Eating-wise, Fox squirrels have the most meat, but I think gray squirrels tasted better. But personality-wise I think the little Red squirrel is the hands-down winner. Their antics used to entertain me when I was sitting in a blind, and still do when they do acrobatics trying to get to bird feeder.

My favorite game, hunting tree rats lol Honestly I have more fun try to sneak up on one than anything else. I'll vote Grey only because that is all we have in my wood lot

Greys are tender. Reds are tender but too small. Fox squirrels are tough unless they're very young...though my wife has ways of cooking them that makes them useable.

Give me the grey's any day.

Grays my favorite

Very few little reds where I grew up, and only in the higher areas, living in the pine thickets. We knew them by the name fairydiddle, or mountain boomer. Killed 2 once, and they tasted like turpentine. I never bothered another. Grays, for me.

We have all three here in Maine. Wife and I favor gray squirrel, tho I am not against sticking the others into a crockpot ...

A little red wine marinade does wonders for squirrel meat.

"Rocky"

We have all three here and blacks up at camp, but I don't bother with the pine/red squirrels. They're too small. Either foxes or greys are fine by me.

Just don't try to eat a skunk squirrel, you'll never get the smell out of your house.

All we have around here are the fox squirrels, so nothing to compare to, but they are good eating.

We actually eat them often.

Rick

A young grey is my favorite

Grey. Red squirrels give me the jitters just watching them.

Dead, skint and grilled.

Tree Climbing rats, things will be pretty tough when I get down to eating rat meat. Not that I can't do it, it's just not high on my list. That'll be a survival situation.

Fox and greys. Quartered up and ready for the pot.

Taste the same. After a few hours in the crockpot with a couple cans of cream o chicken and mushroom soup.

Cuz, you’re making my mouth water.

We probably have 100 gray squirrels for every 2 fox squirrels around here. We cook them the way Joey does, and sometimes make squirrel dumplings. I also like a young gray squirrel fried for breakfast with pan gravy and biscuits. My grandfather loved the brains.

Slow, dumb ones. The kind that are still there when the arrow shows up.

I’m sure there are other kinds out there, but I don’t believe that I’ve killed one yet.

The pine squirrels that I grew up with out west are just a color phase of the red squirrel, and my only complaint with eating those is that they are or a bit on the small side.

If you make a good enough gravy, then anything will eat I guess, but deer are not that hard to kill.

They're also not as much fun to hunt.

pressure cooker solves any problem. You can season a boot and it will be fork tender. I like to par cook em in a pressure cooker. Then take em out and fry afterwards. Flour, season salt of your choice and tellicherry pepper (the pepper KFC uses)

I use the same recipe for wings.

I ate em for breakfast at grandpas when I was little. squirrel, fried eggs and fried pumpkin blossums. Meal fit for a king! Yum!

Some hot grease, a little cornmeal, and salt and pepper make them taste good too. ;-)

Good to see ya, Cuz.

Used to love breakfast when grandma would fry up some bobwhites, with cat head biscuits and tomato gravy. :-)

No fried squirrel thread is complete without tribute to Ron's annual batch at Shrewhaven. He'll be cooking "across the river" this year and his famous deer camp the lesser for it. RIP.

Zip and my favorite squirrel are the big foxes. Our woods has a lot of hickory and we fill our freezer every year with these big squirrels. Cooked in a pressure cooker then fried or low and slow they always come out very tender.

Got a few Greys in the freezer waiting on my Wife to bring the crock pot to the new place so I can make squirrel dumplings.

Squirrels from 2021.

Squirrels from 2021.

Squirrels from 2021.

Squirrels from 2021.

Squirrels from 2021.

Squirrels from 2021.

We have Fox, Red and Grays in my neck of PA. I will kill Fox and Gray but not the Reds, too small to fool with IMO.

When I was a kid, myself, my buddy and his brother would go out squirrel hunting all day. We'd usually all limit out (6 each, 18 total). We'd clean and skin them and then their mom would cook them. Squirrel pot pie, squirrel and dumplings or fried squirrel. She was an amazing cook and those were the days! She'd cook our rabbits and pheasants too if we were out running the beagles.

I've tried over the year to replicate her dishes and I've gotten close but not quite.

We have mostly grays and some fox squirrels, but the red squirrels are few and far between around here nowadays. I remember them being everywhere back in the 60's and 70's, we called them Pineys up here. I personally just like them parboiled and fried with some flour coating, salt and pepper. I'm a bigger fan of wild rabbit than squirrel, but both are just fine.

Also, great pics guys thanks for sharing them!

