Eat mo' squirrel

It's hard to figure out what to do about it. Princeton Township, which is pretty small, has 44 deer per square mile. 12 years ago they had

In the intervening years they've allowed bow hunters, and they hire some professional hunters, which has reduced the population. But now it's sprung right back up again.

The problem is, as you suggest, that houses are too close together. That doesn't bother the deer but it makes hunting nearly impossible in the suburbs.

Yeah, Mosquito net the tree and give it a squirrel collar and the fruit should be OK.

Ok, that sounds a bit more realistic. I was thinking "Daisy".

If you're still referring to NJ, then yes, you need a FOID to buy a Daisy BB gun. But there's no registration.

I have trapped hundreds of squirrels using a Hav-a-hart squirrel trap. Trap s probably 8X8X24 and has two doors, although I lock the back one closed. P eanut butter on toast worked the best for me. Dump the trap in a garbage ca n of water, occupant included, then clean for supper.

I only have one, and it's one of the big ones intended for raccoons. However, it works fine for squirrels, too.

This summer: One raccoon, two 'possums, two squirrels, and one cat.

Aw, I couldn't do that. But I'd shoot 'em or club 'em.

They're tougher to skin than a rabbit, but I can dress one out and have him quartered in about three or four minutes.

Careful. The anti's take particular exception to clubbing even though you can kill an animal with a club just as quickly as with a gun.

How is cleaning the pelvic cavity? That always seems to be the toughest part for me with a rabbit.

My deer stand is all set up , with rotating chair . The corn has been spread , the camera is mounted on a tree nearby and it's on and snappin' pics . The straw bales are set up now , and I've been practicing with one of my bows (35 lb recurve , will move up to the 47 pounder in a few days) . By the time the bow season opens in 10 days I should be back in form to slaughter a poor little innocent deer . I hope the first one is that doe that's been eating my garden and fruit trees . Poetic justice IMO .

Hmm. I don't remember any particular problems with that. I dress them before skinning, to keep any glorp off of the flesh.

Squirrel skin doesn't peel off as easily as it does with a rabbit. I've read it's because squirrels don't have the layer of fat that rabbits have, nut I never saw a layer of fact under the skin of a rabbit, either. I can skin a rabbit with two hands but I usually make a string noose for squirrelts, and tie it to my dressing board.

Cute , and the guy that makes 'em is in Van Buren Ar ... fortunately , this is one state that allows baiting for *some* game animals in *some* places . This is one of those places , and deer are one of those animals allowed . I'll be using aluminum arrows with steel broadheads again this year .

Skin from feet to head. Here in ET they have hangers for the feet and pull the skin off.

I think the idea - almost no meat skins easier. Direction makes a difference. Squirrel hunters here from a young age.

Mom & Dad are gone now but I recall Dad saying Mom shot flying squirrels while gliding down towards the garden.

She and Dad often went to the arcade to shoot at bottles and such while courting. Moved to N.C. during WWII making Ship Radar and we bought the polo club house when they moved further out of town. Nice place. Moved after the war - and after Dad returned from Europe to the west coast Radar on B-36's.

Martin

Somebody told me that once but I never got the hang of it. I've cased a lot of muskrats, and I tried doing the squirrels the same way. But working the skin over the hind legs just didn't work the same. I just tore the skin.

I'll probably not try it again. We have to hunt squirrels with a shotgun in NJ (except for a short mid-winter muzzleloading rifle season). I hate shooting squirrels with a shotgun and I'm not going out in mid-winter with a rifle just to shoot a couple of them.

Now *that* might make it worthwhile to shoot squirrels with a shotgun.

Go for it, Snag. I wonder if the fruit sweetens the meat...

I think my niece is giving me the 75# compound bow she found in her garage, from a late friend of her dad's. If her dad doesn't show up to give her away in a few weeks, I'll have that honor myself.

Anyway, when the SHTF, I'll be out joining the hunt purty quickly.

Friend used to pop them out of trees with a .177 co2 pellet gun by shooting the tree just under their belly. The flying bark took them out.

I asssume that he told you this, and that you're not saying you actually saw it happen. d8-)

"Barking" squirrels is an old legend. It can be done -- with a high-powered rifle, but not with a .22 or an air gun.

I actually did it once with a 36 cal. muzzle loading rifle. Just like all them old fellows used to.... I think the chances of doing it twice is similar to Robin Hood splitting a competitor's arrow in the target with his next arrow.

Yeah. That's one of those things that you should just do once.

Apparently it grew up around Daniel Boone legands. Decades ago, a writer for one of the hunting magazines tried it with a variety of guns, and finally got it to work a couple of times - with a .30/06.

It's a messy way to prune trees.

Speaking of pruning trees, I did some of that when I was in college. I hunted grouse ("pats") in a Christmas tree stand in northern Michigan. The pat would take off straight between the rows, and then do a sharp turn left or right. I'd snap-shoot at the pat, often managing to shoot the top off of one of the Christmas trees, but rarely hitting the pat.

You want to talk about pneumatics.

Lewis and Clark carried an air rifle on their famous journey of discovery.

Pneumatics rifles were used in combat in WWI (although I have not found a definitive source on that).

In the late 1800s the USS Vesuvius carried pneumatic cannon with a one mile range, that delivered explosive rounds nearly silently which made for a tremendous psychological affect compared to conventional cannon. There is a nice article on Wikipedia about it. One mile was considered to short, but where it was used it was effective.