Shot 4 squirels Saturday

[Snow Man]

Actually I shot 2 and the guys I was with gave me theirs. Now I know why they gave them to me. Took me bout 2 hours to clean them and get them into the freezer!

We were out pheasant hunting Saturday (opening day in Kansas) going from feild to feild. Not seeing much, couple wasted long shots... Then we got near some trees and stream and started staulking squirel. Ellusive little buggers! Sneaky too! In the end we got 4, 2 with my 12g, 2 with 20 gauges. Remington 870's.

I'm new to small game. Before yesterday the only things I ever killed were 1 pheasant with car, 1 deer with car, 1 camprobber bird with board, and 1 deer with 12g slug. So, I think I did okay with skinning and cleaning. And now they're temporarily preserved. What's a good way to cook them for eating? 1 lady told us Saturday to boil for 15 or so minutes, then bread them like ya do chicken, then fry them. Other ideas? Any other "best ways" ya'alled like to share?

[ATTICUS]

My mom used to fry them, and they were tough as nails. I've never done it, but I hear that slow cooking all day in a crockpot, or pressure cooking them are the best methods.

[up-down]

Try soaking them overnight in a bowl of water with salt and pepper, this helps with the wild tast. Be sure and put the soaking bowl in the refrigerator while doing the soaking. Wrap each one with bacon and then wrap each one with Aluminum foil and slow bake.

[techmike]

I like to but them in a crock pot (after soaking overnight in the fridge in salt water) and cook until the meat falls off of the bone and then "pull" the meat and add bbq sauce and simmer.

Tasty!

[Zorro]

Stew them for about 3 Hours till Tender.

Then make Stew out of them.

[Snow Man]

I think I'll try the slow cook tactic. I've not got the knack down of frying boney things (chicken). End up with burnt spots and raw spots on the same piece. Not desirable.

So the slow cook crock pot or stewing method. Are the squirelies submerged in water and slow cooked that way? Ya sposed to add spices to the water mix? Surely the other stew ingredients (vegies, spuds...) get added to the squirel meat after it has been de boned, right? Sounds like I should do it similar to how my wife boils whole chickens. Water, chicken, bay leaves, low boil for several hours, have husband cut it up and de bone it right after she pulls it out of the pan while it's still too hot to touch.

I'd sure like the squirel meal to turn out well. My wife was rather ticked when I told her I brought home squirels instead of pheasant. One thing she said was, "promise me you'll never bring home squirel again." I very clearly told her I would not promise that!

Thanks for the info and ideas. I'll be sure to check back in case others chime in!

[Zorro]

Try adding Rhine Wine, Garlic and Toasted onion to the stew. Or make a Roue!

Try this

http://www.foodtv.com/

Look up Essence Of Emeril for Louisiana Squirrel recipes.

YUM!

First pick all of the doggone hair off of it...

I made some squirel stew out of one I shot with my pistol while deer hunting last weekend. The meat was excellent, stew was ok.

I like the above suggestion about cook the meat of the bones in the crock pot, drain water, add barbeque sauce, and simmer. Makes great barbeque sandwiches.

Kilgor

[sinecure]

I'd go for a pressure-cooker and then into a stew with an onion, some celery and a few spuds, maybe a carrot. Fine eating! Bought a pressure-cooker several years ago at a garage sale just for my squirrel trips. Fits on a Coleman stove just fine.

This talk of squirrels brings back memories...

A long time ago, I was squirrel hunting. It was getting late in the afternoon, and I was walking down a fire trail, headed back towards the pickup when I saw somebody up ahead. As I got closer, I could see the person was carrying 4 or 5 squirrels... but I couldn't see a rifle or shotgun. As I got even closer, I saw it was a youngish male, and damned if he wasn't about the UGLIEST human I'd ever seen. We stopped to talk.... I said that it looked like he'd had some pretty good luck. He said that he had 5 squirrels, but wished he'd had a few more, as it took about 8 to make a meal for his family. I mentioned that I didn't see a gun, bow, slingshot, or any other weapon, but each squirrel seemed to have head trauma as a cause of death. (A hunter-to-hunter compliment... "headshots" don't waste edible meat.) He said that he didn't need a weapon, that he "uglied the squirrels to death." I said that I'd never heard of such a method, and asked for an explanation. He said that he'd just hide in the woods, behind a log, rock, or bush, and just wait until he heard the sounds of squirrel activity nearby. Then he'd quickly come out from behind his cover and show his ugly face. The squirrels would be so shocked and afraid at the sight that they would run off in a blind panic, usually running headlong into a tree or boulder... killing themselves. All he had to do was pick them up.

Now, I wasn't sure if I was being put on like a sock, or if this guy was telling the truth.... he WAS powerfully ugly... So I asked him if he was the only one in his family who hunted with that method. He said that he had a sister who could hunt squirrels the same way, but that the task of hunting usually fell to him, because "She tore 'em up too much."