Monday, August 17, 2009

This is Martin. Martin went hunting this weekend, and he got this squirrel. This is the story of us and the squirrel. Martin is very proud.Martin is very happy.
Anja is very interested...

Martin brought the squirrel home and skinned him. Martin had never skinned a squirrel before, and he said the number one rule is, DON'T GET THE SQUIRREL HAIR ON THE MEAT. The squirrel hair, once on the meat, doesn't rinse off. It's like velcro. Well. ....Martin got squirrel hair on the meat.
And I picked it off, hair by hair, with my eyebrow tweezers.


We thought, "how will we cook the squirrel? BBQ? Crock pot?"
We grilled the squirrel. With seasoned salt and pepper and Tony Chachere's.
The squirrel didn't provide much meat. He was a very fat squirrel when he was just hanging by his dead tail, but once on the grill with all his fur gone, he didn't look like much. It was the perfect snack-for-two on a Sunday night, though. Martin ate the squirrel angrily, saying "MMM!! ME KILL SQUIRREL! ME EAT SQUIRREL! YUM!"
I ate the squirrel daintily, saying, "Mmm! I love to eat happy little frolicking squirrels!"

Theodore ate the squirrel ravenously, saying, "Just like when I was living in the wild and I would eat grilled squirrel....aaaaah, memories!"

It was a VERY tasty snack, and hopefully next time there will be more than one so we can fill our bellies full of good, frolicky squirrel. Yuuuuuummm yum!

...Stay tuned for raccoon season!

15 comments:

Clare said...

lol!! I was wondering if you would really eat the squirrel!! Nick showed me Martin's blog, and I commented there, but seriously... that is such a Virginia thing to do. So move here. We have TONS of squirrels EVERYWHERE. ;)

Martin Schap said...

It's an Indiana thing too! I think your idea of IN has been overly influenced by visiting Munster. We have LOTS of rednecks in the parts of the state that are not being annexed by Chicago. Sadly, squirrel hunting is not as widely practiced as it once was, but some of the older guys around here say opening day for squirrels used to be almost as big as opening day for deer. Annie's dad still remembered that opening day was August 15th and I bet he hasn't hunted since middle school or high school.

Ben Hatke said...

Woah! That's SO GREAT! What a "recession" thing to do. I'm inspired to try it myself, though since I'm still gunless for the moment I'll have to throw old paint cans or something at them and hope against hope.

Did you know we have bears in the neighborhood?

Anonymous said...

Annie and Martin! I loved this story about Squirrel Hunting! When I was a little girl, I remember my dad, God rest his soul, used to go to the earliest Mass he could find for the feast of the Assumption (ALWAYS a holy day back in the good old days) and then he and my uncles would go squirrel hunting on my grandfather's farm near Nashville, IN. They would come home with the dead little beasts and then we would have them for dinner. It was kind of silly, trying to eat the meat off of those little critters, especially for a family as big as ours. He had to kill a lot of them! But it was a ritual of Man over Beast, even if the beasts were so little. My dad died on August 14, not only 30 minutes before the feast of the Assumption, but 30 minutes before the start of Squirrel Season. I always thought that was very interesting in an odd sort of way. I hope my daughters read your blog because I had this conversation with one of them last week! mrsw

Joannie said...

I can't believe you're holding a squirrel over the sink. You are the woman I will never be. I can barely cook a chicken.

Shudder.

I'm sure Martin realizes he's one lucky guy. You can shoot a gun and hold a dead, skinned squirrel.

Shudder. (again)

Anne said...

I have to agree with Joannie. It took me awhile to adjust to holding a dead chicken...I'm pretty sure that I will never be able to cook a squirrel. But I'm kinda jealous that you can. It's okay for my house though because I'm even more sure that Peter will never shoot a squirrel and ask to eat it.

:o)

Anonymous said...

Annie: I wish your Grandma Snoopy were still alive. She knew how to cook raccoon...with potatoes and carrots. She didn't pass that knowledge on to me, however, and I've neither cooked nor eaten one.
I know she put it in a roasting pan and baked it in the oven, but I have no idea how long or what seasoning you use. I'll bet you could find out on Motherearth.com, though. When you start cooking possum, though, I'm outa here.
Love, mama

Anonymous said...

PS Annie, you're the only girl I can think of who would still look beautiful while picking the hairs off of a dead squirrel! And I'm not just saying that cause I'm yo mama.
Love, mama

Unknown said...

Bethany says I'm a real woman because I drink Jameson. I say you're a real woman because you can hold a dead squirrel and use your own tweezers on it. You are amazing. I want to help when it's rabbit season! With the cooking and eating that is. Martin is forever in charge of the shooting.

Anonymous said...

LOL Annie, you make my laugh! :o) This is a great story! It takes a lot to make me smile by reading something and this did! Ha Ha.

TO funny! :)

Justin.

Jill said...

Reading this post was so eerie because I had just had a conversation with my mom about squirrel season and how Grandpa used to love Aug. 15th because it meant he could go hunt squirrels. and i had no idea he did this until just the other day.

oh. look- my mom made the same comment....okay, i'm a little slow...

Jill said...

oh, and also- i remember in college my roommate's brother shot a squirrel and kept it in our fridge for awhile...I bet Kirtchner might remember that. or Sarah, for that matter...

Sarah said...

Jill, I have forgotten that, but I do always think of clint when I hear about squirrel hunting. I went to their house once over a break (with Kirchner) and Clint had furless squirrels soaking in the sink. I don't remember when happened to them after that, but I don't think we were around for their consumption.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of possum.....wasn't there a possum delivered to your childhood home one time long ago? I seem to remember a story......I guess that was your mom's chance to cook possum.
mrsw

Annie Hatke Schap said...

Mrs. Watson-
Yes!... and her name was Patsy!