Tree Rats
I happen to be fortunate that my house sits on a lot completely covered in great big old Pecan and Oak trees. Not only does it keep my A/C bill low in the summer, but come November, I get a bonus; pecans. Lots and lots and pecans of which, I happen to be a huge fan.
Problem: squirrels, tree rats, whatever the hell you want to call them.
Now if there was only two or three of the cute little devils, I wouldn’t have an issue. They could take their share of the prized nuts, and it wouldn’t bother me in the least. The fact is, I’m a huge fan of nature, plus I enjoy sitting on the porch in the morning watching them go about their business. Just the vision of these little guys taking care of their daily lives has quite a calming affect on this old grouch.
Alas, that ain’t the case. In the last two weeks, I’ve shot five of the little buggers (quite dead, of this I assure you), but five more have seem to immediately taken their places.
As I was shooting the previous five or so, my 10 month old mutt puppy, Bear, would hear the thud of the afflicted treerat as it dropped to the ground and he’d zero in at full pup warp speed to rip the remainder of the unfortunate soul’s carcass apart in a matter of minutes. Apparently, there’s something special about crunching the squirrel’s skull to puppies, as I found that a bit third world.
Anyway, there’s more of the lil’ bastards back, and I dropped a fat male with a (beautifully perfect if I do say so myself) head shot about five minutes ago. As I watched Bear go through his ritual Cujo frenzy, I was considering the economic situation.
Hell, Kelly’s an awesome cook. I’ll let ya know how it turns out.
12 comments Og | Uncategorized
I’ve got chipmunks. Cuter than squirrels, but annoying when they sing all night.
Start with an incision going along the back of the back legs and leaving the tail attached to this skin. Stand on the feet and pull the rest of the hide up.
Grandma could skin one in less that a minute that way. If they are eating oaks, be sure to remove the gland under the arm pit.
Enjoy.
Good idea! I hear the Chinese have some very good recipes. And you won’t have to fight him off when you’re collecting the squirrel carcasses for yakitori.
You have created a squirrel sink. What you are seeing now is squirrel diffusion. An elegant solution does not present itself, at least not to me.
As long as there’s limb bacon, a man can feed his family.
If ya want some unbelievable fun getcherself a Traditions Crockett .32 cal. muzzleloading rifle. Inconceivably cheap to shoot and about the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
LOL Morenuanced. I’m Chinese and I’ve only had one Chinese squirrel stew dish. I’ve seen more American squirrel recipes that I am going to try out as soon as I can get some time to go hunt them. Oh, “yakitori” is Japanese.
I prefer either an air rifle or my 17 HMR, the latter, by the way, does considerably more damage to the critter than does the air rifle pellet.
Either way, it seems like you’ve got yourself a squirrel magnet in that tree of yours. That means an almost limitless supply of meat.
I’m using a sixty year old Benjamin .22 pellet gun that was handed down to me by my grandfather many moons back. Also, I’m four hundred yards away from DFW Airport, in the heart of Dallas/Fort Worth, so a .32 is out of the question.
Last thing, I’m still waiting on a neighbor to call the police on me for popping them.
When I lived in Oklahoma, I had three pecan trees in my yard. If I wanted any of the nuts, I had to pick them from the tree. Otherwise, the damn squirrels would clean me out in one weekend. Then I would remove the husks (wear cheap jersey gloves) and put the nuts in a wire fish cage to air out / dry for a month.
Good luck with the squirrels.
The Crock-pot is your friend with squirrel. As a college kid existing on rabbit and squirrel after I drank up my meal allowance, I tried to fry them, but they were tough and chewy. Many years later, I met some folk who had a mess of squirrel and a crock-pot, and golly that was fine stew.
Use almost any recipe for beef stew, and some cumin seed will hide any gamey flavor that you don’t want (although I find that flavor the best reason for eating squirrel.)
One caveat, the bones shatter easily and make hard, sharp little shards, so pick over the shot parts carefully.
My parents had a walnut tree, and the squirrels didn’t eat them right away, they’d make a big convenient pile of them in a flower pot. Why not let the rodents do the hard harvesting work?
Do wild squirrels not have rabies?
admit it, you are digging the ability to post everyday aren’t you Dick?
hint hint
If the squirrels have a gamey taste, an hour or two in some milk will knock most of that out.