"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

Squirrels are tasty! They are also cute and entertain my dog. We don't have a ton of them, though, so I haven't experienced a situation to give me reason for hate.
 
I am not terribly fond of squirrels myself, they are destructive little beasts. When I used to work in the telecom industry, they were the cause for a lot of grief, not only for me, who had to fix the damage, but also for my customers.

I remember one particular instance where I was called out to a home due to the homeowner's services not working. When I arrived, I noticed that the home was brand new and in a newly developed neighborhood. When it comes to troubleshooting, this can be either a really good thing or a really bad thing, a simple fix or a very complicated one. Once I had contacted the customer and determined the scope of her problems, I had her take me to her attic which is where most lines were run in the newer homes.

It was a walk-in attic and once I entered, the homeowner followed me in and promptly closed the door. I thought briefly that such an action was odd, but was quickly distracted by what I perceived as movement dancing from the corner of my eye. It was very dimly lit and there was a fair amount of clutter but I could swear that there was some thing or things flitting about in the rafters above me. Once my eyes had adjusted more, I began to notice the mess. Everything had chew marks, a cordless telephone with the antenna chewed off, corners of boxes that had been eaten through, lamp shades that were in pieces, wood stools that had been completely defaced.

Needless to say, I was a bit stunned. Definitely not what I was expecting in a brand new home. I soon caught a glimpse of the creatures that had attracted my attention to begin with. There were 2, potentially 3 squirrels running amok in this customer's attic. When I turned to address this with the owner, she somewhat nonchalantly stated that she had no idea how they got in there. Once I had discovered that pretty much all the exposed wiring in the attic (electrical, cable, phone) had been chewed on and in some places completely severed, I started noticing the peanut shells strewn about the attic floor and when I went outside to continue my investigation, I found even more out in the yard. The darned homeowner had been feeding them.

So yes, destructive little beasties..... And no offense to those who like squirrels, whenever we were up in the overhead lines we did our damnedest to knock the rodents off as they skittered across the strands... They chew up everything...
 
Thanks everybody for your support over my dismay at the attack on winter feeding stations.:thumbup: A Grease Sock is being prepared right now...birds and squirrels love these and they are slimy and unpleasant to handle. Maybe Mr Pathetic Vandal will keep off :cool:

About squirrels.:)

The great Swedish scientist, Linnaeus, helped us classify birds and other creatures in Latin so that we all might understand the differences of region or even language. The North American Grey Squirrel is actually a lot different from our native European Red Squirrel both in appearance and habits. The Grey sciurus [/I]carolinesis is about 25-32 cm plus tail weighing at 400-600g predominantly grey, no ear tufts, he is omnivorous eating seeds, nuts, fledglings, eggs and carrion. Prolific breeder and an invasive animal liking to get into dwellings. You lot seem to like eating them too...:eek:so OK. The Eurasian Red Squirrel, sciurus vulgaris is fox red in summer, some are brown and I've seen black ones, their coat is grey in winter. They have large ear tufts. 19-23cm plus tail and weights are 240-340 g so a good deal smaller than the N.American cousin. They eat seeds, nuts particularly hazel or cob, young shoots, fungi and berries. They seldom eat eggs or birds and being shy they very rarely invade human dwellings, nor are they prolific breeders either. We don't eat them....:barf:not even the French (as far as I know) who will often devour all manner of bizarre creatures (apologies jolipapa :D ) dine on them. But there you are, 'your' Squirrel is a thug who at least can be a source of tasty food :cool: In Britain, people introduced N.American Greys in the c19th they have all but displaced the native Red Squirrel except in isolated ares I hear. An aggressive coloniser and eco vandal it seems :grumpy::mad:

Here's squirrel that all fans of stainless can approve of sciurus gec-ensis

IMG_3497.jpg
 
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And that's a wrap! I am officially done work until next year! Now I have time to catch up on all the discussions and threads I've been meaning to.

