We've got grays, fox, and a few others around.

I'm thinking about how Mallards taste alot better than any diving ducks - which are just plain nasty.

Are any of them better eating than the others?

and NOPE - you couldn't pay me to eat a red squirrel

Spot

I always heard that greys and foxes from Pecan groves eat pretty well.

Sort of like a "feedlot" for squirrels..

IME you about got it right, fox and grey taste the same to me. I ate a red squirrel once.
Once is the operative word....

Probably depends more on what they are eating. Pine cones spring to mind. miles

When I was munching on that one Red Squirrel..Pine cones came to my mind too...

We've got reds, greys and fox around here and I've eaten them all. Young greys are the best eating.

I like em all, but do drool for the litle grey bastids. Its a love hate thing. Hate em all deer season, love eating them in winter and summer.

Ye ole Weatherby 22LR is going out Christmas afternoon, tradition in my family.

Joseph

Greys that live in farming areas taste the best.
Had a housecat that wouldnt touch a red squirrel, but
would eat chipmunks all day.

I'm with Ingwe, greys and fox squirrels taste the same to me. However, on average, I think the greys aren't as tough. But you can tenderize both.


maddog

Young grays make great table fare.

You anti-reds are nuts.

Ever eat an Abert's (tassel-eared or Kiabob) squirrel?. They eat more ponderosa pine cones and bark that reds and they are fantastic eating - as good as any fox squirrel.

If it's a tree squirrel - it eats!!!!!!

From past experiance, I like the grays best. Reds are smaller and more gamey to me. No fox around my part of the woods.

Squirrel are much like any other meat animal; what we get depends more on their age and their diet than the brand. Young of any kind tends to be tastey, especially if he's been feeding on some farmer's corn. But an old boar that's been feeding on red oak acorns and pine cones does not taste, or chew, good!

Oh how I love limb bacon!!!! We grew up on it here in the Ozarks and I have not lost my taste for them. To my palate the grays have always been the better of the two. Especially the young ones taken in May/June and the next littler in October/November. We are blessed that we have the longest squirrel season in the nation here in Missouri. Runs from Memorial Day weekend in May through Feb. 15 following. Ain't much better than squirrels and gravy along with fried okra, smashed taters an' bakin' powder biscuits!! I'll certainly eat a fox squirrel but they aren't my preference.

I have heard them called as sorts of things, rackless rats, tree rats, and so on but limb bacon - now that is a new one. I like it!

I read somewhere that squirrels, not big game, were the staple food of early European settlers. But back then, squirrels ran in herds that would rival the shortgrass buffalo.

I like the gray's. They sure are a PITA to skin though. Anyone have any "easy" methods of skinnin' 'em?

Brent, I can't take credit for naming them limb bacon. That has to go to a dear friend of mine, a man of the cloth, down in Arkansas. He loves to hunt and eat squirrels as much as me. As with you, I liked it also and appropriated it for my own use, with his blessing. If everyone were like TE there would be no problems in this world.

RS, mostly just keep skinnin' 'em and you'll get better. Are you cutting the hide in the middle of the back and taking their shirts and pants off or slicing through the tail, up the hind legs and pullin' the hide off over their head? Both work fine for me.

certainly someone will post the 25 second skinning technique where the guy steps on the tail and pulls the rest of the sqirrel out of his skin by the hind legs. Google it on u tube.

Look up squirrel skinning on youtube. The second video, that is 46 secs. is the one you want.

skinning a squirrel the easy way

here you go...(I think)

One addition to some of those methods that works for me - dunk them in a bucket of water first and you will not have nearly the amount of hair trying to stick to the carcass.

Thats a good pearl. Thanks for the input. I'll remember that one.

you're supposed to skin them??? now i know why they're always so chewy when i make them. thanks for the tip.

Well rem, yes, that would explain the toughness...hehehe. Squirrel hides do tan into a fairly decent leather. They just don't make much of it!

