Posted: 8/11/2002 10:53:07 AM EDT
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So, last night Beer Slayer and I celebrated his birthday with some beer and smoked ribs. I also smoked 2 squirrels that I had killed on a deer hunting trip a some months ago. These were my first, and very frankly, we both liked them. Liked 'em quite a bit, actually. So, I'm thinking I may want to occasionally take a few out in my backyard for some cookin'. My question is, should I have any concern level about rabies? Or, is this "cooked out", even if it is present? Hell, the old folks have been eating them for years, so I'm sure it's not an issue. I just thought one of y'all old boys may know a little more about it than me! |
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When I was a small child our next door neighbor had a HUGE pecan tree in his back yard that always produced a bumper crop of pecans. Needless to say the squirrels loved that tree ! The old man had the trunk wrapped with sheetmetal and a strip of flashing to keep them from going up that way. He had the branches supported by looonngg 2 x 4's so they couldnt jump from the ground. Many times while camping in my backyard did I wake up earlier in the morning to the sound of a pellet gun. He would hide by his rear door and snipe them. After killing a few he would wait 20 - 30 minutes and then walk out with a paper bag and act like he was collecting pecans off the ground. He would toss the squirrels in the sack as well. As soon as he got the last squirrel he would go back inside. After I was older and talking to him I found out that he would dress 'em and cook 'em. Personally I would not eat squirrels from the city. In a pinch I would do it but just for the sake of eating some delicious squirrel I would rather get mine from the woods... Squirrel like rabbit lacks the proper nutrients a person needs to sustain life. You can actually starve to death eating just squirrel and rabbit... but I love them anyway. |
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Rabies in rodents is extremely rare. Think of how rabies is transmitted. You'd have to be one lucky SOB squirrel to come in contact with a rabid predator and survive! I used to make squirrel soup/stew and gross the people out at the phone company when I'd hoist the "carcass" to my gnashing teeth during lunch. |
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I marinated some squirrel pieces in Korean BBQ sauce for a day or two and baked it. Took the leftovers to work the next day for lunch, and had to fight my office mates for the last piece! I wouldn't sweat the rabies thing, unless the squirrel was foaming at the mouth when you shot it!:D PONY_DRIVER |
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Quoted: I am surprised to hear this nutritional information. Do you have a cite? I would like to read more about this. I've also been told this. Apparently, back in the old-en-days the mountain men (in the winter) used to eat alot of rabbit. Many of them withered away due to the lack of fat. I think it was also in the movie "Jerimeiah (sp)Johnson." Awsome movie, btw. |
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That reminds me. I am living alone right now and have been thinking of taking some squirrels and rabbits from the surrounding rural area. I am not good a cooking. Anyone have some EASY to follow recipes for either? It is the desert should I worry about worms? Please post or email recipes [email protected] Thanks, Maxwell |