Some of my most fond childhood memories revolve around squirrel hunting and the great meals my mother prepared after a successful hunt. I remember way back in about 1958 when I was an 8-year-old whippersnapper making what was to be the luckiest shot of my life.
My Dad and I were hunting in the back 40 woods behind our little farm. The wind was blowing hard and in the top of a huge white oak, a big fox squirrel was eating acorns. I timed the sway of the branch perfectly and squeezed the trigger of my little single shot J.C. Higgins .22. A perfect head shot that damaged no meat.
I was amazed and my Dad was astonished as well. I remember thinking I was Daniel Boone as I put the makings of a fine meal in my game bag. The morning hunt progressed and I missed a couple of easy shots with the little rifle. Looking back my shot was mostly luck but tell that to a kid that just shot a squirrel high up in a tree from a branch swaying heavily with the wind.
White-tailed deer were just getting established from restocking in Red River County where we lived. Squirrel hunting remained a big deal with most of us country folks. Groups of hunters would set up wall tent camps using government surplus tends and camp for several days, hunting and eating squirrel.
Each camp would devise contests ranging from number of squirrels harvest tournaments to voting on the best squirrel cook. I was too young to partake of these camps, but I did visit them during mid day a couple times and enjoyed some great meals the men made from the fruits of their hunt.
Mr. Guthrey owned a mixed-breed hound that did double duty on raccoons at night but served well as a squirrel dog during the day. We would occasionally borrow the mixed breed raw boned hound to hunt behind Mr. Guthrey’s cabin and to a budding young hunter; these hunts were highly anticipated events.
It was hard to keep my mind on classwork at the old Dimple School when October and cooler weather rolled around. The old hound had a lot of Black and Tan breeding and he could cover ground quickly. He knew the woods well and the spots the squirrels frequented most.
The drill was pretty simple; we turned the hound loose and waited until he barked, usually in a big old oak den tree. If the squirrel didn’t disappear into a hole, one of us would remain stationary and the other circle the tree in efforts to move the bushy tail into position for a shot. I hunted with my single shot .22 and my brother in law used a tight choked 12 gauge.
Our plan was for me to take stationary shots but if the squirrel was on the move, the shotgun was a better choice. We encountered mostly grey or cat squirrels along the creeks and the larger fox squirrels when hunting the hardwoods or field edges.
My success rate was low on the cat squirrels. They seldom held still long enough for a rifle shot. I later switched to a .410 shotgun loaded with #4 or #6 shot and my success rate became much better. It was challenging to hunt with the .22 but squirrels in the game bag and ultimately in my mother’s cast iron skillet was the name of the game back then.
I’m happy to say that squirrel hunting is still popular in east Texas; not as popular is it was back in the fifties and sixties but thankfully older hunters have passed their love of hunting and cooking squirrel along to younger generations. I sometime get a chuckle out of uninformed ‘city’ folks that liken squirrels to rats.
When I tell them that I grew up in east Texas in an era when squirrel were considered a delicacy, I raise some eyebrows. When I tell them I still relish a big skillet of smothered squirrel with rice and gravy, I really get some ‘looks. But that’s OK, as the old saying goes “they don’t know because they don’t know.”
How to cook squirrel
Squirrels are a bit more challenging to clean (butcher) than most other small game, but the task is easily learned, there are plenty of good YouTube videos that detail the process. When teaching newcomers to the squirrel woods the art of cooking squirrel, I compare squirrel with chicken.
A big complaint is how tough some squirrels are when fried. I ask my student, “If you were going to butcher a chicken to fry, would you choose a tough old rooster or a younger ‘fryer?’” Granted, it’s possible to par boil or pressure cook mature squirrels and then dust the pieces with flour and fry but I usually reserve the older squirrel for stew or, better yet, dumplings. Young squirrel can simply be seasoned with salt and pepper, dusted with flour and chicken fried.
One of my favorite recipes is smothered squirrel, using my mother’s tried and true method. Both young and older squirrels can be used in this slow cooking method. First fry the pieces until crispy and drain most of the oil, making sure to leave the crispy bits in the skillet. Next, add flour salt and pepper and either water or milk and make gravy. Place the squirrel back into the skillet and thin the gravy a bit with water. Cover the skillet or Dutch Kettle and bake at 300 degrees for an hour or so, checking half way through the process to make sure the liquid has not steamed out.
I like to stir the squirrel pieces with gravy at this point and add more liquid if necessary. Served with hot biscuits and white rice, this is a meal that will likely become one of your favorite dishes. Squirrel meat is often described as sweet. It definitely has a mild flavor. I like to describe it tasting much like free ranging chickens but with even more flavor.
There’s plenty of time to get out in the woods and hunt squirrel this fall and winter. Try preparing the above recipe at deer camp and see how many of your family and friends you can enlighten. Once a properly prepared meal of squirrel is enjoyed, the term “tree rat” will likely not be in their vocabulary any longer.
Listen to Luke’s weekly podcast “Catfish Radio with Luke Clayton and Friends” wherever podcasts are found.
