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Squirrel Hunters
Colonel Plink
Member Posts: 16,460
Chef Paula Pellegrini waxes philosophical on the virtues of not only eating, but hunting your favorite prey.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/22/why-eat-squirrel-really/?intcmp=features
Besides being beautiful, I think she really understands what it's about.
"Some consider squirrel to be the best meat in the woods. On my journey as a chef, I have come to think that it may be the best meat period. The phrase, "You are what you eat," befits a squirrel as it does a Spanish acorn-fed pig that are prized so highly by those with means.
But when you think about it, squirrels are hoarders, and after having feasted on a grove of pecans or acorns, their meat is nutty and sweet, buttery and tender. And so a fat, nut-fed squirrel is not only better tasting than any meat in the woods, it can be even better tasting, and much more economical than that Spanish pig that sells for one hundred seventy dollars per pound.
If you were to tell that to a group of my stiletto-heeled pals on a warm Manhattan evening-which I have done-you would be met with textbook female gasps and sideways glances. Those squirrels linger around the soot-covered fire escapes of their studio apartments. Aren't they really tree rats?
But the truth is that squirrel hunting is more American than apple pie, than Babe Ruth, than a twenty-dollar Manhattan. Whole traditions have formed around these squirrels; guns have been crafted in their honor. Few things are more intertwined with American history and tradition.
Squirrel is, in fact, one of the most popular game animals in the eastern United States.
In fact, the most recent report from the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation finds that there are 1.8 million hunters of squirrels in our country.
I didn't grow up hunting. In fact, it didn't occur to me that it was an important part of being human until I became a chef and was directed to slaughter turkeys for a well-known restaurant's dinner service.
It was a terrifying notion at first, but in the end, as I did it, it made a kind of sense I could feel deep within my marrow, the kind that makes me want to be a true omnivore.
In that moment I realized that while it was remarkable to meet the food artisans who brought ingredients into these high-end restaurants I worked at, it wasn't enough for me. I wanted to take part in every part of the process, I wanted to pay the full karmic price of the meal. And so I set out to learn how to hunt.
Even as a city chef turned hunter, the popularity of the squirrel surprises me still, perhaps because I had never understood squirrel, or had never cared to until now. But as I have crossed the bridge from city-chef to hunter-chef I have discovered all of those towns, tucked-away, linked by the spines of narrow roads, where children skip school on the opening day of squirrel season.
I have learned too that more than any other kind of hunting, squirrel hunting says something about a person. It may seem from the outside that there isn't much to a squirrel. But in pursuit of a squirrel, you learn things, such as how to follow the gentle rhythms of the woods, just as you do in pursuit of deer or on a walk in nature."
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/22/why-eat-squirrel-really/?intcmp=features
Besides being beautiful, I think she really understands what it's about.
"Some consider squirrel to be the best meat in the woods. On my journey as a chef, I have come to think that it may be the best meat period. The phrase, "You are what you eat," befits a squirrel as it does a Spanish acorn-fed pig that are prized so highly by those with means.
But when you think about it, squirrels are hoarders, and after having feasted on a grove of pecans or acorns, their meat is nutty and sweet, buttery and tender. And so a fat, nut-fed squirrel is not only better tasting than any meat in the woods, it can be even better tasting, and much more economical than that Spanish pig that sells for one hundred seventy dollars per pound.
If you were to tell that to a group of my stiletto-heeled pals on a warm Manhattan evening-which I have done-you would be met with textbook female gasps and sideways glances. Those squirrels linger around the soot-covered fire escapes of their studio apartments. Aren't they really tree rats?
But the truth is that squirrel hunting is more American than apple pie, than Babe Ruth, than a twenty-dollar Manhattan. Whole traditions have formed around these squirrels; guns have been crafted in their honor. Few things are more intertwined with American history and tradition.
Squirrel is, in fact, one of the most popular game animals in the eastern United States.
In fact, the most recent report from the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation finds that there are 1.8 million hunters of squirrels in our country.
I didn't grow up hunting. In fact, it didn't occur to me that it was an important part of being human until I became a chef and was directed to slaughter turkeys for a well-known restaurant's dinner service.
It was a terrifying notion at first, but in the end, as I did it, it made a kind of sense I could feel deep within my marrow, the kind that makes me want to be a true omnivore.
In that moment I realized that while it was remarkable to meet the food artisans who brought ingredients into these high-end restaurants I worked at, it wasn't enough for me. I wanted to take part in every part of the process, I wanted to pay the full karmic price of the meal. And so I set out to learn how to hunt.
Even as a city chef turned hunter, the popularity of the squirrel surprises me still, perhaps because I had never understood squirrel, or had never cared to until now. But as I have crossed the bridge from city-chef to hunter-chef I have discovered all of those towns, tucked-away, linked by the spines of narrow roads, where children skip school on the opening day of squirrel season.
