Bird houses

[Ed in Tampa]

Ed, you gotta the best fried-squirrel salesman that I have ever encountered. Or else my Tennessee hillbilly roots made me particularly vulnerable. Either way, you made me hungry.

Hey you are in a ideal area for squirrels from what I remember. I lived in the Cleveland area for 13 years. A group of buddies would make an annual hunting trip to Burr Oaks State Park (south of you) where we stayed and hunted the game land in area.

Found one really nice stand of Hickory and shot a nice pot full of squirrel out it. I only shoot squirrels for food that live in and around nut trees. Don't want to eat squirrels that foraged for food just anywhere.

[Ed in Tampa]

Talking of hawk and birdfeeders. in the early morning the doves come to eat from the ground under the feeders, when they all get there a hawk flies overhead making it's screaming sound you can watch the dove hunker down in dirt and freeze in fear and knowing if they sit still they will survive. After a few passes by the hawk with all the screaming one of the doves panics and takes flight.

Wow! What a show as the Hawk at full speed hits the dove in the air. Feathers fly in all directions and Hawk and dove crash down, then at just the last second the Hawk flaps it's wings and they land. The Hawk then arranges the dove in the position it wants it and flies off with food for the young. Dove I think dies instantly when the Hawk first hits it, since I never see any movement from it afterwards.

Also saw a Hawk with a squirrel the other day. At first I thought the Hawk was tangled in fishing line, a normal occurance in the area. But as he flew closer I saw all the junk hanging under him was really a squirrel with his tail flapping in the wind.

Always make sure you discard your fishing line in the proper way. More that once I have found a beautiful bird dead or dying from getting tangled in it.

[BuckeyeDennis]

Hey you are in a ideal area for squirrels from what I remember. I lived in the Cleveland area for 13 years. A group of buddies would make an annual hunting trip to Burr Oaks State Park (south of you) where we stayed and hunted the game land in area.

Found one really nice stand of Hickory and shot a nice pot full of squirrel out it. I only shoot squirrels for food that live in and around nut trees. Don't want to eat squirrels that foraged for food just anywhere.

I found Burr Oak State Park on the map, and it turns out that I drive near by it every year on the family beach vacation to NC. Pretty country, down there. It's a bit too flat for me here in Central Ohio, but my own place has a tiny little ravine, courtesy of a stream that runs through the property. Tampa was even flatter last I saw, but a whale of a lot warmer in winter!

Now for the important stuff:
1) Can you actually taste the difference between hickory-fed squirrel and their omnivorous brethren, and
2) Are you willing to share your gravy recipe? That sounded like the key ingredient!

I'm actually real hungry right now. Just as I was finishing up grilling barbecued bone-in chicken breasts for dinner, a neighbor called up to see if my crew wanted to see their new baby goats being born. Everyone was either starved, sleepy, or both before the goat thing came up, mind you. But now they have been gone so long, I had to turn off the warming drawer before it turned my juicy chicken into shoe leather.

Yep, I could go for some good fried squirrel right now.

[Ed in Tampa]

I found Burr Oak State Park on the map, and it turns out that I drive near by it every year on the family beach vacation to NC. Pretty country, down there. It's a bit too flat for me here in Central Ohio, but my own place has a tiny little ravine, courtesy of a stream that runs through the property. Tampa was even flatter last I saw, but a whale of a lot warmer in winter!

Now for the important stuff:
1) Can you actually taste the difference between hickory-fed squirrel and their omnivorous brethren, and
2) Are you willing to share your gravy recipe? That sounded like the key ingredient!

I'm actually real hungry right now. Just as I was finishing up grilling barbecued bone-in chicken breasts for dinner, a neighbor called up to see if my crew wanted to see their new baby goats being born. Everyone was either starved, sleepy, or both before the goat thing came up, mind you. But now they have been gone so long, I had to turn off the warming drawer before it turned my juicy chicken into shoe leather.

Yep, I could go for some good fried squirrel right now.

Question 1 can you taste a difference. I sure can! It is like deer that have fed on mountain laurel and one that fed on corn stolen from the farmer.
To me squirrel that foraged is not worth shooting, but one that feed on nuts is a delicacy.

Question 2 recipe. Clean and wash the squirrel, remove the legs and cut the body into sections about leg size. Dreg the squirrel in flour and fry to golden brown. Remove the squirrel and using chicken broth deglaze the pan (pour cold liquid in hot pan which will free on the burned on pieces), add in some flour to thicken and add in carrot, onion, potatoes and put the squirrel back in. Add salt and pepper to taste and just a real light dash of garlic. Add enough broth/water to keep everything covered and let simmer under a cover until you can't stand to wait any longer. Enjoy! Remember the longer it cooks the better it is. I cook rabbit about the same. I have added hot sauce to the pot but I find it best just to set it on the table to be added as you desire.