If you tenderize any squirrel, brown it in a big skillet, take the critters out of the skillet, make a big skillet of gravy, throw the parts back in the skillet with the gravy and simmer for about a 6 pack or until the rice and bisquits are ready, you can't tell which of the sub species you are eating. Heck, you could throw in a young coon and no one would be the wiser. It would be good and I know from 1st hand experience. Any wine is proper with wild game.

coon - squirrel? I'd notice - you betchya...

But I like all the tree squirrels that I've eaten and that is 4 true species - I don't know how many different subspecies.

Along the lines of what DOO_DAH described, we take the old ones and brown them then cover with a can of cream of celery soup and a can of water, let simmer for an hour or a little longer. Makes for a very tasty change of pace.

Brent, I believe I'm with you, I'd notice. I like 'coon too...but I believe I can tell the difference between 'coon and squirrel.

Vic

The one time I had coon, I wished I would die...

Could have been the prep...

I will never again eat coon, nor attend anything called a "XYZ Feed" at the American Legion. Nope, no way, no how.

It seems like you fellars know your vittles but you haven't had anything that has been steamed down in my gravy. Doesn;t matter if you can tell what it is cause it's good. Don't think this is the time to talk about my possum on a stick.

Not yet...


but later...?

That musta been a 6-pack of Canadian beer he drank while waiting for the critters to cook. the alcohol content is much higher.

I could DEFINITELY tell the difference between squirrel and coon no matter how you cook it. Now dig an old work boot out of the bottom of a pig pen and throw it in a pot with a coon and I might not be able to tell which was which. If I could tell I'd probably choose to eat the boot. That is unless it was one of my sons boots. That kids feet smell WAYYYY worse than pig [bleep] and I'm sure one bite off'n one a his boots would kill a billy goat stone dead.

You fellars that don't like coon have to admit that is tastes better than eagle.

Actually, coon tastes a bit like alligator.

Yes there is a distinct difference. The ones I shoot taste much better than the ones from Hwy 288.

We have alot of the smaller chicory grey squirrels up in the high country in spruce trees. Cook one of them up and youswear you are chewing on a 100yr old pine tree.

squirrels, coon, possum? So nostalgic. My dog died. Knock 'em out of the tree fun but tough to skin. Carried coons that woke me up screwing in the trees to the black folk to barbeque. Dead broke. Pop said you may have to eat possum. Got a 22. Oooh......won't have to eat possum. Life is good?

The cooked ones are better than the raw ones!

grain fed squirrels taste the best

Nah, thems that eat akerns is best!

I watched those video's about skinning, it appeared they were demonstrating on squirrels shotgunned. If you try that on one body shot with a .22 you most likely will end up with a gutty mess.

I occasionally shoot squirrels in the chest and they still skin out just fine with the tail-pull method.

My apologies, I shouldn't have commented on the tail pull method. It looks like a pretty neat way to skin one.

I've always used the pinch the hide in the middle of the back slice through for a finger hold, and pull in opposite directions method.

Tree squirrels taste like steak. Ground skwirls taste like hamburger. Hence the 'ground'......



See?.......

Ok ground squirrels are offically off the list

Not a burger guy, huh?....

Actually, I prefer the Ribeye Squirrel, griled medium well, with baked Sweet Potato and Salad.

I sometimes get Grey's and Fox out of the same woods - often wondered about crossbreeding occurring between them- never tasted any noticable differance. Any more they all go into the crock pot- got tired of TOUGH squirrel. I've been told that squirrels fattened on walnuts get a distinct and favorable taste to the meat.

So why not ground squirrels. They're grass fed. The only tree squirrels we have here are reds and they are tough and tiny. I ate them a couple of times when I was a kid. Then I figured out I am really allergic to them and rabbits so I quit hunting both.
pete

I have had Red Squirells in Washington State, somewhat gamey flavor but good.

Young grey (cat) squirrels and fox squirrels are delish chicken fried or grilled or roasted over a campfires coals.

