How cold before you can start eating/hunting squirrel? - Page 1

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How cold before you can start eating/hunting squirrel?

Posted: 8/28/2014 12:36:28 AM EDT

Season starts on the first. I don't want to waste what I hunt but I don't want to eat something full of parasites.

The lows are in the 40s this week. How cold should I wait for it to get?

Posted: 8/28/2014 12:38:50 AM EDT

[#1]

After a frost or two

Posted: 8/28/2014 1:06:03 AM EDT

[#2]

We got a year long season where i live. I shoot them year round and they are just fine to eat.

Posted: 8/28/2014 1:23:33 AM EDT

[#3]

Season starts in august here and no one I know has trouble with eating them even during the full summer heat.

Posted: 8/28/2014 1:28:55 AM EDT

[#4]

Thanks for the answers so far. Last year was my first time trying it and it was some of the most fun I've had.

Posted: 8/28/2014 1:35:26 AM EDT

[#5]

Fire kills shit.
Shoot stuff and cook it with fire.

Then eat,

Done and then done.

Posted: 8/28/2014 9:50:20 AM EDT

[#6]

We usually wait until the first frost. don't really know why unless it's so the leaves start to turn colors and fall off the trees.

Posted: 8/30/2014 9:50:37 PM EDT

[#7]

Season here runs Memorial Day weekend through Febuary. People eat them year round around here. I personally don't hunt them till the leaves are off the trees but that is personal preference. Cutting hickory nuts here right now, good time to be in the woods!!!

Posted: 8/30/2014 10:11:45 PM EDT

[#8]

Super stoked for Monday. Don't have to work until the afternoon so I'll be out there. Will make sure to take pics too.

Posted: 8/30/2014 10:42:23 PM EDT

[#9]

Not until the first hard frost.

That usually kills the worbels that infect the squirrels.

Posted: 8/30/2014 11:05:50 PM EDT

[#10]

What you generally see are botfly larvae, and they're only in the skin. Looks nasty but doesn't affect the meat.

Posted: 9/1/2014 2:56:44 PM EDT

[#11]

My granddad, an old school Florida Cracker, always said wait til the first frost.

Season in FL is Nov til March so that's when I hunt them. Of course we can go through to Dec without a frost.

Posted: 9/2/2014 10:41:21 AM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:
Fire kills shit.
Shoot stuff and cook it with fire.

Then eat,

Done and then done.

View Quote

Speaks the truth......you can eat it year round, all you have to do is cook it..

Posted: 9/2/2014 10:54:22 AM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
Season starts on the first. I don't want to waste what I hunt but I don't want to eat something full of parasites.

View Quote

IMHO, It's an old wives tail that they won't be full of parasites after it's cold. In the dead of winter, in sub-zero temperatures, I've still found animals with fleas and other stuff.

Posted: 9/2/2014 2:49:59 PM EDT

[#14]

Guys sorry.

I went out yesterday for a couple hours. Here's a couple of pics.

Walking into my spot.

Inside the canyon. The floor is flat and there's a trail through the bottom next to a creek.

Plenty of squirrels around. Only got one though and I cleaned it before taking a picture but it looked healthy. Meat looked fine and the fur looked good.

I saw plenty of other squirrels. They were all up high pulling nuts off the trees and letting them fall. They stayed near the tops. It was great just to sit and watch them.

I also spooked a whitetail deer. Which is odd because I've never seen one there.

Will get more pictures later this season.

Posted: 9/2/2014 3:54:43 PM EDT

[#15]

In some parts of Texas, squirrel season is year round. Generally thought you should cook it, will solve most meat issues.

Posted: 9/17/2014 11:49:21 PM EDT

[#16]

Whatever the temp is on opening day.

Posted: 9/19/2014 5:24:30 PM EDT

[#17]

Any parasites in the flesh are going to be dead once it gets to 140° or 160°F.

I think the reason many people wait for colder weather to hunt squirrels is because then the leaves are off the trees and you can see the squirrels to shoot them. With the leaves on the trees, it can be tough.

Posted: 9/21/2014 12:57:58 PM EDT

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:

Any parasites in the flesh are going to be dead once it gets to 140° or 160°F.

I think the reason many people wait for colder weather to hunt squirrels is because then the leaves are off the trees and you can see the squirrels to shoot them. With the leaves on the trees, it can be tough.

View Quote

This. Cold temps will kill off most of the external parasites like ticks and fleas but if there are parasites in the meat like worms they will be there all winter.

Posted: 9/25/2014 9:23:00 AM EDT

[#19]

Quote History

Quoted:

Fire kills shit.

Shoot stuff and cook it with fire.

Then eat,

Done and then done.

View Quote

This!

When have open season year around with no limit. Cook'em to the correct temp and you have no worries. Worms are just added protein.

Posted: 9/28/2014 10:12:04 PM EDT

[#20]

its a myth you have to wait

usually by frost the botfly larvae under the skin of some will have left and healed. old timers thought the cold killed them.

its harmless. looks gross but harmless. the meat is still fine. the Conservation office here in Ky issues a statement every year to hunters that it is safe to eat the meat year round. because so many people throw away perfectly safe harvested meet because of the botfly larvae they sometimes see or the healed little hole they see

Posted: 10/6/2014 2:41:39 PM EDT

[#21]

I think you are thinking of rabbits with tularemia.

I will shoot and eat reds all year since it is open season on them.

Posted: 10/28/2014 10:22:45 AM EDT

[#22]

This is what I was always told.

Quote History

Quoted:
After a frost or two

View Quote

Posted: 10/28/2014 1:37:44 PM EDT

[#23]

In Oklahoma it was always "after the first frost on rabbits", but our squirrel season opens May 15, and I grew up eating squirrels from May 15 til end of year when season closed.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How cold before you can start eating/hunting squirrel?

Outdoors » Small Game & Trapping

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