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Tree Rat recipes

Wannabewoodsman said:
Anyone mind sharing some recipes for cooking tree rat? I've never had it let alone cooked it and I'm going hunting tomorrow for the first time so I'm being optimistic. I'm hoping to get bag limit which is 6.
I keep hearing squirrel stew but what else is there?
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You might want to google it, Wood.
Been years - like 40+ - since I’ve even heard of anyone around here cooking squirrel.
I have read of some sort of fricasse (?) since then. But I don’t recall where or exactly when…
Good hunting
 
Cut it up, flour it fry it in oil like you would chicken. When it's done pour off almost all of the oil. Make gravy Add flour & stir when it looks like paste, pour in bout a qt of milk. Stir till it thickens. It will get thicker as it cools. Pour over smashed taters, or fried taters w/onions. Actually you can fix it anyway you fix chicken (scratch birds).
 
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Wannabewoodsman said:
Anyone mind sharing some recipes for cooking tree rat? I've never had it let alone cooked it and I'm going hunting tomorrow for the first time so I'm being optimistic. I'm hoping to get bag limit which is 6.
I keep hearing squirrel stew but what else is there?
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It depends on if you harvest Grey or Red Fox squirrels. Greys are great fried with mashed taters and gravy.

Red Fox Squirrels are a lot tougher and are better off being boiled and then made into a stew. You could fry them after boiling for a while to get them tender.

We always cleaned them and soaked them in salt water over night in the fridge , then cooked them the next day or put them in the freezer for another time.
 
yotehtr said:
Cut it up, flour it fry it in oil like you would chicken. When it's done pour off almost all of the oil. Make gravy Add flour & stir when it looks like paste, pour in bout a qt of milk. Stir till it thickens. It will get thicker as it cools. Pour over smashed taters, or fried taters w/onions. Actually you can fix it anyway you fix chicken (scratch birds).
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My Dad taught me to shoot as a youngster so I could hunt squirrels and rabbits. I still have my Dad's .410 bolt action shotgun. This is how my Mom prepared squirrel and rabbit. We lived on a farm and the red squirrels were big and fat from corn and nuts. I had many great meals of squirrel, mashed potatoes and gravy, and home canned vegetables. Bring a sharp knife for skinning, the hides are tough.
 
yotehtr said:
I guess it's all how ya was raised. We still eat more wild game than store bought. But we live in the sticks.
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I grew up in the country (sure miss it) and now live on the edge of a small town. Game was and still is popular; people here just don’t rely on it so much anymore.
Thing is, squirrels were never considered worth cooking anyway with so many other options…
 
yotehtr said:
Cut it up, flour it fry it in oil like you would chicken. When it's done pour off almost all of the oil. Make gravy Add flour & stir when it looks like paste, pour in bout a qt of milk. Stir till it thickens. It will get thicker as it cools. Pour over smashed taters, or fried taters w/onions. Actually you can fix it anyway you fix chicken (scratch birds).
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Everything is better fried. Even ice cream!
 
Well I got my first kill today. Purty little black squirrel.
 

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TidalWave said:
I grew up in the country (sure miss it) and now live on the edge of a small town. Game was and still is popular; people here just don’t rely on it so much anymore.
Thing is, squirrels were never considered worth cooking anyway with so many other options…
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I remember being told during a survival course in northern Alberta many decades ago, that squirrels would fill your belly, but have little to no nutritional value, and to focus on rabbit trails for snare placement. I did manage to snare a rabbit, but never even saw a squirrel. A little cold for then at-25 degrees I bet.
 
belladonna said:
I remember being told during a survival course in northern Alberta many decades ago, that squirrels would fill your belly, but have little to no nutritional value, and to focus on rabbit trails for snare placement. I did manage to snare a rabbit, but never even saw a squirrel. A little cold for then at-25 degrees I bet.
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To your point, I just got done skinning the little guy and saw ZERO fat anywhere.

I would disagree about there being NO nutritional value but would agree "rabbit starvation" seems to be a real threat given the lack of fat. That's fixed by using lard or taters around the home or camp but if you're talking survival I would agree squirrel wouldn't be enough
 
None of those critters here, only ground squirrels and I haven’t been hungry enough to eat them!
 
yotehtr said:
Cut it up, flour it fry it in oil like you would chicken. When it's done pour off almost all of the oil. Make gravy Add flour & stir when it looks like paste, pour in bout a qt of milk. Stir till it thickens. It will get thicker as it cools. Pour over smashed taters, or fried taters w/onions. Actually you can fix it anyway you fix chicken (scratch birds).
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With biscuits! Don’t forget the biscuits,
 
Cracked corn and bird seed.


Ah, this is what I feed squirrels. That and baffles keep them off my bird feeders.
 
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