squirrel meat gary lambert

[atlatlman]

has anyone tried squirrel meat? and what does it taste like? please dont say like chicken or nutty. I have tried it once but marinated it in lemon juice and barbecue sauce so i didnt get to taste the natural flavour.

 

[bushtank]

have been told that it is like rabbit but alot nicer it is on my list of im gunna eat you when i shoot or trap one

 

[GenghisChris]

Think along the lines of slightly sweet chicken...not as greasy and slightly firm... yum, such a great resorce and easy to trap (I wouldn't get the bow out for them. haha)

 

[tomtom]

and what does it taste like?

Well if those two are out I cant really explain it.. If you think of a very mild red meat (like a cross between chicken and rabbit) not gamey as you might expect in the way rabbit is.



thats a pretty rubbish description, but the best I have afraid.

 

[madrussian]

I used to hunt squirrel many years ago. I liked it better than rabbit. The only way that I have eaten it is in a sauce picante' (spelling may be incorrect)

 

[JDilling]

I hunt squirrels. I have eaten Red Squirrel and Grey Squirrel. I have also ate chipmunk (a small groundsquirrel that lives in ground burrows) meat on a couple occasions. The squirrels were boiled in stew, and the chipmunk was just boiled (nothing in with it). I noticed that the meat has an almost neutral taste, much like chicken. The thing with wild game meat is that it tends to pick up a flavor from it's individual habitat. I have eaten deer, from a costal location that had a rather salty taste, for example.

 

[bushtank]

shame on you red squirrel just stick to the common grays and chipmunks please and leave the reds alone

 

[Mac McLoughlin]

To Gary from Mac (U.K.)
Grey squirrel meat is absolutely deliscious - a cross between rabbit and chicken, but being more moist and tasy than rabbit ( also less gamey ) and less greasey than chicken. I cook mine as a stew in my slow cooker as follows:
Remove head, claws and tail with pair of garden secateurs. Using a sharp knife open up from neck to anus and remove all innards. Skin as per you would a rabbit ( the fur is harder to peel off than that of a rabbit ) then wash thoroughly under a cold tap. Place in slow cooker with gravy (made from gravy granules etc ), chopped onion, carrots and mushrooms. Cook in slow cooker for 3-4 hours while you go to the pub.
I find that due to small bones etc it's best to eat them with your fingers ( suck the meat off the bones ) whilst mopping up the gravy with bread and butter. Talk about being finger-licking good ! It's also fantastic served with Yorkshire pudding.
Good eating mate,
Mac McLoughlin.

 

[scouser4life]

shame on you red squirrel just stick to the common grays and chipmunks please and leave the reds alone

They arnt so uncommon abroad it just here in britain.

 

[Bushcraft4life]

They arnt so uncommon abroad it just here in britain.

Yep that is very true. How come they are almost extinct here and not anywhere else. We get stuck with ugly grey ones

 

[JDilling]

Yep that is very true. How come they are almost extinct here and not anywhere else. We get stuck with ugly grey ones

I have probably seen more red squirrels than greys in the woods, but I often do pass up shots on the red ones. And chipmunks seem to be even more common. I rarely shoot those. The reason why I usually pass on the reds and chipmunks is that they are small and yield a lesser amount of meat. The grey ones yield more meat. We also get black squirrels- now those are rare in my area. Elsewhere in the country they are more common. They area physiologically the same as greys, except the fur colour.

I live in the northeast USA, about 90 miles NE of New York City. If you go south (as far north as New Jersey) or west, you can find "Fox Squirrels" which are even bigger than the greys.

For those interested in what I use to take them, I use a Remington 870 in .410 with 3" 6 shot loads or a .22 LR Rifle.