How to Manage Those Pesky Squirrels!

[KristyHall]

Quote:
Very mild tasting meat though can be tough as whip leather. Either par-boil until tender and then dredge in flour and fry or boil until the meat comes off the bones and make squirrel and dumplings or Brunswick stew.

a good brine helps

 

[debilorrah]

Pack em up and ship em to Boyd.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Depending on your trees you can net them. It'll help but squirrels are smart little blighters and will chew off the net. But, it does cut down on the losses.

The other is to poison the tree. You need to be certain you thoroughly wash the fruit for your own consumption. I have never done this - too nervous - but I have neighbors who do.

Have a dog that kills squirrels??

 

[Boyd]

Quote:

 

[Urbanfarmerkc]

My dad said make sure you only eat them after the first frost or they will be nasty! I only remember they taste like dark meat chicken... My granny used to fry them and then put cook that into a gravy. It was yummy but I'm afraid I've become citified in my old age. Not sure I could eat them but again, these should be nice big fat ones since I've fed them so well!

 

[galanie]

You mean your squirrels let the fruit get full sized? Mine pull them off, take one bite, then drop them one by one until all fruit is gone off the trees way before it's even halfway grown. Even green persimmons! Trap and kill, trap and kill, trap and kill. And if you can, put netting over things. And once they develop a taste for tomatoes, God help you. They will eat the plants if they can too once the green tomatoes are all gone if you've got females with little ones to feed. I *think* I got all the ones that know tomatoes are food this year. I *pray* I did. They quit eating the green tomatoes and the plants, anyway.

Now I'm in a war because they are eating and defecating in my chicken food at an alarming rate. I think because of the drought they have little food so are peskier than normal, which is saying a lot. I hate them, so I hope they all go away for whatever reason. Starved, killed, whatever, I don't care.

 

[EweSheep]

I've had them and they are delicious!

Stick a plum or apple whatever left from your tree in his mouth and bake him to tenderness, now that is sweet revenge!

 

[KenK]

Quote:
He might have been referring to the "wolves" they get in the summer. It's some kind of fly larvae that grows under the skin. Supposedly it doesn't hurt the meat but I won't eat them if they have them.

We have a couple big pecan trees in the back yard and as soon as the squirrels start working in them good, I'll give them a good look over with my binoculars to see if they have the wolves. If not, I pick a good time and wreak havoc on them with my shotgun.

Even my wife and citified sister in law will eat Brunswick stew with squirrel meat.

 

[tls_ranch]

Here's really nice trap: http://www.thetrapmaker.com/bfoxtrap.htm

This type of trap works great for the ground squirrels we have here in CA and catches multiple (sometimes as many as 15 squirrels at once!) The local feed store sells them for $49.