North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Sheridan Shumway <rattler_mt@yahoo.com>]

on tough meat with stressed critters........if yah age it for awhile it helps 
greatly. alot of hunters dont like the sharptail and sage grouse we have 
around here cause they say they are really gamey and tough......however i gut 
them and put them in the cooler rather quickly than place them in the extra 
fridge out in the garage, whole, feathers, head and all.....for a week than 
finish butchering them and cooking them......the meat is always tender and 
fairly mild, so long as i gut them rather soon after shooting....

never had tree squirrel as they are rather uncommon and never tried the 
ground squirrels we have around here cause most farmers put out 
poison.....have eaten rabbit and go out of my way occasionally to shoot a 
couple cottontails for the pot.....we eat alot of deer and when we get the 
chance elk and speed goats(pronghorn). we like to hang the meat for a week or 
so with the hide on if the garage is cool enough, if not we try to get them 
cut into quarters and such before rigor sets in and age them in coolers full 
of ice instead. we actively fish for walleye for the grill and lake trout for 
the smoker.

several relatives have farms and growing up i was present for the killing 
butchering of hundreds of livestock from chickens to beef.....i dont like 
killing for the sake of killing though i tend to shoot alot of ground 
squirrels due to them rearing up the roads at an uncles farm and of course 
bugs in the garden......most everything else other than the odd coyote, 
bobcat or fox winds up on the table after being killed......

thankfully i havent had big issues with fruit loss to critters other than 
yellow jackets going after my raspberries....so far...

Sheridan S.
northeast Montana
zone 3/4