I have learned too that more than any other kind of hunting, squirrel hunting says something about a person. It may seem from the outside that there isn't much to a squirrel. But in pursuit of a squirrel, you learn things, such as how to follow the gentle rhythms of the woods, just as you do in pursuit of deer or on a walk in nature."
Comments
sqirrels will eat flesh![:0]
did not know that
have you saw them do it[?]
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
quote:Originally posted by jwb267
sqirrels will eat flesh![:0]
did not know that
have you saw them do it[?]
yes i have. a squirrel was killed on the hi way by my house. i wasn't dressed yet so i was in no hurry to remove it from the road way.
as i was ready to go out, i noticed another squirrel real close to the dead one. as a car would go by the squirrel would only move about 3' from the dead one, then return. this went on several times till the squirrel draged the dead one further from the road and eventually left the scene.
when i went to remove it from the shoulder i saw that it really only had a head injury, untill i picked it up. that's when i noticed it's testicals were 3/4 eaten and part of the inside of it's rear leg
It's Georgia Pellegrini, not Paula.
Yes. It. Is.[:I]
I must have been thinking of Paula Deen. Though I can't for the life of me think why...[:D]
quote:Originally posted by jwb267
it's testicals were 3/4 eaten and part of the inside of it's rear leg
That is what red squirrels do instinctively to grey squirrels to eliminate them from their territory, so those injuries may have been from a previous fight and not that of a cannibalistic like specie cousin. [;)]
1 live grey squirrel munching on the dead one. the house is less than 50' from the road
quote:Originally posted by jwb267
sqirrels will eat flesh![:0]
did not know that
have you saw them do it[?]
I've been bit by squirrels, but I didn't wait to see how much they were going to eat. [;)] [:D]
Squirrels eating meat is not real common but when faced with a shortage of their natural foods some squirrels also consume meat, especially when faced with hunger.[6] Squirrels have been known to eat insects, eggs, small birds, young snakes and smaller rodents. Indeed, some tropical species have shifted almost entirely to a diet of insects.
Ground Squirrels (not the common tree squirrels) out here on the west coast will eat anything including there own that have been blown up during a varmint shoot.
rous.But I know deer will become meat eaters in tough times..
sqirrels will eat flesh![:0]
Don't know about flesh but they don't like lead! Makes them die.
If you look on the genectic chart you'll find that squirrels are first cousin to RATS! Strip off the hair from the body and tail and you're looking at a rat! Even the same two, yellow, buckteeth. They can and do, knaw right thru wood siding. They did it on my mom's house at both ends (gives them an escape route). I patched over one hole in the cedar wall and they just chewed out another on right beside the patch! I shot one today and four over the past three weeks. Screw a season! I'm trying to save mom's house! They chewed up the telephone wires in the attic and then they got the thermostat wires and that caused a short which burned out the computer circuit board in her central heat/air system. Fortunately, the repairman is a friend of mine so he managed to get it covered under the warranty by not reporting the squirrel as the cause. Otherwise the board would've been $400.
Tried trapping but then what to do with the prisoners? Besides, I love to shoot and this gives me another reason. So, with semi-auto rifle, 4x and a mag full of .22 shorts, I'm on a crusade to rid mom's yard, trees and house of those well-dressed rats! Besides that, the neighbor's dog has to eat too!
quote:Originally posted by jwb267
sqirrels will eat flesh![:0]
Don't know about flesh but they don't like lead! Makes them die.
If you look on the genectic chart you'll find that squirrels are first cousin to RATS! Strip off the hair from the body and tail and you're looking at a rat! Even the same two, yellow, buckteeth. They can and do, knaw right thru wood siding. They did it on my mom's house at both ends (gives them an escape route). I patched over one hole in the cedar wall and they just chewed out another on right beside the patch! I shot one today and four over the past three weeks. Screw a season! I'm trying to save mom's house! They chewed up the telephone wires in the attic and then they got the thermostat wires and that caused a short which burned out the computer circuit board in her central heat/air system. Fortunately, the repairman is a friend of mine so he managed to get it covered under the warranty by not reporting the squirrel as the cause. Otherwise the board would've been $400. Tried trapping but then what to do with the prisoners? Besides, I love to shoot and this gives me another reason. So, with semi-auto rifle, 4x and a mag full of .22 shorts, I'm on a crusade to rid mom's yard, trees and house of those well-dressed rats! Besides that, the neighbor's dog has to eat too!
That was really honest and high class of both of you..... NOT[V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V][V]
In some places they might be good fare, but not around here, I feed em all the lead they can hold[;)]
Interesting she thinks a rodent may be the best meat period. Wonder if she has tried rats...