Some fried legs. I like to make a cut behind the joint. Opens them up for frying and easy eating. These are all from greys.

Grays, chicken of the trees.

Crescent rolls, jalapeño cream cheese, squirrel meat, sliced jalapeños, salt and pepper. Roll them up and bake. Great snacks for half time.

Easy squirrel pot pie.

Easy squirrel pot pie.

ROCKY,, looks good guys, I remember eating lots of Squirrels,

ROCKY,, looks good guys, I remember eating lots of Squirrels,

Those spicy squirrel rolls sound good, Joey. I might have to try something like that... with some mushrooms too of course.

I'm with Jeff Durnell. I used to hunt them a lot when I was a kid. Probably haven't eaten a squirrel in 40 years. I'm trying to talk my uncle into letting me take a poke with my bow at one of his black squirrels when I'm hunting over there.

That sounds good too, Jeff. I'm not a "paint by numbers" cook. Like to add what I like and have on hand. :-)

Got that basic recipe from Steve Rinella's MeatEater cook book. He's got some great recipes for lots of wild game and fish in it. Good for ideas.

We only have gray squirrels. But they are one of my favorite to eat.

I am all out for the year. My wife and I ate about 50 of them in different recipies. I like both, but favor the grays,,,, I live in top squirrel areas,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, As far as the "red" or little "pine" squirrel,,,, I have trapped them out for a few friends in the UP, where they can do heavy damage,,,,,,,,,,

Showed a guy last year, he said they are too touch to skin, and I get hair on them. I showed him how, and to make sure if the squirrel is stiff, to put them in a bucket of water, to soften them up, keep the hair off the meat.......

Now he is a serious squirrel hunter,,,,,,,,, Favorite small wild game, is simple,,,,,, brook trout, squirrels and grouse,,,,,,,,

I canned a bunch last year. Can't wait to debone them and make some pot pie.... need to do that soon now.

Petree is my favorite squirrel :)

Caught, that is AWESOME! I couldn't shoot a tame one. Cute as a button.

Hadn't ever tried squirrel until last season. Greys are great and I will make a point to get more going forward. I was expecting tough and stringy but it was exactly the opposite. The kids and wife liked them too.

He won’t let me touch him. Yet. :-) But he’s getting more used to me and my voice everyday. Likes to lounge around midday after a belly full of sunflower seeds.

If you’ll notice the box feeder, I’ve got holes at each end so they can enter the box, and the jar I fill with seeds. Fun to watch them eat. I didn’t build it fior the greys or the fox but they will get inside it during the day. I built it for the flying squirrels that visit at night. We have a healthy population of owls. And they were coming in every night to pick off the flying squirrels. The box feeder some what protects them and they frequent the feeder most nights. Cool to watch. I can sit on my back porch and watch them with my binos. Beats what’s on the tv most times. :-)

Sorry the picture is sideways. :-(

That is a sawtooth oak tree. I planted it from a nut right at 30 years ago. It started dropping nuts at 6-7 years old. I've planted many of it's seedlings throughout my property. Everything loves sawtooth nuts in the early fall.

One of my other favorites. Sometimes I keep them sometimes I let them go.;)

Joey that is cool you planted that oak tree from a nut. I want to plant some oak trees and that is one thing I’d best not procrastinate

The little red squirrel in my favorite as well.So hyperactive and fidgity.

Groundhog is a squirrel too.

Too dangerous to hunt here in Bama...........

Had a gramma who was dirt poor: she always had set lines in ponds and river. We ate a lot of fish, and in the cold months raggybutts and big red squirrels. That woman could make quite a meal out of nothing.

“You go out and get me three or four nice big ones,” she would say.

That was in Iowa.

Here in Montana mountains only found little gray or black. Too small. I shot a few with my bow but nothin to em.

Here on the sunrise side of the Rockies lots of big red ones it only in town. Been tempted but no.

We called em Pineys too. I love to squirrel hunt with a .22. Great fun

Ok. I can't wait until squirrel season now thanks to you Joey

This guy

Great pics Jaz.

Thank you Jack.

Hi Rick... How'd you cook that split squirrel, that's pretty neat, never seen one done like that...

Rick, what's the green slimy looking stuff? Grays here, don't bother with the reds. No Fox here.

Where I live (Tucson) we have Rock squirrels in the desert, Aberts and reds on the mountains. The reds are protected the Rock squirrels and Aberts are as good as what I grew up with in Mo. Squirrels taught me to hunt. MAP

This fox squirrel is my favorite one I guess since I dished out the money to get it mounted.

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