Gray squirrels and fox squirrels are pretty good IMO. I never heard of anyone eating red squirrels. It is hard to describe the flavor. They don't taste like chicken. They are a bit more gamey than rabbit.
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Canoes and guns...
- Thread starter Canotrouge
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Gray squirrels and fox squirrels are pretty good IMO. I never heard of anyone eating red squirrels. It is hard to describe the flavor. They don't taste like chicken. They are a bit more gamey than rabbit.
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Up here you are not slowed to hunt squirrels, unless you own a trap line and then you can shoot or trap them! They are considered fur barrier just like mink, beavers and so on!!
that's because up there they're living on pine nuts and spruce cones, so they end up tasting like turpentine, farther south they're eating seeds and nuts, it's the same with bush chickens (grouse)
What an animal eats does affect the taste. Where I grew up and lived the deer tasted remarkably different depending on which side of the state they came from. A deer that was fed up on corn, hay crops, and soy beans tastes a lot different than one who lived on acorns and other forest foraging. I don't imagine squirrels are any different in that respect.
Interesting, we don't have any f those big fellas up here yet, but who knows, southern species are moving up here at an unusually fast rate. If they do indeed taste like dark turkey meat, I will have to stock up on .22 ammo.
For northern Canada, I would take a Marlin Guide Gun. Stainless steel with a laminated stock and it comes in .45/70, with a 20 inch barrel. I would mount it to the canoe so it could stay put in an upset.
When I lived in LA (16 years total), I never went out without a firearm. I could hunt something year round, though the heat of summer was the equivalent of January in Alaska, and I didn't go out much between June and August.
In the canoe, where water mocs were an issue, and if not actively hunting squirrels, I carried a .357 revolver loaded with snakeshot. I had a Ruger 10/22 for squirrels, with a collapsible stock that made getting through thick brush with it a breeze. Both were easy/light. A shotgun with a slug barrel was heavier but still portable. A longer deer rifle was a pain.
Squirrels taste like what they've been eating... if they're in a pine forest, they aren't very good. If they've been eating acorns or corn, they're delicious... my favorite way to eat them is to cut every shred of meat off them until you have a fist-sized ball of it, and then just chop that into sausage. Divided into 2-4 portions, depending on the size of the squirrel, placed in a cheap plastic sandwich bag, and thrown in the freeezer, I liked to pull one out to defrost overnight, quickly stir-fried it in bacon grease in the morning, and added a couple whisked eggs right on top, for "squirrel-scrambled eggs". Delicious.
In the canoe, where water mocs were an issue, and if not actively hunting squirrels, I carried a .357 revolver loaded with snakeshot. I had a Ruger 10/22 for squirrels, with a collapsible stock that made getting through thick brush with it a breeze. Both were easy/light. A shotgun with a slug barrel was heavier but still portable. A longer deer rifle was a pain.
Squirrels taste like what they've been eating... if they're in a pine forest, they aren't very good. If they've been eating acorns or corn, they're delicious... my favorite way to eat them is to cut every shred of meat off them until you have a fist-sized ball of it, and then just chop that into sausage. Divided into 2-4 portions, depending on the size of the squirrel, placed in a cheap plastic sandwich bag, and thrown in the freeezer, I liked to pull one out to defrost overnight, quickly stir-fried it in bacon grease in the morning, and added a couple whisked eggs right on top, for "squirrel-scrambled eggs". Delicious.
Wis. Admin. Code § NR 20.05(2): “No person may…[p]ossess or control any firearm, gun or similar device at any time while on the waters, banks or shores that might be used for the purpose of fishing.”
Guess the intent of this was to prevent fishermen from dispatching fish with a firearm. What they did was effectively prohibit any firearm near any water. Considering you are never more than a stones throw from water in this state they inadvertently banned firearms statewide. This is currently being challenged in court and WI residents will continue to either knowingly or unknowingly ‘not comply’.
I’m planning two fall canoing/hunting trips this fall. The cool fall mornings, the smell of the leaves, the smell of burnt gunpower after a successful hunt, paddling through the colors and leaves floating on the water…dang. If just doesn’t get better than that.
Guess the intent of this was to prevent fishermen from dispatching fish with a firearm. What they did was effectively prohibit any firearm near any water. Considering you are never more than a stones throw from water in this state they inadvertently banned firearms statewide. This is currently being challenged in court and WI residents will continue to either knowingly or unknowingly ‘not comply’.
I’m planning two fall canoing/hunting trips this fall. The cool fall mornings, the smell of the leaves, the smell of burnt gunpower after a successful hunt, paddling through the colors and leaves floating on the water…dang. If just doesn’t get better than that.
That's got to be one of most poorly written and vague laws I've seen - regardless of intent.
A bit off topic but my son-in-law when in the navy stationed in Guam fished with a friend who was a native of the island. The local always carried a .22 pistol to dispatch either sailfish or swordfish before bringing them into the boat (I don’t remember which fish it was), because they were too dangerous to bring into his 24’ boat alive. He also cautioned his fishing partner to hold the fish with the gaff as steady as possible because he didn’t want to shoot a hole in his boat.
In addition to a Second Amendment problem, this administrative rule has an ambiguity problem. It's not clear to me whether the phrase "that might be used for fishing" applies to firearms, etc. that might be used for fishing or to waters, etc. that might be used for fishing.
Here's an article that reasonably reports the legal challenge:
https://www.americanhunter.org/content/wisconsin-dnr-sued-over-firearm-prohibition-on-waterways/
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I've fished with dynamite (which isn't effective, btw... seems that most of the stunned/ killed fish sink) and I still, sometimes, fish w/ a bow (extremely effective once you catch on to it) but never with a firearm. I wonder what retriever you'd mount on a 30-06 and if a 30-30 would be better in the heavier vegetation?
Well..... I won't say how I know this, but when buffalo carp are spawning in the shallows, a shotgun can be effective. And then you just scoop them up with your net.
Exactly.
People shooting carp for sport was my thought for the law being enacted in the first place.
Alan
