Aging Squirrel

[WestKyHunt]

The Kentucky modern gun season came to a close today.
3 weekends in the deer woods always leads to pondering what to do once the season ends.
Grab the bow?
Wait until late muzzleloader?
Give up deer and shift focus to ducks? (This is usually the winner).

Anyone that has sat a stand for whitetails knows all too often what you hope may be a deer coming through the woods is usually a squirrel turning up leaves looking for fallen mast.
After a couple bouts of getting punked by the bushy tails, revenge plans come to mind.
I do a fair bit of squirrel hunting every year, yet still struggle with a *quick* way to ensure tender bites of meat.

Then the thought strikes me, deer are typically aged hanging. I've read several accounts of leaving whole ducks to hang during the winter months.
Why not squirrel?


Has anyone tried this, or perhaps know of someone who has?

 

[Greyman]

I've eaten a lot of squirrel but I've never heard of aging them. I guess there's no difference between squirrels and any other game meat so why not. I think I'll just stick to parboiling or slow cooking though.

 

[INMT]

Growing up hunting and eating cottontail, we would always brine in saltwater once home before freezing. Never ate a bad rabbit.

 

[WestKyHunt]

Growing up hunting and eating cottontail, we would always brine in saltwater once home before freezing. Never ate a bad rabbit.

Ol timers around here always salt water brined until water was clear or soaked in buttermilk.
While that may tenderize the animal some, it tends to take the flavor with it.

 

[INMT]

Ol timers around here always salt water brined until water was clear or soaked in buttermilk.
While that may tenderize the animal some, it tends to take the flavor with it.

I never experienced flavor loss. But that was the only way I ever ate them. Not sure I could tell a difference.

 

[Redman]

Not sure what he would score and not sure if the 7mag would have been enough gun..
Growing up squirrel hunting was so much fun and they were delicious. I pop a few every now and then, need to fill my buck tag and put some in the freezer!

 

[ignorethefringes]

I think you age em based on the size of their nuts If I remember correctly there was a thread around here about such a thing a while back.

 

[WestKyHunt]

Not sure what he would score and not sure if the 7mag would have been enough gun..
Growing up squirrel hunting was so much fun and they were delicious. I pop a few every now and then, need to fill my buck tag and put some in the freezer!

That guy is chunky

 

[WestKyHunt]

I think you age em based on the size of their nuts If I remember correctly there was a thread around here about such a thing a while back.

That's scoring. Higher the score, tougher the meat tho

 

[Gellar]

depending on how I want to cook them I brine them. If I am going to smoke them I brine in a normal salt/sugar brine, parboil until they are tender, but not fall off the bone and then I smoke them. God I love squirrels!

 

[Bullshot]

The more I think about it, its possible I’ve had more “fun” squirrel hunting than deer hunting locally in years past. But I really don’t do it anymore, as we have only gray squirrels. I’ve done some fox squirrel hunting in OH and those bad boys are WORTH it. Kinda ruined the local squirrel scene for me. The grays, in comparison are often about only about 1/2 to 2/3 the size, and much tougher it seems to skin. Man I wish I had those big fox squirrels here!

 

[WestKyHunt]

The more I think about it, its possible I’ve had more “fun” squirrel hunting than deer hunting locally in years past. But I really don’t do it anymore, as we have only gray squirrels. I’ve done some fox squirrel hunting in OH and those bad boys are WORTH it. Kinda ruined the local squirrel scene for me. The grays, in comparison are often about only about 1/2 to 2/3 the size, and much tougher it seems to skin. Man I wish I had those big fox squirrels here!

Fox squirrel populations have grown here in the last 10 years, probably linked to a bad ice storm back in 2009.
My style of squirrel hunting is not conducive to killing those big red fellas. I only really see them while deer hunting.
Perhaps this year I will just play out a deer hunt, but with the 22 instead

 

[Raisin Bran]

This-



Some of the best hunting I did was for squirrels in Missouri. Smart, wiley (especially if they have been hunted before) and taste great!

 

[WildWill]

The more I think about it, its possible I’ve had more “fun” squirrel hunting than deer hunting locally in years past. But I really don’t do it anymore, as we have only gray squirrels. I’ve done some fox squirrel hunting in OH and those bad boys are WORTH it. Kinda ruined the local squirrel scene for me. The grays, in comparison are often about only about 1/2 to 2/3 the size, and much tougher it seems to skin. Man I wish I had those big fox squirrels here!

My wife swears grays taste better. I'm not picky but agree the grays are harder to skin and reds make it much easier to get a mess.

 

[Greyman]

Squirrel is the food of my people. Of course my wife didn't find out that until after she married me.

 

[Jnasa]

I wouldn’t reccomend “aging” squirrel meat. I don’t know specifically about squirrel but generally smaller animals need less time. Also they would dry out and there wouldn’t be much left.

I generally after cleaning small game and birds will let them sit in the fridge overnight covered or bagged. Then I either cook or freeze them. I am far from a small game expert though.

 

[rebjfan]

Fox squirrel populations have grown here in the last 10 years, probably linked to a bad ice storm back in 2009.
My style of squirrel hunting is not conducive to killing those big red fellas. I only really see them while deer hunting.
Perhaps this year I will just play out a deer hunt, but with the 22 instead

Here in Mississippi we had some beautiful fox squirrels that had white feet, a white tip on his nose, white tips on his ears and a white tip on his tail. I always wanted to shoot one with my bow and have it mounted and never did. I haven't seen one in 20 years now.

 

[WestKyHunt]

Here in Mississippi we had some beautiful fox squirrels that had white feet, a white tip on his nose, white tips on his ears and a white tip on his tail. I always wanted to shoot one with my bow and have it mounted and never did. I haven't seen one in 20 years now.

I love the little sub sets of colors that squirrels take on. Be cool to travel around the country and mount some varieties

 

[rebjfan]

I love the little sub sets of colors that squirrels take on. Be cool to travel around the country and mount some varieties

I always wanted to shoot a bobcat with my bow and one of these squirrels with my bow and have the squirrel in the cats mouth. I decided to get the cat first, I just didn't know it would take me 20 years to get the cat.

 

[Redman]

Here in Mississippi we had some beautiful fox squirrels that had white feet, a white tip on his nose, white tips on his ears and a white tip on his tail. I always wanted to shoot one with my bow and have it mounted and never did. I haven't seen one in 20 years now.

P&Y fox squirrel from a few years back..