# Squirrel



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Someone has asked for squirrel recipes. I eat squirrel often, Fox Squirrel from the Midwest mostly. I get 20 or so a year in Illinois, whatever the possession limit is.

I'll eat a Wyoming Pine Squirrel now and then, but IMHO they are nothing to brag about.

Never really wrote down a squirrel recipe. You just cut them up in pieces, roll them in flour, brown them and then cook them real slow in a cast iron skillet, crock pot, or in the oven.

Here's some I put over a bed of half-cooked rice and cooked them in an oven. I don't eat on the head or brains like some of my ******* friends back home do.


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## Windage (Mar 11, 2010)

Is it ******** who eat squirrel heads? I thought it was hillbillys. Either way I think I would prefer those homemade corn meal jello balls you talk about sometimes.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

*cutting up a squirrel*

Like everyone the Goobers will be kicking off the 2014 Holiday season with fried squirrel. The front half of squirrel is used for gumbo and the backs and legs are for frying and baking.

The legs and backs from Illinois Fox Squirrels:


I put a couple of squirrel calls in the pic for effect. The Herter's call is from the 60s. The jar lid call is a homemade call. Just rake the bolt over the edge of the lid to simulate a barking squirrel; the small lid a Grey Squirrel, the larger lid a Fox Squirrel. I've always had better luck with the jar lid calls than the store-bought calls.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Is there a reason you don't hear about people eating ground squirrels?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

swbuckmaster said:


> Is there a reason you don't hear about people eating ground squirrels?


Got me, I never heard of anyone eating them.

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## polarbear (Aug 1, 2011)

Mmmmm. That looks tasty. Having grown up in Arkansas, squirrels were a readily available food source and a main staple around my house. Every Friday during football season (game day) I would pack a couple squirrel sandwiches in my lunch. It was my favorite pre game meal for some reason. I also had squirrel brains and eggs for breakfast, squirrel dumplings, mustard baked squirrel... mostly I would just fry it up, but the best squirrel I ever ate was rotisseried over an open fire after a long morning hunt. Not sure if that makes me a *******, a hillbilly, or just plain white trash. Probably all of the above.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

*squirrel n gravy*

Pan fried squirrel (de-boned) and gravy!!!


No bread; I got to get some bread.

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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

Or some hot cornbread with 2 lbs butter8)


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## massmanute (Apr 23, 2012)

I had squirrel a couple of times when I lived in the Upper Midwest, and I must say it was very good.

I wonder how good is the table quality of squirrels here in the Mountain West.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

massmanute said:


> I wonder how good is the table quality of squirrels here in the Mountain West.


If you like eating something that taste like a pine tree then they are not bad.


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## massmanute (Apr 23, 2012)

Critter said:


> If you like eating something that taste like a pine tree then they are not bad.


Well then, just pretend like it is seasoned with rosemary and it will be fine.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

massmanute said:


> I had squirrel a couple of times when I lived in the Upper Midwest, and I must say it was very good.
> 
> I wonder how good is the table quality of squirrels here in the Mountain West.


Yes, a fox squirrel making a living off of acorns and field corn are some of the best eating wild game out there. Gray squirrels are good too, just smaller and tougher.

Our pine squirrels can be pretty gamey. Sometimes friends and relatives from back east and I will take a few during the archery hunt. I cook them up a couple of different ways that turns out OK.

An old friend of mine, now gone, would come out to Wyoming every year and hunt. His health was failing so he would stick to game birds and small game and be the camp cook. He would take his pistol and get a mess of pine squirrels, parboil them and the cook them up with white gravy and onions. The squirrel was always served over mash potatoes he whipped up with a forked. He could whip potatoes smoother with a fork than I could with an electric mixer. He was a fantastic cook, a true cook; never got on the internet his entire life.

I don't go out of my way for pine squirrels. They're pretty small, tough, hard to cook, but are OK in gumbo, but heck, what isn't OK in gumbo? I'll take the grandsons out next fall, get some and post some pine squirrel dishes.

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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Fox squirrels are big...and tasty.:


2nd from the right is a Grey Squirrel.


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

swbuckmaster said:


> Is there a reason you don't hear about people eating ground squirrels?


Most ground squirrels I've seen have been making horse and cow manure a major part of their diet, I would imagine that it contributes to the taste.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Grey Squirrel or Gray/Fox hybrids.



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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Jedidiah said:


> Most ground squirrels I've seen have been making horse and cow manure a major part of their diet, I would imagine that it contributes to the taste.


