# Grey Squirrels



## wyogoob

A limit of grey squirrels from Illinois:










The middle one is Boone and Crockett!


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## lunkerhunter2

Do they have big nuts too?


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## Size Matters

Good Job Goob did you cook them up yet? 8)


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## stimmie78

I think I ran over some that big when I was in Illinois...


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## hoghunter011583

That is some fun times!! Just don't pull your shoulder's out of socket while skinning them!! The ones in LA have the toughest skin I've ever seen on an animal!!


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## InvaderZim

Good on ya! I aint never done that eastern stuff; never hunted white tails, wood****, eastern grays, hogs, etc. Yer lucky.


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## wyogoob

Nothing more relaxing than hunting squirrels with a .22 rifle.

Put on some camo and walk out into the middle of timber that has acorns, hickory nuts, or walnuts and is along a corn field. At first, the squirrels will run for cover in their holes or nests. Wait for 20 minutes or so and they will re-appear. Take them in the head with a .22 long rifle.

They are good to eat, but I prefer the larger fox squirrel over the grey (gray, depending region) squirrel.


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## wyogoob

InvaderZim said:


> Good on ya! I aint never done that eastern stuff; never hunted white tails, wood****, eastern grays, hogs, etc. Yer lucky.


I hunted whitetail deer for three days, all the while looking for birds, especially quail, wood****, and wood ducks. The quail were there. The wood ducks had migrated out. And low-till farming's heavy use of herbacides and pesticides have all but eliminated the once-common wood****.


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## wyogoob

Size Matters said:


> Good Job Goob did you cook them up yet? 8)


No, gave them to two of my aunts.


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## wyogoob

hoghunter011583 said:


> That is some fun times!! Just don't pull your shoulder's out of socket while skinning them!! The ones in LA have the toughest skin I've ever seen on an animal!!


Yeah, very tough hides. Skinned warm, just after shooting, it's not too bad.


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## Mojo1

That's a big old grey! :shock: It's been a while since I hunted those devils, maybe I'll take my 17 with me when I leave on vaction this weekend and go tree rats shooting one day, that is right after I finish with the ducks and deer. 8)


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## wyogoob

Yes those are big greys. To me they look like they have some fox squirrel in them. "Squirrely" people say they don't hybridize. The agressive greys are taking over back home, pushing the larger, and IMO better eating, fox squirrels out.


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## lehi

Looks like fun. I would love to go on a squirrel hunt back east someday. Hunting snowshoe hares with beagles in Maine is on my to-do list also.


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## Bergy

wyogoob said:


> Size Matters said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good Job Goob did you cook them up yet? 8)
> 
> 
> 
> No, gave them to two of my aunts.
Click to expand...

I live around a bunch of folks that would be really disappointed that you didnt make a meal out of those tree rats! My neighbor has been trying to get me to go out hunting them and then have a squirrel fry. I just cant think about eating one. He says they are good and have a nutty flavor to them. :O>>:


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## wyogoob

Bergy said:


> wyogoob said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Size Matters said:
> 
> 
> 
> Good Job Goob did you cook them up yet? 8)
> 
> 
> 
> No, gave them to two of my aunts.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I live around a bunch of folks that would be really disappointed that you didnt make a meal out of those tree rats! My neighbor has been trying to get me to go out hunting them and then have a squirrel fry. I just cant think about eating one. He says they are good and have a nutty flavor to them. :O>>:
Click to expand...

My aunts love squirrel and I could only have so many in possesion anyway, needed some cushion for Fox Squirrels.

Your neighbor is a smart man. Fox and Gray squirrels are great eating, especially from corn country, and they do have a nutty flavor.

I've tried, but don't care for the pine squirrels from around these parts.


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## Bergy

OK Goob......maybe I will try reading Green Eggs and Ham a few times and then give the tree rats a try! I dont know... even just typing this Im getting the sick.... I guess its better then a guy I know from west virginia. He eats Possum and ground hogs! -)O(- :shock:


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## wyogoob

Bergy said:


> OK Goob......maybe I will try reading Green Eggs and Ham a few times and then give the tree rats a try! I dont know... even just typing this Im getting the sick.... I guess its better then a guy I know from west virginia. He eats Possum and ground hogs! -)O(- :shock:


Possum's not my favorite, once was enough. But if you call ground hogs "wood chucks" and get all the fat off them they ain't all that bad! 

It's obvious you're not into eating squirrel heads and gravy. One of my closest friends always cooked the heads of squirrels. Some say consumption of squirrel brains is linked to Mad Cow disease; so I have quit.  Hey, I'm not making this up. There's even a Bluegrass song called "Squirrel Heads and Gravy". It's a toe-tapper.


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## Bergy

Goob says:...........One of my closest friends always cooked the heads of squirrels. Some say consumption of squirrel brains is linked to Mad Cow disease; so I have quit.  Hey, I'm not making this up. There's even a Bluegrass song called "Squirrel Heads and Gravy". It's a toe-tapper.[/quote]

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: I could not would not in a tree!


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## LostLouisianian

You need to cook them up in a sauce piquante. Just google squirrel or rabbit sauce piquante and enjoy. As for eating the heads and brains, well when my dad was still alive he would be fightin ya fer em. He loved eating squirrel brains/heads. You did not dare shoot them with a .22 in the head because you ruined the brain. You had to take them with a body shot if you was usin a .22 or else use a shotgun.


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## Narient

Growing up in KS, I'm used to seeing many fox squirrels all over the place. One house I lived in about 6 years ago had walnut trees in the front & mulberry trees in the back. Use the squirrel caller & I'd have a dozen running around me inside of a few minutes. Every so often, I'd pick one off with the .22 & it was my own little treat.


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## wyogoob

Narient said:


> ...........................................Use the squirrel caller & I'd have a dozen running around me inside of a few minutes. Every so often, I'd pick one off with the .22 & it was my own little treat.


Calling squirrels is a riot. Greys seem to call more, and longer into the season, than Fox Squirrels. My favorite call is a bolt raked over a jar lid.










This one's for Grays; a small oyster jar lid and a 3/8" coarse thread carriage bolt. Just rake the bolt across the rim of the lid imitating a squirrel barking.

Use a bigger lid for Fox squirrels.


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## wyogoob

Geezus, I was using the jar lid call and my neighbor knocked on the door.

nuff said


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## TEX-O-BOB

lunkerhunter2 said:


> Do they have big nuts too?


My first trip back to the mid west to hunt I shot a big buck fox squirrel. I rolled him over and about lost my breath. His nuts were bigger than mine! :shock: That ain sayin much... but still!


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## Narient

TEX-O-BOB said:


> lunkerhunter2 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do they have big nuts too?
> 
> 
> 
> My first trip back to the mid west to hunt I shot a big buck fox squirrel. I rolled him over and about lost my breath. His nuts were bigger than mine! :shock: That ain sayin much... but still!
Click to expand...


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