Squirrel: An Inroad to Hunting

If you’re looking for an inroad to hunting, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better mentor than the squirrel.

While the above image is of a gray squirrel, it’s true of other members of the family Sciuridae too. Tree squirrels and ground squirrels. In Maine, I hunt gray squirrels, red squirrels, and groundhogs. Maybe where you live that would include fox squirrels, prairie dogs, or even arctic ground squirrels. Whatever the species, their anatomy is similar and so are breakdown and cooking methods.

While incredibly rewarding on its own, squirrel hunting is like a training ground for hunting larger game too. Anatomically, a squirrel is like a small deer or bear, and you can learn a lot about butchering by handling a few for the kitchen. Squirrel hunting gives you a chance to practice many skills you’ll need for other hunts, like glassing/spotting, stalking, ambush hunting, marksmanship, camouflage, calling, and understanding your quarry’s relationship to food, shelter, and daylight.

Because squirrels are hunted with small-caliber weapons, and even airguns, the sometimes-intimidating felt-recoil of a rifle is absent, allowing the new shooter to focus on their marksmanship fundamentals with less stress than they might feel on a first deer hunt.

A new hunter can learn to break down a squirrel from watching a quick YouTube video. And learning to cook with them is easy too.

Here’s my favorite recipe:

• Start by breaking your squirrel(s) down into 5 parts. 2 shoulders, 2 hams, and 1 loin (this is the lower spine with loins on one side and tenderloins on the other, the mid-section).

• Simmer these in stock or broth for 35-45 minutes, until tender.

• Take from liquid, and while wet, dredge in spiced/salted flour.

• Pan fry in your preferred oil.

If you're looking for a good squirrel rifle, I think a Ruger 10/22 is hard to beat. I top mine with a 2-7X or 3-9X magnification scope.

Happy hunting, cooking, and eating!