With the recent harvest of 3 beavers on an extremely cold river trip, I am proud to announce my completion of the Colorado Rodent Grand Slam, an achievement of entirely my own deluded imagination. As most of my big game pursuits were cancelled by wildfires, and relegated to eagerly helping friends and my brother fill their tags, I focused my efforts on the small game front.
Here is the species by species breakdown:
Abert's Squirrel
I have a spot about a half an hour from my house that consistently has Abert's every year. I am consciously not taking more than one or two annually from this area in the hopes their population/range will increase. My wife and I enjoyed buffalo squirrel wings that night.
Fox Squirrel
Harvested below my bird feeder in my backyard from my upstairs window with my bow while my students were in virtual Art (I am a 5th grade teacher currently teaching online). If possible, I will include a bonus video below that my wife took. Forgetting to replace my target tips with my small game tip was nearly a costly mistake as the squirrel ran almost 50 yards into my neighbors back yard with an arrow in it. My wife and I, again, enjoyed buffalo squirrel wings.
Marmot(s)
As one of Colorado's earliest opening small game seasons, I brought my grandfather's .22 along on a friend's goat scouting trip. Lots of goats, lots of marmots. I made Korean BBQ pulled marmot sandwiches on my wife's homemade sourdough. Marmot tastes a lot like squirrel, but the quarters are significantly bigger.
Beaver
Taking advantage of CPW's unadvertised night hunting permits, friends and I night floated our state's namesake river and harvested 4 beavers between us over 13 river miles. The next day was spent skinning, butchering, and killing a few ducks and geese before floating out. My wife and I had Instapot beaver stew last night, and have several more meals in our future with the majority of the harvest in my freezer. I still need to flesh and tan hides, but I am hoping to try and make a couple pairs of beaver glassing mitts over the winter.
Here is the species by species breakdown:
Abert's Squirrel
I have a spot about a half an hour from my house that consistently has Abert's every year. I am consciously not taking more than one or two annually from this area in the hopes their population/range will increase. My wife and I enjoyed buffalo squirrel wings that night.
Fox Squirrel
Harvested below my bird feeder in my backyard from my upstairs window with my bow while my students were in virtual Art (I am a 5th grade teacher currently teaching online). If possible, I will include a bonus video below that my wife took. Forgetting to replace my target tips with my small game tip was nearly a costly mistake as the squirrel ran almost 50 yards into my neighbors back yard with an arrow in it. My wife and I, again, enjoyed buffalo squirrel wings.
Marmot(s)
As one of Colorado's earliest opening small game seasons, I brought my grandfather's .22 along on a friend's goat scouting trip. Lots of goats, lots of marmots. I made Korean BBQ pulled marmot sandwiches on my wife's homemade sourdough. Marmot tastes a lot like squirrel, but the quarters are significantly bigger.
Beaver
Taking advantage of CPW's unadvertised night hunting permits, friends and I night floated our state's namesake river and harvested 4 beavers between us over 13 river miles. The next day was spent skinning, butchering, and killing a few ducks and geese before floating out. My wife and I had Instapot beaver stew last night, and have several more meals in our future with the majority of the harvest in my freezer. I still need to flesh and tan hides, but I am hoping to try and make a couple pairs of beaver glassing mitts over the winter.
Last edited:
