It seems squirrel season just opened at my house!

[BigK]

My dad and both grandpas warned of the same thing..."never eat summer squirrels or summer rabbits"

[BJB]

4 hours ago, gregintenn said:

I’ll eat a squirrel, but not in the summer.

Nope. Gotta wait until after the first frost. Don’t care when season opens. 

[Defender]

2 hours ago, BigK said:

My dad and both grandpas warned of the same thing..."never eat summer squirrels or summer rabbits"

Why?

[gregintenn]

I haven’t seen a squirrel since this episode. Either the gas killed it, or it reads my TGO posts and got the hell outta dodge.

[gregintenn]

1 minute ago, Defender said:

Why?

They often have parasites in their skin that look like ring shaped sores. Old folks I grew up around called them wolves or wools or something similar. I’ve read on the internet that they are still safe to eat, but the old folks wouldn’t eat em, and they weren’t real particular about their dining habits. Good enough for me!

[Defender]

I remember back when I was a little, maybe 1st grade, we lived in an old house in North Chattanooga.  It wasn't the country for sure, even 60 years ago, but it wasn't downtown and we had plenty of big, old trees and they were full of squirrels.  My dad had an old Remington single shot bolt action .22 (now I have it), and he would sometimes shoot some out of the trees and my mom would make squirrel and dumplings.  Even today, I remember how good that was.  Still love dumplings, but these days with chicken.  I don't reckon I've eaten squirrel since then,  though there were several times in the military they had mystery meat and I'm not sure what it was.

[gregintenn]

I prefer rabbit, but squirrel meat is pretty good. You can’t eat an old boar fox squirrel though. A pressure cooker won’t get them tender enough to chew.

[Defender]

3 hours ago, gregintenn said:

They often have parasites in their skin that look like ring shaped sores. Old folks I grew up around called them wolves or wools or something similar. I’ve read on the internet that they are still safe to eat, but the old folks wouldn’t eat em, and they weren’t real particular about their dining habits. Good enough for me!

I forgot about that!  I remember my kin on the mountain talking about that when Id stay with them as a kid.  I'd seen wolves but didn't understand what they were.

[Grunt67]

18 hours ago, gregintenn said:

They often have parasites in their skin that look like ring shaped sores. Old folks I grew up around called them wolves or wools or something similar. I’ve read on the internet that they are still safe to eat, but the old folks wouldn’t eat em, and they weren’t real particular about their dining habits. Good enough for me!

That's  true. My folks called them wolves. No idea where that description came from. The parasites looked like grubs. Don't know why they weren't safe sans wolves. It didn't look very appetizing .

Lot of tales like that back in the day.

[RED333]

19 hours ago, BJB said:

Nope. Gotta wait until after the first frost. Don’t care when season opens. 

Yep, never did hunt till then.

[Jamie Jackson]

I wasn't seriously recommending eating them now LOL

But folks "back home' eat armadillos and possum.  No thanks!

I learned "after 1st frost" as well. 

Glad you've got your squirrel situation handled Greg.  

[BJB]

22 hours ago, gregintenn said:

I prefer rabbit, but squirrel meat is pretty good. You can’t eat an old boar fox squirrel though. A pressure cooker won’t get them tender enough to chew.

Me too 

20# ground rabbit in the freezer

5 bags of tenderloin 

4# in marinade for jerky

and that’s just this round. 1 more to go

[Ronald_55]

4 hours ago, Grunt67 said:

That's  true. My folks called them wolves. No idea where that description came from. The parasites looked like grubs. Don't know why they weren't safe sans wolves. It didn't look very appetizing .

Lot of tales like that back in the day.

We always called them warbles. Dad always waited until cooler weather to hunt too. 

I imagine one could eat the squirrel meat and fish with the larva. 

[Defender]

Saw this article online.  Interesting reading.  

https://www.outdoorhub.com/how-to/2012/10/30/squirrel-bot-flies-fact-versus-fiction/

[Grunt67]

4 hours ago, Defender said:

Saw this article online.  Interesting reading.  

https://www.outdoorhub.com/how-to/2012/10/30/squirrel-bot-flies-fact-versus-fiction/

Pretty much my thinking, but haven't seen one in years. Haven't done much squirrel or rabbit eating since Mama & Granny quit doing the cooking.

Maybe next time.

[tacops]

My Grandma used to say that you can eat squirrel during any month with an "R" in it...and sometimes "Aurgust".