Dinner is Served

I recently received a comment on my last post about what squirrel is good for once you have shot one. I am strongly against killing an animal just to kill it. I believe you should only shoot an animal if you are planning to make use of at least half of the animal. Most hunters butcher and put the meat in the freezer to eat and if the animal is descent sized then some may choose to preserve the animal. With squirrel, you can do both of these methods. I have a friend who shot a pretty big squirrel, so he decided to take it to the taxidermist to be preserved. They are actually a nice animal to have persevered because they are small. You can have the entire squirrel preserved and it really makes them appear real. I have never had a squirrel preserved, but I always keep the tails and dry them out. This is how my hunting buddies and I see who shot the most at the end of each season. They also make good décor. For instance, you can put the tail so it sticks out from underneath a closet door and see if that doesn’t draw some attention.

Now you may be wondering how you can eat a squirrel and if it is any good. Well there are actually many different recipes for cooking squirrel. My personal favorite and the easiest way is to cook the squirrel in a crock pot on low with BBQ sauce for about four hours. This makes the meat tender so it falls off the bone. The worst thing about using a shot gun to hunt is that you have to chew slowly because there probably is still some of the gun shot in the squirrel. There are many other different squirrel recipes that I am yet to try. If you are looking for a good squirrel recipe or you are just wondering what some are, there are many excellent recipes on Back Woods Bound. Many of the recipes require more than one squirrel, but I have found that one squirrel is about a perfect serving. If you haven’t had squirrel before and you ever get a chance, then you should definitely try it. Squirrel has a very unique taste and texture, but besides that it “tastes like chicken.”