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Post by HillBillyJeff on Aug 17, 2013 11:20:18 GMT -5
This was how my dad had taught me to do it and I have been doing it like this all my life. Just curious if anyone else does it like this.
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Post by Decatur on Aug 17, 2013 11:34:46 GMT -5
Very nice. We'll have to save your video for anyone that's not sure how to do it.
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Post by scott on Aug 17, 2013 12:28:43 GMT -5
Nice video bodeen, this is a very neat and easy looking way to do it. When cleaning squirrels, there are normally two of us; to start we take a pair of dikes (wire cutters) and cut the feet and tail off of each squirrel. Then we cut a slit in the middle of the back and pull the two half of the hide apart, pop the front legs out and then cut the head off, and simply pull the hide off the back legs. the rest is pretty much the same, bust through pelvis, run knife up through the belly meat and out the neck breaking through the ribs, then pull all the innards out and then drop the squirrels into a bucket of water (great trick for keeping flies and bees off of your squirrels, also handy for keeping hands clean and free of hair). Breakdown of the parts is just about identical. This method works great with two people but be warned that if not vigilant on keeping hands free of hair, it will very easily end up all over the squirrel. Next time we go out I will keep one aside and try your method out. Thanks a bunch, I agree with Decatur, this needs pinned so others can try it if they don't have another way to do it or don't know how.
Scott
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Post by Woody Williams on Aug 17, 2013 13:02:39 GMT -5
Stickied....
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Post by steve46511 on Aug 17, 2013 13:18:20 GMT -5
Your video is well done and is pretty close to what I have done for years with a few refinements (suited just for me due to "issues" with griping small items from nerve damage).
1. I wear disposable gloves. Not only is this an added protection "just in case" but it gives me a better grip. Some brands are more "slick" than others but the cheapies I buy are about like rubber and I can hang onto things better. I use them butchering deer too. I can more easily hang onto meat as I slice it or whatever. May not be an advantage to everyone but I used them constantly butchering over 3000 whitetail. I found them to be a big plus.
2. Some will disagree but I've found this very useful too. A lot of you guys are very successful of performing the skinning process without getting hair all over. I have fought this for years till someone told me to try something. Soak the squirrel down under the outside faucet. I mean SOAK it too. I've found the hair "hangs together" 100 percent better and doesn't fly all over PLUS even if I get wet hair ON the meat, it seems to rinse off much more readily. Not quite sure WHY but it works well enough for me that I do it habitually.
3. I also "cheat" on removing head and feet. NOT hard with a knife if sharp and you can hang onto the squirrel (aka have decent grip) but for me, a good set of game shears takes the cake. I also use them dismembering the squirrel (and about everything else I hunt). Instead of "removing" the legs, I simply cut through the spine in front of the back legs and behind the front legs and again between ribs and the back. Then I again use the shears to "split" the front and rear quarters AND the rib cage (note: I do not discard the "belly meat" on the ribcage) so that part will lay flat if fried and just takes up less room in general in the crock pot (that is simmering right now :-) )
NOT saying any other way might not be better for some, but this is fastest, SAFEST, and easiest for me. Good shears walk right though bone, regardless of where it is on the squirrel. I had to order a new set last night. Either I've lost my mind or mine "grew legs" off the porch yesterday. LOL!
Good Stuff, Gang. God Bless
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Post by HillBillyJeff on Aug 17, 2013 15:26:52 GMT -5
Never thought about wetting a squirrel down before, but it does make some sense to me. Keeping my hands and knife constantly clean does a pretty good job. So routine any more dipping my hands whenever I make a hand change on the squirrel. Might give that wet look a go next time around.
Thanks.
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Post by tenring on Aug 17, 2013 16:39:01 GMT -5
My bucket contains very warm water to soak in, helps the skin come off so much easier. Take by dikes and cut of both front and rear legs, decapitate, remove tail, slit the skin on the back, get fingers in and pull both ways. The tail idea of skinning seems intriguing though. Will have to try that idea, after the mosquito population is a bit lower.
