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Post by Clipper on Feb 15, 2013 20:56:18 GMT -5
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Post by clarencebunsen on Feb 15, 2013 21:24:16 GMT -5
I certainly had my share of squirrel growing up, not much different from rabbit. From an ethical standpoint why is this more objectionable than a fishing contest? I don't object to either.
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Post by Clipper on Feb 15, 2013 23:49:01 GMT -5
My first hunting experience was with a 22 rifle and a small game license. I spent hours in the woods hunting gray squirrels. I love squirrel stew. I will never forget the first time I shot a squirrel and put it in my game pouch in the back of my vest. The damn thing was infested with fleas and I was chewed all to hell before I got out of the woods. Always carried a game bag instead after that first experience. I have not hunted for squirrels in years, but down here in Tennessee they have fox squirrels. The fox squirrel is much like a gray squirrel but much larger and meatier. As long as a person is going to eat what they shoot, hunting is a great sport. I have eaten everything from woodchucks to racoons, and from deer and bears to moose and elk. The only game I would not shoot or eat again is a black bear. I was not fond of the meat no matter how it was cooked.
I had a friend here who has since passed away from brain cancer that used to hunt anything that walked, crawled for flew. He simply loved being in the outdoors, but was not crazy about wild game other than venison. He used to bring me rabbits and squirrels, already cleaned and skinned and ready for the pot. He also used to give me the occasional front quarters from the deer he shot so that I could make venison stew.
Fox squirrels sometimes weigh as much as a couple pounds dressed. I could not believe the size of them when he first brought me one. Two squirrels makes one heck of a big pot of stew.
After I get my knees replaced I hope to be able to walk the ridges here at least on a limited basis and hope to be able to hunt squirrels again. With all the oak, hickory and walnut trees around here I have to think that there is an abundance of mast and places that even a crippled up old goat like me could find a place to hunt. I also look forward to the possibility that I may be able to wade and trout fish again. I hope to get them both replaced before next fall, the timing contingent on Kathy's recovery from her back surgery that she is having a week from today at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem.
I am an avid bowler, and it has gotten to the point that I have to wear a knee brace on my right leg, and have to take a prescription pain tablet before I leave home and another one about half way through the second of the three games. It hurts like hell, but I simply love to bowl, haha. A glutton for punishment.
Sounds like the senator from Queens needs to come upstate and attend a wild game supper at some fish and game club. He will certainly have a better understanding of the desire to hunt wild game.
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