I hope everyone has a VERY Merry Christmas!
 
r8shell said:
I heared they's good eatin' :D
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Years ago, my dad called me up on Saturday morning and asked me to come over, that he needed my help with something. I was there at his house within 30 minutes to see what he needed. "Son, I've got a hankering for squirrel and dumplins" he told me. "Ok... what do you propose?" I replied. "Well, I started teaching you how to shoot when you were young and now the Army has made you one of the finest shots I know" he said. "Well, Dad since I don't have a weapon designed for squirrel, what do you have in mind?". Dad reached behind a curtain and produced a 1953 J.C. Higgins Semi Automatic .22 rifle complete with 8x scope, his first gun. and handed it to me. "Ok, now I have the gun where are we going to find the squirrels?" Dad, grinned and said, "You're going to sit right there in that chair, crank out that window and thin my herd."

Now Mom and Dad's house is in a nice, quiet, secluded neighborhood. It's three stories, built into a wooded hillside and has lots of picture windows front and back. It's built into the hillside in a way that the front door is on the first floor, but the driveway leads to a carport, patio and back door on the second floor. The vantage point Dad was wanting me to take was in the den at one of the windows that cranks open onto the patio and aim to the wooded hillside. Did I mention this location is a quarter mile from the court house, sheriff's office, and jail, and that it is illegal to discharge a firearm within city limits?

"Dad, I can't fire this in city limits. Someone will hear and I'll end up arrested," I said. "That's why we're going to use shorts!" his excitement getting the best of him. "No one will hear it!" as he plopped the ammunition down in from of me. "You'll have to chamber each one manually because they don't have enough power to cycle the bolt, but they'll be hot enough to fly straight over the distance to the hillside,". I looked at Mom. "This is between you two. I'm out of it. And Sonny, you'd better not get our boy in trouble!" as she glared at him.

I chambered a round and then cranked out the window. Soon my first target appeared; a large well fed male. I sighted through scope, took a breath, held, and squeezed. I heard a soft pop, and the squirrel toppled off the branch with a bullet wound through his head. He was dead before he hit the ground. "Wow! That was softer than your pellet gun!" Mom didn't hear it and she was in the next room.

I harvested 14 squirrels that day. All of them were head shots. Dad and I cleaned them with his old Sodbuster Jr and my Uncle Henry Stockman. We had squirrel and dumplings that night and it was wonderful. I miss Dad bragging about what he gave the Army to work with. He's been gone seven years now, and I wish I could introduce him to the porch. He'd like the people here, and he'd have a story or two to tell.

Thank you Rachel for reminding me of one of my favorite days with my dad. The memory of it always makes me smile.
 
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Will Power said:
Thanks everybody for your support over my dismay at the attack on winter feeding stations.:thumbup: A Grease Sock is being prepared right now...birds and squirrels love these and they are slimy and unpleasant to handle. Maybe Mr Pathetic Vandal will keep off :cool:

About squirrels.:)

The great Swedish scientist, Linnaeus, helped us classify birds and other creatures in Latin so that we all might understand the differences of region or even language. The North American Grey Squirrel is actually a lot different from our native European Red Squirrel both in appearance and habits. The Grey sciurus [/I]carolinesis is about 25-32 cm plus tail weighing at 400-600g predominantly grey, no ear tufts, he is omnivorous eating seeds, nuts, fledglings, eggs and carrion. Prolific breeder and an invasive animal liking to get into dwellings. You lot seem to like eating them too...:eek:so OK. The Eurasian Red Squirrel, sciurus vulgaris is fox red in summer, some are brown and I've seen black ones, their coat is grey in winter. They have large ear tufts. 19-23cm plus tail and weights are 240-340 g so a good deal smaller than the N.American cousin. They eat seeds, nuts particularly hazel or cob, young shoots, fungi and berries. They seldom eat eggs or birds and being shy they very rarely invade human dwellings, nor are they prolific breeders either. We don't eat them....:barf:not even the French (as far as I know) who will often devour all manner of bizarre creatures (apologies jolipapa :D ) dine on them. But there you are, 'your' Squirrel is a thug who at least can be a source of tasty food :cool: In Britain, people introduced N.American Greys in the c19th they have all but displaced the native Red Squirrel except in isolated ares I hear. An aggressive coloniser and eco vandal it seems :grumpy::mad:

Here's squirrel that all fans of stainless can approve of sciurus gec-ensis

IMG_3497.jpg
Click to expand...


