Long way to go for a squirrel...

[Lord v]

This Xmas we went to the in-laws and the rest of the wife's family in New Hampshire. Not the world's most populated region and plenty of wildlife around. Saw plenty of deer and wild turkeys, the turkeys being pretty brazen in the close season with a whole rafter just wandering down the road. 

My BiL suggested we should probably spend a day hunting, and with his back garden dispersing into over 4 square miles of forest it seemed very rude not to. 

A very early start was knocked on the head by the necessity of grappling with the Fish and Game office at 8am for a hunters permit for me. After confusing various layers of US officialdom with an SGC they decided that I really only qualified for an 'apprentice' liscence.

Now suitably qualified *cough* and $50 lighter we headed out in weather that even a northerner would describe as 'brisk' (-15c, over 1.5ft of snow on the ground and snowing heavily) armed with a no-name .22 and a 20 guage Mossberg pump. It's always encouraging to be handed a few slugs "just in case of coyotes and lions". 

On the menu for the day were game birds, rabbits and squirrel. Also coyote if seen.

The forest area was public land but in the control of the US army as it also acts as a flood relief area for the nearby town of Concord. The area was abandoned in the 80's and has a number of now derelict homes in it. The now defunct roads are used as snowmobile and ATV tracks. The really interesting bit were the old 'settlers homes', the now ruins of the homes and barns of the original settlers dating back to the mid 1600's. Getting pictures was difficult due to temperature (like hell was I taking my gloves off unless I had to) and the heavy snowfall.

Going was unsuprisingly heavy and slow. The snow meant we were very unlikely to sneak up on anything, but tracks would be very obvious. Things looked promising early on, managing to accidentally flush a partridge from a small patch of scrub in a large clearing. Sadly it went to ground in a very large island of small trees and scrub before I could get the gun to bear. A half hour trying to flush it from the island was fruitless so we left it. Lots of old deer tracks in evidence, as were squirrel and fresh coyote tracks.

After we left the clearing we went into dense forest - if you have seen the band of brothers episodes set in the Ardennes it was almost exactly like that, just more scrub.

Crazy amounts of deer tracks, droppings and rub in evidence and we geotagged a few good spots for high seats for the deer season. 

We saw lots of turkey, several rafters calling to each other accross the Forrest. Was superb to see them in their natural habitat. 

The weather was really inclement by this point and a lot of small game had gone to ground, however we weren't the only ones out hunting.... 

A large hawk came down from the top of one of the trees and perched briefly directly in front of us before launching off and snatching a song bird from a tree 30 yards away. An awesome sight and well worth the trip on its own.

This was quickly followed by spotting a squirrel at about 25 yards sat on a convenient branch. Having learnt from the partridge earlier the gun was a bit more ready and I added it to the bag. 

The next few hours were dead and comprised of lots of walking in heavy snow and scrub to see some cracking scenery but not much else.

In all we spent about 5 hours in the forest, which for one squirrel is a lot of work but honestly it was a brilliant experience with the scenery and other wildlife on show. I also got ice in my beard and felt exceptionally manly. 

All that remained was to return home for a beer and an elk burger (it's not unlike horse). Also a quick kip, I was knackered having walked about 5/6 miles in snow that was nearly to my knees.

Prep: 

Cook (meat rubbed in salt and pepper and pan fried untill cooked  through. Then simmered in a covered pan of red wine and onion for 40 minutes) and eat:

It genuinely tastes like the dark meat from a chicken! 

Hopefully I haven't bored anyone to tears and you enjoyed the write up. 

(Yes, it's a red squirrel. But to reiterate, this was the USA where they are viewed as a pest species and entirely legal to shoot)

Apologies for the massive pictures! 

Edited January 1, 2018 by Lord v

[bumpy22]

great write upsounds like a great few hours with a bonus squirrel to me well done

[Clodhopper]

Great read.?

[Fisheruk]

Excellent, can we have a PW meet there? Sounds an absolutely cracking place.

[winnie&bezza]

Absolutely fantastic write up and what a dream. I’d love to do that there. Elk burger sounds lovely.  Cheers

Edited January 1, 2018 by winnie&bezza

[hambone]

cracking write up, thanks for sharing 

[Honey Monster]

Doesn't look like a red squirrel to me. And there is no red squirrels in the US as far as I know

[Lord v]

It's a different species to ours ( Sciurus vulgaris).

But definitely an American red squirrel ( Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)

 

[Mice!]

not bored at all really enjoyed that, some effort put in for a squirrel but with the other wildlife a hawk taking a song bird and being out hunting in weather like you describe sounds amazing and I doubt you'll forget it in a hurry.

[Honey Monster]

Thx for info Lord.