Small Game.

L.Fure

Well-known Member
Is there any small game hunters left? I stopped at the nursing home to check on Dad. He's there because of dementia, and Mom couldn't take care of him anymore. Dad is at the stage where his short term memory is about 10-15 minutes long. His long term memory is pretty much gone too. But he does like to talk about hunting. Yesterday we talked about squirrel and rabbit hunting. ( over and over) When Dad was growing up they supplemented their winter larder with small game. That habit was past on while I was growing up too. I ate a lot of small game while growing up and miss it. My wife lived the same way, and doesn't want anything to do with it now. It was a big thing every fall when the hunting season started. Most of my class mates also hunted small game and we would tell hunting stories every chance we got. Now there isn't hardly small game hunters around. I should start going again. I bet the woods are crawling with squirrels now that the pressure is off.
 
I'd have to say that if you were hunting small game in the winter to survive, it meant you were poor. Most folks that hunt small game for food don't like being poor. Nobody that hunts small game for food wants to brag about being poor.

That's why your wife wants nothing to do with it now. It's a reminder of the "bad old days" when her family was dirt poor and couldn't afford store-bought food like everyone else.

You're waxing nostalgic about it, but I bet if you went out and shot a squirrel and cooked it up today, you'd say, "I can't believe we ate this $hit!" after one bite. You forgot about the miserable job of cleaning and skinning. You forgot about the gamey taste. You forgot about crunching down on the chunk of lead you couldn't find when you were cleaning.

The "bad old days" often have a way of becoming the "good old days" in your mind when you've been away long enough. There's a reason you don't live like that anymore. You didn't like it.
 
We always had our own beef and pork, and were not poor. Now there were times my dad had to sell something to pay some bills, but we always had livestock and plenty of meat. But my dad liked small game.

Squirrels, rabbits, quail, geese, coons, fish, turtles.

Now, he never did possums or groundhogs.

My farm has red (fox) squirrels, and greys. But where I live, 40 miles to the SE there are greys only. A big red has twice the meat as a small grey.

I live in a small village but am tempted to kill a mess of greys that live on my bird feeders (air rifle). My wife will fix em and there is nothing better than fried squirrel, mashed taters and gravey !!!

Gene
 
I hunt pheasants. Gave up deer hunting many years ago. This fall was the worst pheasant hunting since I retired 15 years ago here in Minnesota. I ended up with just six birds brought home. Lost a couple and missed a couple and that was it. Went out nearly every day as I normally go for a walk so I crawl in the pickup, take the Benelli ultra light(best gun I ever owned) and take it for a walk. Some days the walk was short, others I wondered if I could make it back. It snowed a foot early in November so that really messed up hunting. Really hard to navigate that much. It gradually sunk down, melted and was much better toward the end of the season. The season started on about 15 oct and ran until Jan 4 . Years ago, when I was a kid, the seasons were only three weekends long. I have a Minn regulation laying here from 1954 just to show the non believers. They even closed the season in 1947 as they thought we were going to eliminate them I guess. I am waiting for next season now. I always hoped I would get some good hunting time when I retired and I have to say that I really have and enjoy it immensely.
 
Are turkeys "small"? I saw one fly off its roost this morning and thought... oh boy. Still have two in the freezer from last fall.

Group who used to hunt here had squirrel days, when everybody would bring their small bores. One of them was particularly fond of squirrel legs, would go home with 50-60 of them those days. We noticed far fewer squirrels last year than ever. Bad winter? I don't remember that the acorn/hickory/walnut crop was particularly bad. Turkeys apparently did well.

Turkey's as small as we're interested in eating, and finally figured out a great way to cook the legs. Crockpot, for "pulled" turkey.

First feral pig was spotted last fall, deer hunter thought it was somebody's pet that got loose. No idea if they're tasty, wasn't seen again.
 
Rabbit hunting was a big thing growing up in the 50's. It was a sport, but the rabbits were skinned and Mama would make rabbit and dumplings.
My Grandpa would rabbit hunt all winter when he had the time. He loved it. He had a Bridge 16 Ga single shot shotgun and when he crossed fences, he would push down on them with the forestock. You can see where it is worn down today from doing that.
He shot from the hip and was very good at it.
Not long before my uncle Jake died at 93, he told me of a hunting trip with Grandpa. Grandpa shot and the rabbit kept running. Uncle Jake said Grandpa was very upset as he had not missed in many hunting seasons. They walked on and found the rabbit dead.
My son has that shotgun now and would not take anything for it.
Grandpa died in 1951, a year before I was born.
Also when it snowed, I better be ready early as my Dad wanted us to go track rabbits. We did that up into the 1980's.
It wasn't about being poor. It was a tradition.
Richard in NW SC
 
Squirrel and rabbit make some good eating. I don't hunt them anymore but I have a group of Hmong that come out here and hunt my land. They make a very tasty (hot) squirrel stew which I have to willingly join them in eating. Growing up I never considered or was considered poor and I ate plenty of squirrel and rabbit. It was good eating then and is still good eating.

We always had plenty of beef and pork to eat growing up and still have a good supply of pork and beef.
 
I grew up rabbit and squirrel hunting with pack of Beagles and mixed breed dogs,I really like squirrel was never too crazy about wild rabbit.Now have a couple Beagles to turn out to run rabbits just like to hear them run don't shoot the rabbits.
 
(quoted from post at 17:00:30 01/28/15) I'd have to say that if you were hunting small game in the winter to survive, it meant you were poor. Most folks that hunt small game for food don't like being poor. Nobody that hunts small game for food wants to brag about being poor.

That's why your wife wants nothing to do with it now. It's a reminder of the "bad old days" when her family was dirt poor and couldn't afford store-bought food like everyone else.

You're waxing nostalgic about it, but I bet if you went out and shot a squirrel and cooked it up today, you'd say, "I can't believe we ate this $hit!" after one bite. You forgot about the miserable job of cleaning and skinning. You forgot about the gamey taste. You forgot about crunching down on the chunk of lead you couldn't find when you were cleaning.

The "bad old days" often have a way of becoming the "good old days" in your mind when you've been away long enough. There's a reason you don't live like that anymore. You didn't like it.

I don't think you're right on this one. Dad's family were farmers. They had plenty to eat, but hunted for something different to put on the plate. As for when I grew up, Dad worked as an electrician for the University of Wisconsin. We enjoyed hunting and really did like eating what we brought home. As for my wife, she's just picky. Her Dad worked at the John Deere plant in Dubuque, IA., so money wasn't an issue there. My wife watch her Dad and uncle butcher a steer one time and wouldn't eat beef for years after that.
 
(quoted from post at 17:06:44 01/28/15) We always had our own beef and pork, and were not poor. Now there were times my dad had to sell something to pay some bills, but we always had livestock and plenty of meat. But my dad liked small game.

Squirrels, rabbits, quail, geese, coons, fish, turtles.

Now, he never did possums or groundhogs.

My farm has red (fox) squirrels, and greys. But where I live, 40 miles to the SE there are greys only. A big red has twice the meat as a small grey.

I live in a small village but am tempted to kill a mess of greys that live on my bird feeders (air rifle). My wife will fix em and there is nothing better than fried squirrel, mashed taters and gravey !!!

Gene

The reds around here are pretty tough. They are tough to skin and have tough meat. You have to simmer them a long time or put them in a pressure cooker. Otherwise you'd never get a fork through the gravy. :lol:
 
My reply will be like many others...

We do have a good supply of game here on the
farm. But I don't have the time to hunt small
game anymore.. And it cost too much to keep a
good pair of beagles like I use to have.. Now
I would get better enjoyment of hearing the dogs
run a good healthy rabbit than shooting one.

I do miss my mother's squirrel stew....???
 
(quoted from post at 17:15:17 01/28/15) I hunt pheasants. Gave up deer hunting many years ago. This fall was the worst pheasant hunting since I retired 15 years ago here in Minnesota. I ended up with just six birds brought home. Lost a couple and missed a couple and that was it. Went out nearly every day as I normally go for a walk so I crawl in the pickup, take the Benelli ultra light(best gun I ever owned) and take it for a walk. Some days the walk was short, others I wondered if I could make it back. It snowed a foot early in November so that really messed up hunting. Really hard to navigate that much. It gradually sunk down, melted and was much better toward the end of the season. The season started on about 15 oct and ran until Jan 4 . Years ago, when I was a kid, the seasons were only three weekends long. I have a Minn regulation laying here from 1954 just to show the non believers. They even closed the season in 1947 as they thought we were going to eliminate them I guess. I am waiting for next season now. I always hoped I would get some good hunting time when I retired and I have to say that I really have and enjoy it immensely.

FFA members used to raise pheasants as a project. The DNR would help to get them set up. The birds were released in the fall. Not many of the roosters would make it through the hunting season.
 
MKIRSCH has summed it up pretty well. We weren't
poor exactly, but we sure weren't rich---not in cash, anyway. We had
lots of land and we had a dairy. In addition to
the truck patch, we raised hogs and chickens for
the table. We had stock ponds that provided fish
year-round, and frogs. Dad loved to hunt, so in
the fall we had LOTS of squirrel and quail. We
also ate doves, woodcocks, rabbits and whatever
ducks were unlucky enough to spotted by my dad. We ate robins a few times.
We even ate an armadillo once when they first
started coming into north Louisiana. Not bad at
all. We didn't eat deer: in the 40s and 50s
there weren't any deer in north Louisiana.

I never took to hunting, other quail hunting.
The fire ants and loss of habitat took care of
them (haven't heard one whistle in 40 years) so
that's a moot point, and like MKirsch said, I
don't miss the other stuff either.

I'm often reminded of a line from Charley Pride's
song about the old home place: "It's nice to
think about it, maybe even visit, but I wonder
could I live there anymore."
 
I used to hunt a lot of squirrels and rabbits. All the places I hunted are now full of homes. We had so many quail I often would get a near limit of quail with my old single shot .22 and hunting without a dog. I would just slip up on them and look for them around fence rows. Now I never see a quail. I will hear one once in a great while. I was about 12 or 13 when I did the most of it. Once I got a car I kept the road hot and the squirrels died of old age.
 
My father hunted a little bit in the early 80s, I went with him
and grandpa many times, I just never took an interest in it.
However I liked sitting in the woods walking in the woods ect, I
will say I sure liked reading everyone's posts about there
hunting days of the past!
 
If you've seen one, you will soon seen more than you want. They estimate there are close to 5 million wild hogs in Tx now.

With no natural predators capable of keeping the population in check, they reproduce very quickly. They compete withe the native wildlife for food and natural wildlife will start to decline in numbers.

They are extremely destructive. In Tx alone they cause millions of dollars in damage to crops, pasture and wildlife every year. You will understand when you find 1/4 to 1/2 acre rooted up over night and with small craters 4 ft across and over 2 ft deep.

If you take one, do not handle without rubber gloves. They can have some nasty diseases that can be transmitted to people.

The smaller ones, 100 lbs. are good eating, cook well done and you will be fine.
 
(quoted from post at 18:34:12 01/28/15) If you've seen one, you will soon seen more than you want. They estimate there are close to 5 million wild hogs in Tx now.

With no natural predators capable of keeping the population in check, they reproduce very quickly. They compete withe the native wildlife for food and natural wildlife will start to decline in numbers.

They are extremely destructive. In Tx alone they cause millions of dollars in damage to crops, pasture and wildlife every year. You will understand when you find 1/4 to 1/2 acre rooted up over night and with small craters 4 ft across and over 2 ft deep.

Is there a season for the wild hogs, or is it shoot on sight.

Someone turned a bunch of hogs loose here in Wisconsin. All the locals thought it was funny. I told them it won't be so funny when their gardens get torn up.

If you take one, do not handle without rubber gloves. They can have some nasty diseases that can be transmitted to people.

The smaller ones, 100 lbs. are good eating, cook well done and you will be fine.
 
I hunt or fish nearly every day. I have thousands of acres of timberland out my back door. I wasn't poor growing up. Many say I am now, I don't think so. I love squirrel, fried, dumplings or gravy, second best think after smoked salmon....James
 
I like hunting small game. I grew up hunting rabbits and squirrels with my dad, brother, and uncle. I've hunted pheasants, turkeys, and deer but the small game is what I tend to gravitate towards anymore. We never hunted rabbit with dogs and still managed to do pretty good. I prefer rabbits as they are easier to skin and have more meat, but both are good fried. Don't see many around here going after small game, seems they all are after the monster bucks.
 
The most difficult thing I have ever hunted is woodchucks. Eyesight that would make an eagle proud, great hearing. Keep to the brush lines. I love to sit with a scoped rifle and try to hit the darn things from a distance. Every once in a while I succeed. Nice thing is, you don't feel guilty if you don't eat them. I like to hunt raccoons at night also. Again, I don't care to eat them. Those are the only things I currently hunt. Going back to deer hunting this year. Those I will eat.
 
Dad hunted a lot of small game and when I got old enough I went with him. We hunted up into the the mid 80's when a lot of small game disappeared. The only thing that there is a lot of are geese,turkey,and deer around here.
 
We hunted a lot growing up. Ate everything we killed. Never
much cared for (and still don't) eating wild game. But I
absolutely loved the activity. Dads rule was/is you eat what
you kill. I still go occasionally but have a list of folks who'll
take it.

You are correct in there being little pressure. Hunting is a lot
easier now than back in the day.
 
I grew up in the 50's and we hunted squirrel every fall. Daddy usually had a squirrel dog of some kind. We used a .22 rifle and carried my grandfather's Volunteer 20 ga. but only shot it if the squirrel ran. Shells were just too expensive @5cents each. No deer were here in Miss. at that time where we lived. I still squirrel hunt, but not with a dog. Deer are plentiful, but I'm not mad at them like I was a few years ago. Wild quail are just about a thing of the past. We had plenty in the late50's and 60's and did hunt them then. We still eat the squirrels I kill, even though we don't have to depend on them for food.
 
Speaking of butchering an animal, wife's niece some how found out her dad, wife's brother, had the 4H steer butchered. Niece went vegetarian , still is, probably 50 plus years. I could add a lot more about hunting. When we were young, hunted ducks in fall also. I always liked to shoot the little green wing teals as they were harder to hit and didn't have so much of that darn duck to eat. In the winter we hunted jack rabbits and sold them to the mink farm. We usually got 25 cents each and I had to get at least 3 for every box of 22's to come out. Some times I would empty the whole magazine on one and never touch him and next time maybe get three or four. I soon learned that two or three well placed shots beat spraying the ground. Now days, if you see a jack rabbit you write home about it. In fact, in all the pheasant hunting I have done lately, the only jack I saw was this fall was splattered flat on the road.
 
When I was growing up, small game hunting, fishing, trapping etc, was still popular.

We had lots of ring neck pheasants, though most of the land was in use or not been idle long, so you mostly had old fence lines, hedgerows, and areas not suitable for use, and that's where most of the small game resided. I had a friend and his neighbor that used to come out for eastern cotton tail rabbits, once or twice per winter. This place is loaded with them to this day. Lots of habitat and I leave brush piles for them. Squirrels are abundant, more so now. We still have grouse here, somehow they survive, I've found nests with eggs in recent years. Turkeys are also abundant.

I don't hunt small game as often, but can starting right at my back door. I thought rabbit was pretty good as a kid, now they are loaded with ticks, but one thing is for sure, even with the coyotes, they are another source of meat if needed.

As a kid, there was nothing better than hunting, fishing, target shooting, plinking with a .22 or air rifle. I would read guns & ammo from cover to cover, still have all of them too. There was none of this nonsense about guns, and all this crap they put on us today. None of it ever crossed my mind as a kid, they were tools for various purposes and you looked forward to any time you were able to enjoy the privilege of having or using one.

Where I lived, still do today, was an old farm/small dairy with a huge house and 2 giant barns. The surrounding lands were all open, and we always had a friend or neighbor hunting small game at times, respectful of fences and livestock. I've heard so many times where people lived that was previously farm land that they hunted and was developed, lot of that happened in this region. When I think about what I am thankful for and as much as some of these critters can be a nuisance at times, you can't not appreciate them being here and doing, well. The land is generous with small game now and its at my disposal, so as much as I may hunt, I also try to respect them just the same.
 