For a change, try browning the quarters or venison steaks in lard in a skillet, then put the pieces in a covered cooking dish with 1/4 inch of water in the oven at 350 for 45 min or until the meat falls off the leg bone.

"Ground" squirrel is what you get with Stingers or similar. Or shotgun with full choke at ten yards.....

We have gray and.fox here. Fox are bigger and tougher but I think they taste better. takes a little longer simmering for them to be tender.

Depends on what they’re cutting. I’m a big time,, long time squirrel hunter; grew up in the Mississippi Delta hunting fox squirrels in river bottoms and hardwoods. Never killed a gray until I hunted in the hills. Ever eat a squirrel that been cutting cypress balls?You can taste the cypress ball in the meat. Or a grey that been eating young pine cones? Same gummy turpentine like taste to me. Fox squirrels have large musk glands under the armpits you gotta remove or they taste musky, especially the males. Young greys taste the best to me. I guess I just have a discerning palette. Being southern, I grew up on good cooking and real fast food- deer, rabbits, squirrels,ducks, and doves. They all run or fly fast!

Fox or grey eat better than pine squirrels or Aberts

Most of ours here are gray and I love them fried. Have any of you ever tried them in the crockpot? I wonder if that would work well.

Guys in Idaho used to call a small ground squirrel Picket Pins. What exactly are they?

We have fox and Grey's.

Best ones are those killed at season opener in late May. Those that have a tail bigger than their body are the young of that spring and are very tender.

younger gray squirrels are succulent they are the finest eating ,regular gray squirrels are good , fox squirrels are good but tougher , red squirrels taste terrible .

I have learned that if I boil the meat for 20 minutes or so before I fry it that i can tell zero difference between a Fox or Grey squirrel but if not that a Fox squirrel is generally tougher...The best eating squirrel IMO is like many on this thread have already stated ....nothing beats a young grey squirrel....Hb

Sometimes even the gravy is tough with a fox squirrel

My favorite is young squirrel gray or fox versions. Having said that, you can fry the older ones just like young, but then wrap the up in foil and put in crockpot for a 2 hours. They'll tender up and still have the fried flavor. You can also bake them after frying with a bit of moisture to keep them from drying out. Again either is not "quite" as good as just tender fried ones but you'll still like the outcome.

I'm pretty good at telling if they are tender enough to just fry from how the bones in the legs break over a knife blade when skinning. I miss once in a while and fry one that comes out a bit tough but you get pretty good at it over time.

I will add.

If you use a scoped 22 just look for the nuts on a big boar. I pass on quite a few squirrels because they have a set of big nuts. No need to kill those big boars and then have meat tougher than boot leather.

Back in the early 1980's we used to hunt a very productive tract of NY State land, and it was chock full of Grays and Reds. My group tried many ways to prepare the Reds, but never found a way to make it palatable. Reds are fine to avoid starvation, but that's about it.

Find someone who can cook and you will change your mind.

Is a "Red squirrel" the same as a Fox Squirrel?

A young coon taste like squirrel to me if cooked the same way (fried). We only have fox squirrels here, young ones are very good, old ones not so much and need to be smothered to help with toughness.

That's how we look at em around here.

In my neck of the woods a Red squirrel is a smaller squirrel than a grey squirrel but a little bigger than a chipmonk, they are also know locally a Mtn Boomers and nobody i know of has tried to eat one.....Hb

"Red squirrel" = pine squirrel around here.

That is kinda what I thought. Different locations have different names for critters. Here in the Ozarks, there are greys and fox squirrels. If a feller said he killed some red squirrels all of us hillbillies would assume you are talking about fox squirrels. If you said you saw a mountain boomer that would be a collared lizard. Around here collared lizards are known as "mountain boomers" or "glade bitches."

I'm in Southern WV and we call Red squirrels Fairy Diddles. I've eaten them. They taste just like any other squirrel to me.