[frank81]

1) Can you actually taste the difference between hickory-fed squirrel and their omnivorous brethren

You can taste the difference in all wild game. Their diet is the biggest factor in taste, with hormones and adrenalin second. A buck that lives near civilization vs. a doe from the deep wilderness are like night and day.

That said, when we go frog gigging I try to put the frogs from farm ponds in their own bag and avoid them when it comes time to divy up.

[lightnin]

I may just try my hand a t Owl carving to try and keep the birds and squirrels away!!

I put rubber snakes on our pier to keep the ducks, geese, and herons away.
It works good for awhile then the kids take them.

[BuckeyeDennis]

Question 2 recipe. Clean and wash the squirrel, remove the legs and cut the body into sections about leg size. Dreg the squirrel in flour and fry to golden brown. Remove the squirrel and using chicken broth deglaze the pan (pour cold liquid in hot pan which will free on the burned on pieces), add in some flour to thicken and add in carrot, onion, potatoes and put the squirrel back in. Add salt and pepper to taste and just a real light dash of garlic. Add enough broth/water to keep everything covered and let simmer under a cover until you can't stand to wait any longer. Enjoy! Remember the longer it cooks the better it is. I cook rabbit about the same. I have added hot sauce to the pot but I find it best just to set it on the table to be added as you desire.

Dang it Ed, you made me hungry again! Have you no mercy?

My first thought was that squirrel hunting at Burr Oak might be a pleasant excursion with my brother from TN. But then I realized that it would be an EXCITING adventure for my 13 year old boy, who got checked out on .22 rifles just last summer. Uncle Tom-Tom is also welcome. Burr Oak is now elevated to a must-do.

Second inspiration: what a good/fun education if the boy learns to dress and cook the squirrels too! The boy already talks non-stop .. this would put me in grave danger of bleeding out from the ears. But hey, it would trump all the video game nonsense for sure, and that would be more than worth it.

So, just to make sure that we don't get kicked off this forum for criminal thread-hijacking, I hereby promise to harvest any nice hickory burls encountered, unless prohibited by state law.

[BuckeyeDennis]

You can taste the difference in all wild game. Their diet is the biggest factor in taste, with hormones and adrenalin second. A buck that lives near civilization vs. a doe from the deep wilderness are like night and day.

That said, when we go frog gigging I try to put the frogs from farm ponds in their own bag and avoid them when it comes time to divy up.

I'm starting to think that perhaps we should adjourn to a nearby hunting forum, but what the heck. I am now duly convinced that diet is a dominant influence on the taste of wild game. But which diet makes for good venison?

I had been under the impression that "corn-fed" equated to "less gamey", and was thus more appealing to most folks. Yet you and Ed seem to agree that native food makes for the tasiest critters.

That might help explain why I have to put bird netting over my shrubbery every winter to keep the deer from decimating it - even with hunting permits in my county allowing up to 14 deer per hunter (or 20 if you are a landowner). The deer actually outnumber the dogs around here. Most dogs don't even bark at the deer anymore. Corn and shrubbery fed, they are.

[mrhart]

wow.... This was a simple, harmless thread about building bird houses out of wood, and now its transformed into "The Joys of Cooking Squirrels".
Talk about off task!

[frank81]

I'm starting to think that perhaps we should adjourn to a nearby hunting forum, but what the heck. I am now duly convinced that diet is a dominant influence on the taste of wild game. But which diet makes for good venison?

I had been under the impression that "corn-fed" equated to "less gamey", and was thus more appealing to most folks. Yet you and Ed seem to agree that native food makes for the tasiest critters.

That might help explain why I have to put bird netting over my shrubbery every winter to keep the deer from decimating it - even with hunting permits in my county allowing up to 14 deer per hunter (or 20 if you are a landowner). The deer actually outnumber the dogs around here. Most dogs don't even bark at the deer anymore. Corn and shrubbery fed, they are.

Yeah we started off on birdhouses, and then saw a metaphorical squirrel.

"Gaminess" is more related to aging. With good beef, its hung in a cooler at near freezing and dry aged for a few weeks. This draws moisture out and breaks down the toughness of the meat. When people keep their deer hanging for a few days extra to accomplish the same, its actually the beginning stages of spoilage especially if they miscalculate. That causes most of what people call the gamey taste.

All we have out here is hay fields and wilderness with mostly hardwoods and cedar. State food plots are mostly alfalfa and sunflowers. And no limit on doe in most parts of the state.