We started off the day hiking behind Brian's cabin in search of things to shoot, I with a (small gauge) shotgun and Brian with a rifle. We walked for a long time before we saw anything (rabbits were nowhere to be found), though we finally happened upon a squirrel in a tree. There wasn't exactly a lot of pride to be had in killing a squirrel, but it fulfilled the requirements, so I figured I'd take what I could get (beyond that, if I had killed a larger animal there might be some legal consequences). Fortunately for the integrity of the meat, I didn't hit the little guy dead-on, and he took forever to fall out of the tree - longer than Brian had seen in a long time. He was still alive when he hit the ground, so I had to put him out of his little squirrel misery.
We headed back to the cabin, where we had to deal with the issue of skinning. Given that I have far less experience with skinning animals than Brian, I figured it would be better to let him do the honors - after all, if I made a mistake in dealing with the innards, I would ruin the meat and we'd have to start over. As Brian slipped our little friend out of his squirrel sweater, I promised I'd do the next one.
We prepped him for the grill with some salt and pepper and tossed him on. After a few minutes on each side, he was ready to eat.
Ultimately, it wasn't that bad. Gamey, certainly, and not particularly tender, but it would do in a pinch.
We set out after lunch on some ATVs to scour more of the property for rabbits and the like, but unfortunately found none. That's alright, though. Rabbit's not specifically on my list.
Special thanks to Brian for lending his resources and expertise and sharing this one with me.
"...slipped our little friend out of his squirrel sweater" is a terribly awesome...can we call it a euphemism?
ReplyDeleteI think that might be the most manly picture of Kevin I have ever seen:
ReplyDeletegun in one hand, squirrel in the other, in the mountains, with beard.
Well done, sir.