anyone like squirrel hunting?

[S&W500Mag]

Yessir, squirrels and rabbits are prime fress'n. Taste sorta like chicken. My Pop can't tell that he's eating rabbit pot pie or squirrel corn noodle soup until we tell him so. Then all of a sudden he's making funny faces.

Just make sure you get all those BB's out. Nuthin is worse than chomping down on one, because it hurts your teeth. They are really hard. My highschool teacher was a big time hunter, and he told me how to efficiently skin a critter. Just make a transverse cut about an inch long through the skin somewhere in the middle of the back. Then hook your fingers under the skin and pull, one hand towards the tail, and one hand towards the head. When you have it pealed off from one end to the other, you can cut the head, tail, and ends of the legs of, and you are left with a really clean job. If you didn't field dress the critter first, it's even cleaner, and a this point you can gut it, rinse it a few times, and either throw it on the grill, or soak it in salt water over night.

Rabbits skin pretty easily, but squirrels are pretty tough. Me and the neighbor kid used to each grab an end and pull. I got a kick out of this idea, because I thought it was sort of like a taffy pull. Ever been to one of them?

When we wuz little kids, me and my neighbor used to shoot squirrels all the time. Usually they die with one shot, but once in a while you'll find a tough one. We got to plinking at one way up in a tree in the woods behind my neighbors house with our CO2 pistols. It just hung on and held still. Thought we were missing. So, time to go get the mighty 10-pump BB gun. "Plink Plink Plink, DIE Bugger!!" It just held on like it was frozen fast. Fine, then. Go get the bigger pellet gun that shoots a little faster. "Piff Piff piff, %&#@*!! squirrel!!!" Alright then! Go get the .22. Popped at it a couple of times and it still wouldn't let go. Enough is enough. Either we are missing really bad, or that is one tough squirrel. Go get the 12-gauge. We cracked at it about two or three times until it finally fell. On the way down it grabbed hold of another branch and hung on until we shot it again. When it landed on the ground, it was still trying to get away from us. Shot it again. Talk about a squirrel with 90 lives. We had started out with the intention of eating it, but when we cut it apart, we found that we had been hitting it with every gun. It had numerous BB's, pellets, .22 bullet damage, and shotgun lead in it. Just goes to show that you can make squirrel pizza too.

Wish we coulda' just used a blunderbuss. http://www.pafoa.org/forum/shotguns-...derbusses.html (Blunderbusses)

[Buckmark.35]

Originally Posted by righteousbarbarian

while we're on the subject i'd like to ask a question. if you're using a shotgun for squirrel hunting, what load is best? also are the little critters still edible once you shoot them with so many holes? can you use non-lead shot or does the shot normally just pass right through them? I'm a huge n00b, so please bear with me. thanks.

You can use pretty much whatever shot you like. I've taken them with high brass #6 shot (my personal favorite for everything from squirrels to grouse to bunnies) and also with low-brass 7 1/2 shotshells.

My caliber of choice when hunting squirrels is .410 with 3" #6 shot Remington Express Long Range shotshells.

[SharpShooter88]

I like to use anywhere from a 6 to 8 shot....8 shot is a little fine...but when you are hittin em with a 12 ga at 20 yds or so, it aint too bad....I shot a couple that tried to get up and run again, so I just popped em again...Ended it quick.

The red squirrels are tougher to kill than the grey squirrels....They are just downright survivors!

[fultonCoShooter]

dont use shotguns to hunt squirrels

get a 22lr or a 22 mag with a scope

[SharpShooter88]

I chase squirrels...with my shotgun....I am too impatient with the little bastages to stay still as they think they are safe in their tree...I will go off and wonder back around when they aren't expecting it and catch them on the side of their tree or in between trees.