Air pistol for Squirrels?

[TeeDee]

Does seem rather mad that we have people who can’t afford to buy food, yet rabbit and squirrel often just gets dumped as waste.

Must be a market for a resurgence of this sort of food.

Agreed. In the same way Oxtail, Ox cheek ( unfashionable cuts in their day ) have been made popular and chef-chic we need the same for Rabbits and Squirrels , not so much that it become pricey foodstuffs but more to show it can be made into very tasty meals.

I don't see many butchers selling Rabbit anymore. Unfortunately.

 

[Broch]

There is/was a butcher in Shropshire who sold squirrel - can't remember where

 

[Broch]

£4.95 a squirrel! I must get shooting

Squirrel

Squirrel is a light coloured meat, similar to rabbit but is finer textured and has a more subtle flavour. The squirrel is presented skinned and not jointed.

www.wildmeat.co.uk

 

[Chris]

£5 for 225g is the same price as a ribeye from Aldi.

Looks like you’re sitting on gold there, Broch!

 

[TeeDee]

£4.95 a squirrel! I must get shooting

Squirrel

Squirrel is a light coloured meat, similar to rabbit but is finer textured and has a more subtle flavour. The squirrel is presented skinned and not jointed.

www.wildmeat.co.uk

Thats Nuts!!!!!

< Thank you-Thank you -Thank You... you are too kind >

 

[rowen]

Just got round to opening and looking at this month BASC magazine…..
Needn’t have asked, though thank you everyone for the info and affirming my thoughts on pistols.
Russ

 

[abilou]

If the problem is that bad I would look at the good nature squirrel killer. I use one, very effective and it counts how many it has killed

 

[rowen]

Just been reading up about this, sounds good.
I hate to kill anything that I then can’t cook/eat with a few exceptions, how does the trap dispatch them, would the meat still be edible or spoiled if entered the wrong way if possible?
I’ll YouTube it now see if anything is on there, thank you.

 

[rowen]

Looks great, found a link on YouTube showing it working, warning, a squirrel does die in the video.
thanks Abilou

 

[rowen]

And what I ment by looks great is , it seems humane and the meat will be fit for consumption!

 

[Nice65]

As we’ve gone slightly off topic, and for once it wasn’t me that started it, I can post this

 

[stonepark]

What I will say is if you are sitting in a hide and head shooting, 12ftlbs .177 can work, if you are hunting, you don't generally have time or angle for a clean headshot and .22 (ok) and .25 (best) are better.

They retain more energy downrange and kill well with heart/lung shot.

 

[Big Si]

I've shot most stuff with a .177 air rifle at legal limits, shot placement is the key to a clean kill. I'm not going to argue about what calibre. I also shot competitively every other weekend and spent about an hour a day practising if possible. That was ten years ago. Apart from the odd pigeon clearance job, I don't get out much nowadays. I would also look into humane traps. I had a deal with the local game butchers and managed to get £1 a rabbit, I'd eat the squirrels myself sometimes or leave them by the hedge for the local foxes.

ATB
Si

 

[rowen]

I could just leave it to the daughters miniature Collipoo while the Viszla and I watch on but they are almost as big as her.
I didn’t see or hear her catch it she brought it to show me what she’d found.

 

[Nice65]

And what I ment by looks great is , it seems humane and the meat will be fit for consumption!

I poked a pencil up one and it definitely wasn’t fit for writing. They’re highly effective things, so quick and powerful, and quite scary to test trigger.

Only problem I had, and mine was used to get rats in the garden, was slugs getting up there after the peanut butter and triggering the thing until it ran out of gas. The gas cartridges on the site are expensive, but the local gun shop sold them at £7 for 10.

 

[Billy-o]

I don't know about air pistols for squirrels but I do know of a guy who makes armour for mice

 

[Nice65]

Does seem rather mad that we have people who can’t afford to buy food, yet rabbit and squirrel often just gets dumped as waste.

Must be a market for a resurgence of this sort of food.

And pheasant. One estate near us dig a hole and chuck them in, the money is made from the shoot and the rich shooters who bring their friends DFL. They don’t know what to do with them, least of all hanging and plucking. It’s crazy there isn’t pheasant on local pub menus round here.

 

[abilou]

And pheasant. One estate near us dig a hole and chuck them in, the money is made from the shoot and the rich shooters who bring their friends DFL. They don’t know what to do with them, least of all hanging and plucking. It’s crazy there isn’t pheasant on local pub menus round here.

It’s quite difficult to get game onto the market now. I am a registered food business and have a reasonable market for the venison but pubs and restaurants are not really interested unless they have a good chef who does not like pre packaged meals. The restaurants who do put it on the menu sell at a premium price. A fallow carcass skinned is worth about £75 not the restaurant can make about £700 from the carcass. Pheasant is great food but nobody seems interested at all in moving larger quantities.

 

[slowworm]

Does seem rather mad that we have people who can’t afford to buy food, yet rabbit and squirrel often just gets dumped as waste.

Must be a market for a resurgence of this sort of food.

I'm not sure many people who don't have much money for food would want a squirrel or rabbit or woodie. I've known a few people who've tried giving it away and not many people are interested.

Having prepped a few squirrels they do take a fair bit of time to skin, and at the moment don't really have the time to process them but need to keep their numbers down to reduce damage.

I think our feral cat has dragged off and eaten the odd one I've shot as I've found a head attached to most of the skin but most of the flesh removed. So, pet food is another option.

 

[Broch]

Having prepped a few squirrels they do take a fair bit of time to skin, and at the moment don't really have the time to process them but need to keep their numbers down to reduce damage.

You need to try the 20 second skinning method; very effective.