First WA squirrel

[lokidog]

Picked off this little bugger just as we were serving up dinner.  Usually, they just run around on the ground but this one ran up a tree and sat there on the side of it for... too long.... 

They have slowly been expanding their range across the island and I really don't want them to establish around my place.

After it dropped in the brush, I sent Amber (my doggie) in to fetch it.  She did not see it fall, but knew something was there for her when I sent her into the brush.  After one false start and a redirect, she sniffed it out and fetched it to hand.

Time to skin it up for the slow cooker and serve as an hors d'ouvre tomorrow as no one else here has ever tried squirrel.

[hollymaster]

Might get a couple bites. 

[Axle]

 

[Bill W]

I hunted (and ate) squirrels back in PA.

[Brushcrawler]

 Crock pot and buffalo wing sauce. Good eating!

[pianoman9701]

Squirrel is really good battered and deep fried. Chicken of the Trees. Oh yeah, baby.

[kselkhunter]

Yep.  We ate a lot of fried gray squirrel in my youth.  Fried chicken, pretty much.  Especially on the day hunts.  Big game hunt in the morning, then on the way home stop by an area that held plenty of squirrel, quail, and grouse to shoot dinner and pull out the shotguns and 22s. 

[CP]

Nasty varmints.  You don’t want them to get established if you can help it.  My neighborhood is infested with them.  Some of the neighbors feed them so the bury peanuts in my yard, gutters, flower pots etc.  They chew the deck rails, eat all my cherries and strawberries before they can ripen.  They eat the nesting bird’s eggs and chicks.  Pretty much have displaced the indigenous squirrel population.

[Wacenturion]

Grew up hunting squirrels on my Grandfather and uncle's farm in eastern Iowa as a kid.  Hunted them as a young man in South Carolina while stationed at Charleston AFB.  I always thought of squirrel hunting as the big game hunting of the small game world.

Best way I found, especially for older squirrels who are tougher, was to quarter, boil for a certain amount of time, put on rack with seasoning and or bbq sauce and finish in oven.  Literally falls off the bone.

[lokidog]

The introduced gray squirrel and white-footed deer mouse are our only rodents on the island.  I'm mixed on the squirrels as another hunting opportunity is always nice, but these dang squirrels would be hard to hunt as they rarely seem to tree when they are spooked.  Plus, they've already eaten the foam out of the seat of one of my tree stands....

[NRA4LIFE]

That's a dandy.  Kill them all.

[Fl0und3rz]

Seems a pretty straightforward solution to me.

https://www.youtube.com/user/squirrelhuntertv

[Skyvalhunter]

I say do a full body mount on that one..

[DOUBLELUNG]

Thick tail, punkin head, I'm guessing a fully mature boar.  Hopefully the B&C scorer can get a full score off the skull despite the head shot.  Congrats!

[James]

My father has been hammering the grey squirrels in his neighborhood in recent years. I think he is making a dent because we are seeing more and more of the native squirrels. Up until he started I am not sure if we saw one every 10 years, now you can see them most days.

[Becky]

Amber looks adorable by the way

[lokidog]

Amber looks adorable by the way

 

[lokidog]

Thick tail, punkin head, I'm guessing a fully mature boar.  Hopefully the B&C scorer can get a full score off the skull despite the head shot.  Congrats!

Yep, though the tail is actually kind of sparse compared to the ones in WI anyways.

[Bob33]

I can see it now. "Quality Squirrel" ...

[gaddy]

You might want to skin that tail out. There might be a market in the Seattle area. I have heard of mole skin thongs being popular with some folks.

[Kit Carson]

I say do a full body mount on that one..

[Katmai Guy]

Shot one in my blueberries tonit but ran off before I could finish him off.

  Checked the regs to confirm ok to shoot and it's not in there anymore.  Pigeons, starlings and sparrows are still there but the eastern gray squirrel is gone.  Has it changed or did wdfw forget to add?

[lokidog]

Not sure, maybe they are afraid people might shoot the Western Grays not knowing the difference?

[Katmai Guy]

That's what I thought too but then I checked the areas that the Western gray squirrel inhabit and it's only three distinct areas so not sure.

[lokidog]

Who knows, I'll shoot them when I feel like it as there are no native squirrels on this island.

[DaveMonti]

I hunted (and ate) squirrels back in PA.

I did the same.  Many squirrels fell to my .22!  Those were fun times!

[DOUBLELUNG]

Shot one in my blueberries tonit but ran off before I could finish him off.

  Checked the regs to confirm ok to shoot and it's not in there anymore.  Pigeons, starlings and sparrows are still there but the eastern gray squirrel is gone.  Has it changed or did wdfw forget to add?

Eastern gray, eastern fox, and California ground squirrels are not protected in Washington and may be hunted any time as long as all firearm restrictions are followed and a hunting license is possessed.  http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/gray_squirrel/

[Bob33]

Here you go: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092809/Melany-Vorass-urban-forager-butchers-eats-squirrels-backyard-Seattle.html

[Axle]

Shot one in my blueberries tonit but ran off before I could finish him off.

  Checked the regs to confirm ok to shoot and it's not in there anymore.  Pigeons, starlings and sparrows are still there but the eastern gray squirrel is gone.  Has it changed or did wdfw forget to add?

still ok to nail them. http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/gray_squirrel/
They just ask us to make sure it isn't a western gray.

[Timberstalker]

Here you go: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092809/Melany-Vorass-urban-forager-butchers-eats-squirrels-backyard-Seattle.html

Wow.  That's all. Wow.

[quadrafire]

Here you go: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092809/Melany-Vorass-urban-forager-butchers-eats-squirrels-backyard-Seattle.html

Good for her

[Jpmiller]

Shot one in my blueberries tonit but ran off before I could finish him off.

  Checked the regs to confirm ok to shoot and it's not in there anymore.  Pigeons, starlings and sparrows are still there but the eastern gray squirrel is gone.  Has it changed or did wdfw forget to add?

If you shoot them in the head instead of the "blueberries" they don't run off

[lokidog]

Shot one in my blueberries tonit but ran off before I could finish him off.

  Checked the regs to confirm ok to shoot and it's not in there anymore.  Pigeons, starlings and sparrows are still there but the eastern gray squirrel is gone.  Has it changed or did wdfw forget to add?

If you shoot them in the head instead of the "blueberries" they don't run off