Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game Red Squirrels

My little deer thicket loaded w reds. Not one friggin pine in the place

I took to hunting them out of boredom and convenience (open hunting area two minutes drive from my door). They're surprisingly good! It takes several to get a decent meal, but the meat isn't piney or gamey at all. I liked it better than snowshoe hair.

Up in Maine at my in-laws summer home, they get into the house and chew holes in the walls and ceilings. They are pests. Good air rifle targets though.

Yep. Here in VT too. Vile, hole chewing, insulation munching, leak creating creatures.

Shoot on sight.

When I was a kid down south, the hillbillies would eat fried squirrel brains with their eggs.

They will chew the crap out of an unoccupied cabin if they get inside.

Never heard of anyone hunting them to eat; too small and turpentiney. None hereabouts anyway.

Some call fox squirrels “reds”, apparently. Those are like trophy squirrels, lots bigger than grays, and have different habits.

My mother talked of, squirrel, and dumplings.

Here in Colorado we have Albert, Pine, and Fox squirrels. I never found a big enough population of Albert Squirrels to hunt. You would see one here and there but not enough to make a hunting trip for. Pine Squirrels are to small for me but they should be shot on site for being so obnoxious and noisy. The Fox Squirrel on the other hand makes some good eats. I love fried squirrel. I haven't hunted them for years now, but I can stand on the back porch and count 10 of them at an given time. I live across the street from a public park, thick as flies around here.

I think our "red" squirrels are actually Fox squirrels. Sorry for the miscommunication. Be Well, RZ.

used to be lots around where i hunt in SC PA but haven't seen one there in a long time. i own an old overgrown christmas tree farm in western PA and i just saw one last fall in there. i didn't even know they were around this part of PA. i kind of like them little buggers. they are obnoxious. kind of like chihuahuas.

Plenty of red squirrels up here in Maine. I don't hunt them, as I don't eat them. I have plunked a few reds with my .177 pellet rifle when they got into my shed and made a mess, but I don't actively hunt them.

when I was a kid ,I ate every squirrel I shot.. no matter the size.. a bite of meat was still meat.. there was no wage limits then...

This exactly

I just had a conversation with a friend who has a camp in PENN and he has a red squirrel that has taken residence in his garage. Hopefully its only one and it doesnt start chewing electrical wires

This ^^^

Good target practice.

Few years ago we had a fox that lived nearby and would watch us toss red squirrels on a brush pile and get free dinner.

Fur and tails useful for fly tying. Meat for crawdad bait.
No one would confuse a Red with a Fox squirrel kinda like a Beagle and a Newfie...really big size difference.

I know for a fact that a 200 grain RN from a 35 Remington will over penetrate, gloriously over penetrate, the little bastards.

It’s just a regional lingo thing. I suspect the places where they call fox squirrels Reds, don't have any actual reds.