On the farm all of our hogs, chickens, ducks and geese ate cow and horse manure. Cows do a poor job of processing corn so a variety of animals, domestic and wild, follow them around for a free meal. Pheasants like to feed on cow pies, as do Ruffed Grouse.

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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

wyogoob said:


> On the farm all of our hogs, chickens, ducks and geese ate cow and horse manure and they tasted fine.
> 
> .


I didn't say it was a bad taste but some people might. Heck, I'll eat coot or a 10 year old turkey, wouldn't matter to me what a squirrel tastes like.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

wyogoob said:


> Fox squirrels are big...and tasty.:
> 
> 
> 2nd from the right is a Grey Squirrel.


Gawd, who cares about the squirrels, how 'bout that 1936 Model 61 Winchester .22?

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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

All this talk about squirrells is making me homesick and hungry. Nothing like a good pot of squirrel sauce piquante served over rice with cornbread on the side. Yum yum. Who wants to fight for the brains ???


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

*squirrel sauce piquante*



LostLouisianian said:


> All this talk about squirrells is making me homesick and hungry. Nothing like a good pot of squirrel sauce piquante served over rice with cornbread on the side. Yum yum. Who wants to fight for the brains ???


I like sauce piquante and I have plenty of squirrels in the freezer. I'll make some.

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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Any ******** here? Check this old post out:

http://utahwildlife.net/forum/26-recipes/35651-squirrel-leftovers.html

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## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

I like fried squirrel on Ptarmigan hunts!


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

wyogoob said:


> I like sauce piquante and I have plenty of squirrels in the freezer. I'll make some.
> 
> .


Do you have my new address to bring it over? I'm in retard, uh Utah county now.


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

wyogoob said:


> Any ******** here? Check this old post out:
> 
> http://utahwildlife.net/forum/26-recipes/35651-squirrel-leftovers.html
> 
> .


Uh *******, me, nope...Cajun 118%


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

*squirrel sauce piquant*

There are many different ways to make sauce piquant. My favorite is made with chicken and a little sausage; then probably alligator. Here's an easy sauce piquant recipe using gray squirrels:

Cut two squirrels into pieces, five or six pieces per squirrel. Season the squirrel with salt and pepper and in a large skillet brown both sides of the meat in hot oil. Remove from the pan and set aside: 


Reduce heat to medium. Add the garlic, chopped onions, green peppers and flour and saute until the flour starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes and enough water to cover the squirrel pieces. Add the squirrel and simmer until the meat is tender, about 90 minutes for gray squirrel; 60 minutes for pine or fox squirrel:


Serve over rice sprinkled with some fresh green onions.

*Easy Squirrel Sauce Piquante*

*Ingredients:*
2 squirrels, cut up 
2 medium onions, chopped 
1/2 cup - bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup - oil
2 tbsp - flour
1 can - diced tomatoes
2 cans - Rotel tomatoes
water
salt and pepper
fresh parsley, chopped
green onions, chopped *

Directions:*
> Season squirrel with salt and pepper.
> In a deep fry pan, add oil and squirrel.
> Brown pieces of meat well on both sides.
> Remove meat and set aside.
> Lower heat to medium and saute onions, bell pepper, garlic and flour in the same pan until brown. 
> Return squirrel to pan and add tomato sauce, Rotel tomatoes and enough water to cover meat.
> Cover and simmer for at least 1 hour, or until meat is tender.
> Add parsley just before serving.
> Serve over rice. Sprinkle chopped green onions on top.

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## trapper12 (Dec 27, 2012)

Wyogoob ivdidntvknow u could shoot the squirrels here in utah, when yall say pine squirrel your talking about the ones that are in every forest in utah in the mountains? Or they are different kind? I've been wanting to try it but didn't want to get in trouble for shooting one


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

trapper12 said:


> Wyogoob ivdidntvknow u could shoot the squirrels here in utah, when yall say pine squirrel your talking about the ones that are in every forest in utah in the mountains? Or they are different kind? I've been wanting to try it but didn't want to get in trouble for shooting one


Yes, I am talking about the pine squirrel common to Utah. They are legal to harvest in Utah. Great question and it's one that comes up every year.

UWN member Fishrmn straightened this issue out once and for all:

http://utahwildlife.net/forum/15-upland-game/29488-hunting-squirrels.html

http://utahwildlife.net/forum/15-upland-game/37055-squirrels-legal-not.html

.


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## trapper12 (Dec 27, 2012)

Thanks goob


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Made some squirrel stew out of some Illinois fox squirrels. Potatoes, carrots n onions from my garden.


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