I still go out squirrel hunting but it takes 4 or more to make a good meal so we freeze them Have 4 I think right now
 
(quoted from post at 10:34:12 01/28/15) If you've seen one, you will soon seen more than you want. They estimate there are close to 5 million wild hogs in Tx now.

With no natural predators capable of keeping the population in check, they reproduce very quickly. They compete withe the native wildlife for food and natural wildlife will start to decline in numbers.

They are extremely destructive. In Tx alone they cause millions of dollars in damage to crops, pasture and wildlife every year. You will understand when you find 1/4 to 1/2 acre rooted up over night and with small craters 4 ft across and over 2 ft deep.

If you take one, do not handle without rubber gloves. They can have some nasty diseases that can be transmitted to people.

The smaller ones, 100 lbs. are good eating, cook well done and you will be fine.

Yes, I had understood they were a big problem elsewhere. When we checked, there are places in Va with a problem. Not here... yet. Coyotes don't eat them? However, if 100 lbs is small, maybe the one here is something else?



mvphoto15629.jpg
 
Hunting small game was all my Dad and I did back in 40's,50's 60's. 4 beagles and run run run. Pheasants were a bonus to us. Got my boys in on the tailend in 70' and 80's. Then we quit until this year with the grandsons and 3 puppies. Of course we had to buy our own place to hunt now.
 
I hunt rabbits and coyotes, not for food, but as varmint control. They take spells of getting thick here, squirrels especially. I also work on coyotes and occasionally dogs that have been dumped and gone to the wild and vicious side. Haven't seen any locally, but they tell me wild hogs are moving this way.
 
(quoted from post at 20:03:19 01/28/15)
(quoted from post at 10:34:12 01/28/15) If you've seen one, you will soon seen more than you want. They estimate there are close to 5 million wild hogs in Tx now.

With no natural predators capable of keeping the population in check, they reproduce very quickly. They compete withe the native wildlife for food and natural wildlife will start to decline in numbers.

They are extremely destructive. In Tx alone they cause millions of dollars in damage to crops, pasture and wildlife every year. You will understand when you find 1/4 to 1/2 acre rooted up over night and with small craters 4 ft across and over 2 ft deep.

If you take one, do not handle without rubber gloves. They can have some nasty diseases that can be transmitted to people.

The smaller ones, 100 lbs. are good eating, cook well done and you will be fine.

Yes, I had understood they were a big problem elsewhere. When we checked, there are places in Va with a problem. Not here... yet. Coyotes don't eat them? However, if 100 lbs is small, maybe the one here is something else?



mvphoto15629.jpg

Maybe it's someone's pot bellied pig that escaped.
 
That was the first guess, but neither the photographer nor I have much idea of pigs. He was told that photo was not of a pot bellied pig. But it would have to be a lot more than soaking wet to tip 100 lbs.

I also called the few neighbors I have to ask if they were missing a pig. None were. Cats and dogs get dropped off occasionally, but pigs? Possible the reason none of us saw it again was it became a coyote dinner. Or maybe it went back to a distant home.

Nancy, forgot to thank you for your cautions about handling wild pigs. They are in Va, likely in my future, unless they don't like mountains. Javalinas in Arizona were my only experience. This one was not.
 
Can't get any 22 shells to hunt with. I was in a gun shop yesterday and they had a rack of neww 22 rifles told him they were worthless if you can't get ammo
 
I will shoot rabbits or squirrels with my 22 whenever there out
and about, if you want 22 shells just look online, I also hunt
coyotes and bigger game which I like to do more with a 7mm-
08
 
That's a very small one, probably less than a year old. They can have a wide range of colors and markings. One that size would be excellent on the smoker.

First one we ever saw on our place was a brindle colored boar. He weighed at least 300, maybe more. When they get that size, they are not good to eat.

Be careful around them. Their tusks get 4 inches easy and they can have a very bad temper.