Will, you certainly did read in my mind, while reading the squirrel recipes, I was thinking that none of our Normands, Bretons or Basques navigators never had an idea of making a meal out of them and bringing it home! Neither do we with the invading bullfrog, btw. :D
I did not see any American squirrel when I was in North Hatley, South Québec, on the edge of a forest, only chipmuncks, really as funny as Chip 'n' Dale (we call them Tic & Tac).
The problem we had with our red squirrels is that they sometime carried rabies, but this has been eradicated since 2001 and now the red squirrel is a protected species.
The Grey Amarican squirrel has invaded Italy where reds are disappearing and it is expected to reach France in the next 25-30 years.
 
As Bob and Bing said of their issues with Dorothy Lamour when they found she'd been eaten by a tiger,
"We have to rise above it."
"Gotta rise."
 
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I bet I killed over 30 this year off my bird feeder, without exaggeration. All with the air pellet gun. + 2 possum, 4 raccoons, and too many chipmunks to count.
 
btmccutcheon said:
...
I harvested 14 squirrels that day. All of them were head shots. Dad and I cleaned them with his old Sodbuster Jr and my Uncle Henry Stockman. We had squirrel and dumplings that night and it was wonderful. I miss Dad bragging about what he gave the Army to work with. He's been gone seven years now, and I wish I could introduce him to the porch. He'd like the people here, and he'd have a story or two to tell.

Thank you Rachel for reminding me of one of my favorite days with my dad. The memory of it always makes me smile.
Click to expand...

Thank you, that's a great story. :D Your dad sounds like a hoot! I wish you could have introduced him to the porch, too.
You've got me thinking, though. I live right in town, and the law takes that kind of thing seriously around here. Maybe if I practice with one of those slingshots I've been seeing posted lately. ...
 
That's the plan here Rachel. The pellet rifle or slingshot. We're overrun with the varmits, and they've been getting destructive. There's going to be a few served up next year.
This one came from your neck of the woods. Google Pocket Predator. Bill Hays out of Waco.
fBpTNpU.jpg
 
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That's the ticket, Bob! :thumbup:

I've never hunted, but I'm not a vegetarian, so it would be hypocritical of me to rule out the idea of killing a few squirrels for food.
 
When squirrels get to many in my yard, I use a population control devise. I have a good recipe for Brunswick stew.

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Squirrel?

This ~80 year old Marlin .22LR rifle.

Last things it dispatched were five groundhogs making a wreck under a friend's friend's porch. Those didn't make it into the crockpot. They were buried.

P1000295.JPG
 
Nice kit there Carl. A Feinwerkbau and a Webley and Scott if I'm not mistaken.

We don't have squirrels here. But we have rabbits aplenty. This is my favourite air rifle: the Weihrauch HW97k springer in .22. It has a bit of weight to it, but it's an absolute accuracy machine as long as I do my bit.



Nice Marlin too, Leghog,

And I loved that story about your Dad btmccutcheon. What a fantastic memory. :thumbup:

Merry Christmas everyone! :)
 
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The next couple of days will be both hectic and wonderful for me as we celebrate Christmas with our family. I most likely won't have a chance to post here again until Monday. So I would like to say to all my friends here on the porch a heartfelt Merry Christmas At my age it seems that time between one year to the next is getting shorter. But all you wonderful folks here have made my year much better and I thank you for it.
 
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Randy,You are so right about friends making the year better.

Merry Christmas Everybody.
 
r redden said:
The next couple of days will be both hectic and wonderful for me as we celebrate Christmas with our family. I most likely won't have a chance to post here again until Monday. So I would like to say to all my friends here on the porch a heartfelt Merry Christmas At my age it seems that time between one year to the next is getting shorter. But all you wonderful folks here have made my year much better and I thank you for it.
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Merry Christmas to you and the family Pal.
 
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