We lived in NJ from 2001 to 2005 and had an unbelievable number of squirrels. They stole animal feed. They spoiled vegetable gardens. I even observed them climbing trees with tomatoes in their mouths. Eventually I started getting them with CB caps in my 22. Two would make a fine dish for the family. At last, I came to be at peace about these little villans. Though we could never quite catch up with them, and thus the damage never stopped. We figured them into our harvest.

Here in Oklahoma we seem to have fewer squirrels (and more owls and coyotes : ) I've gone from grabbing my rifle on reflex, to leaving them alone. We even have one black squirrel which the family has dubbed "Dad's pet." She's obese from stealing feed. She even ruined my leather work gloves. But she's only one squirrel and I enjoy watching her. Where we lived in NJ was incredible. They literally did seem like an invasion of "tree rats."

George
Tahlequah, OK

I found that recipe on the web site. Back in Aug, I entered a wild game cookoff contest. I tried to prepare that squirrel recipe, but I couldnt get it to work. It would just fall apart when fried. The taste was good but I had to prepare enough for 150 samples to serve to the festival crowd. I made squirrel stew insted.

Well laugh if you like but as a kid growing up in Arkansas, we ate squirrel and rabbit and deer and duck,quail, dove not to mention all fish he could catch and the veggies they could grow... all from my daddy's hunting effort...We would have had a whole lot less to eat if he hadn't been a hunter....A little fried squirrel and gravy and bisquits is pretty darn good eating when you are hungry..

Love squirrel and rabbit! I haven't eaten either in years. Like Ruthie, my dad was a hunter and a fisherman. (coastal N. Carolina) We had a big garden and lots of chickens as well as a few ducks.

I haven't eaten quail or dove tho. Yet!

My father used to hunt them when I was a kid -- they tasted fine, pretty much like chicken, all in all, or at least similar to chicken. My mother would either fry them like chicken, or she made a stew with squirrel, pearl onions, peas, carrots, bay leaves, celery, etc. The only bad part was, inevitably, there was always bird shot in the meat -- makes me wonder about the lead content of what we were eating.

I've had rabbit but never squirrel. The squirrels just a couple days ago dug up my brand new garlic bed and stole all the garlic. It's illegal to shoot them, but if they went away I sure wouldn't miss them. In the year and a half I've owned this home, they've probably caused at least a couple hundred dollars worth of damage, mostly from digging up expensive bulbs and plants, not even counting the peach harvest they decimated.

I hate squirrels.

Lilacs,
I find it hard to believe that there is no season in CO to whack squirrels?! They are in fact rats with bushy tails. Here in the UpCountry we don't use a shotgun, we use rifles and try to shot their heads off so as not to spoil the meat. I personally will not eat rats, but I do like rabbit and I buy it in the markets from time to time. We have so many coyotes here we don't have many wild rabbits.

1eyedJack and the Dawg

EPA puts NJ Squirrel back on the menu

I cook them just like my mother always did - fried. Take the hind and fore legs plus the back from the bottom of the ribs to the top of the hips. Batter them up with a flour/cornbread mix, cook in hot oil until the first bit of blood shows through the breading. Good eating! Which reminds me I have a freezer bag of three squirrels I was saving. I might as well fry those us this week, as I won't be trying to catch more squirrels until spring.