We are hoping the bait that kills only hogs gets legalized this year.

We have some that are tearing up an area of the farm we call "the bottom". The area is very wet and we won't be able to fix the damage until mid-summer or later.

We've been seeing them late in the afternoon a bit after 4. Seems like they know when we have a gun and don't show up. If we're just out and about, we'll see them. Eventually, we'll have a led party.

Watch for their tracks. They are similar to a deer's, but rounder.
 
forgot to mention - since they travel in groups called "sounders" and are very protective, the coyotes don't even try.

The boars are solitary until its girlfriend time. The sows travel in groups of two or more along with their litters. Sows can have two to three litters of 6 or more a year. With no natural enemies, the population grows very quickly.

Here in Tx they are moving into urban areas. The hospital in Palestine, Tx had its lawn torn up by wild hogs. Here in Dallas, the city hired a professional trapper to get them out of the parks.

We attended a seminar given by Dr. Higginbotham. He had a pic taken with a game cam. There were 93 wild hogs in the pic. A group that large can do an incredible amount of damage.

They cause so much damage in farming areas, farmers will band together to hire a marksman and a helicopter. Our ag agent told us one of those hunts bagged 1100 hogs in two days.

Google "wild hog hunt".
 
Thank you Nancy, I sent both your posts to the guys leasing hunting here. We'll all be paying attention.

The guy sitting in his truck could hardly believe a pig sauntered up behind him, first thought it was a raccoon until it got closer. Pig paid no attention to him or his truck until he got out to try for a better photo.

Then it squealed loudly and tore off up that steep road. Very fortunate he got photos first.
 
Well, I would except coming home empty handed is no fun. No pheasants, quail, partridges, bunnies, thanks to coyotes. They've devestated small game. Turkeys are down too.
 
I go squirrel hunting and some rabbit hunting my dad usually
goes along to he doesn't hunt but he still goes he gets to be the
"dog" when we go rabbit hunting
 
Yikes. I already heard from one of my guys after my email to him, excited. They love hunting far more than I do, and are happy to shoot whatever I want. Sounds like we're going to expand what's in the freezer.

No crops here (I'm a tree farmer), except for my raised veggie beds at the house. If pigs find my compost pile I'll take action. In 20 years here the only problems have been 2 tomato-loving groundhogs, who didn't get many.

And now some non-tractor guys have benefited from your advice. Many thanks. Great forum.
 
They will sell you ammo if you buy a gun from them. I just bought a Henry lever action 22 and they brought out 400 rds. from behind the counter. There was none on the shelf.
 
I still hunt partridge up here in the north , they are plentiful and good eating, there are 2 types , spruce hens all dark meat and ruffed grouse all white meat . I prefer the latter because of less wild taste .

Larry -- Ontario
 
You talk about the " miserable job of cleaning and skinning" , I learned how to skin a squirrel before I was in high school. All it takes is a sharp knife and 2 minutes, ain't hard. We always had squirrel for supper on opening day, August 15. I have to agree that the older squirrels were tough, BUT the gravey and mashed potatoes were the best ever!
I have a friend, country boy. We were talking and he was talking about walking to school with friends, brothers and sisters a couple miles carrying their .22's . After school would hunt the way home it was the way things were done back then. And nobody got hurt!
joe
 
Grew up in the 40s and 50s on a farm. Hunting was a way of life. 1st gun I carried was a Remington 22 rifle hunting with my dad. If he saw a rabbit sitting, I would shoot it with the rifle. Next was a 20 gauge Springfield single shot. Don't hunt anymore, can't see that good. Don't want to kill any animals, just a few people.
 
My grandfather would hunt a lot of squirrel, and dad would hunt rabbits. I just end up working to much for that and wife won't cook them anyway. My mom would cook up anything they brought home.
 
I have a Bridge 20 ga single shot that my Granddad gave me when I was about 12. Sweet little shotgun, haven't found any history on the Bridge Gun Company.
 
I did some research on the Bridge Gun Co years ago.
They were bought by another company and eventually became part of a now modern company.
Just can't remember which one.
Richard in NW SC
 

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