogs,812.593.6614 I currently only have one pup for sale now, 11 month old male that is lightly started, for 300.00 have a litter on the ground that is 3 days old today out of our stud dog...think the guy wants 200.for them. they will be ready in 7-8 weeks...
 
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