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Post by maddog on Aug 17, 2013 19:19:23 GMT -5
Great video. I basically do it the same way, but last year I bought a set of fiskar game shears, and it saves the knife blade, and speeds up the cleaning process.
Maddog
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Post by HillBillyJeff on Aug 17, 2013 20:57:23 GMT -5
My clumsy hands wouldn't do well with shears lol. I like just having the one tool when I am working on them.
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Post by forrest1985 on Aug 17, 2013 21:49:36 GMT -5
Been cleaning them exactly like that that's how my dad taught me !
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Post by schoolmaster on Aug 17, 2013 22:01:01 GMT -5
I clean them that way except mine are gutted in the field, I don't wait to get them home. Also I use a pair of hand pruners to cut bone not my knife. I take the squirrels in a pan and put them under the faucet. After filling the pan, I let the water run very slowly into the pan for 15 minutes and this helps float off hair.
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Post by dbd870 on Aug 18, 2013 6:33:43 GMT -5
I do it pretty much like Scott.
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Post by HillBillyJeff on Aug 18, 2013 21:40:51 GMT -5
Someone mentioned the fat content in squirrels, so I looked it up and it is one of the best meats you can eat. So today I decided to check cholesterol levels and found squirrel has less than walleye. I find that hard to believe. Turtle and frog legs were the best for fat and cholesterol.
Just thought I would share.
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dang
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by dang on Aug 27, 2013 17:05:10 GMT -5
Pretty much the way I've always done it, except that I skin out the head and cook it up. Nothing like tasty braaiins for us squirrel zombies.
Dan
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Post by steve46511 on Aug 28, 2013 5:22:48 GMT -5
My bucket contains very warm water to soak in, helps the skin come off so much easier. Take by dikes and cut of both front and rear legs, decapitate, remove tail, slit the skin on the back, get fingers in and pull both ways. The tail idea of skinning seems intriguing though. Will have to try that idea, after the mosquito population is a bit lower. It's probably the same the other way but IF you "spined" the squirrel, the stepping on tail method SOMETIMES results in one torn in half during the skinning process. Here again, the gloves I wear come in handy to hang onto the meat and continue to pull the hide off. All you great shots don't have to worry about that though. :-) COME ON COOL WEATHER.....Oct 1 I lose all but one of my squirrel woods till January. (but still looking) Yes, Virginia I sometimes squirrel hunt during deer season. The change of pace is sometimes needed and I incorporate scouting and squirrel hunting. Trophy hunters are probably flinching at the idea but this is yet another case where I have noticed deer half ignoring me when I am doing something other than hunting THEM. I've done this for multiple decades. The number of other deer hunters in the same woods (since others hunt there now) will change patterns or drive some out depending on the hunter's actions but slipping through the woods (staying out of the "bedroom", of course) has never seemed to bother deer movement much. However, when prerut starts........the 22 gets cleaned and put up. God Bless!
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Post by HillBillyJeff on Aug 28, 2013 23:29:36 GMT -5
Oh the joy of being a meat hunter. I passed on three bucks, one being an 8 pointer last season as I had enough meat in the freezer. I would have made an exception for a trophy though lol. Now I just need to go out and get one deer and I will be good until next fall, and the squirrel hunting can continue. If I spend the time in the woods I should get a deer in the first couple weeks of bow. Nothing like chilling a deer in 80 degree weather lol.
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Post by moose1am on Apr 21, 2014 20:40:04 GMT -5
That is how I taught myself to skin a fox squirrel. But you do it so much better than I ever did.
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Post by rigsbn8r on Apr 29, 2014 7:24:40 GMT -5
Great video. How do you guys cook up your squirrel? Any good recipes out there?
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Post by dbd870 on Apr 29, 2014 9:28:49 GMT -5
Marinate in BBQ sauce and grill them
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Post by featherduster on Apr 29, 2014 11:51:03 GMT -5
Crock Pot with a can of cream of mushroom soup and the stems from wild hen of the woods mushrooms also some baby carrots then cook it on low for about 5 hours till the meat is ready to fall off the bones. I will make some mash potatoes and use the gravy from the squirrel.
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