Tribute to a Dead Squirrel

Just to the right of my medulla oblongata | March 11, 2004 | Me, Myself and I

[shaggy eel]

I am a long time squirrel hunter who has skinned and eaten hundreds of squirrels

,,, I didn't know you could eat squirrels - what do they taste like? Don't say chicken, I genuinely don't know.

[shaggy eel]

,,, next time I'm in the US I'll have to try it. I've seen squirrels on the outskirts of Detroit, in London and in Japan, but never thought of them as "cookable".

[GovernmentShrinker]

I saw it with my own eyes. I don't know what the mechanism is, or how far up the tail it works, or whether it grows back. Perhaps there are even different subspecies of squirrels, with some having this feature and others not. But the gray-brown squirrel I saw crossing the road in White Plains, NY in 1994 definitely lost 2-3 inches off its tail, under the tire of a car, and kept on running without a hitch -- the lost bit of tail was clearly visible in the road after the car passed, and it wasn't just hair (I looked closely, as I'd never seen anything like this before). Since then I've noted a number of squirrels missing the ends of their tails, and figured they probably lost them to similar accidents.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Not to worry -- I can handle it :-)

But the thing that stood out about the whole incident was the lack of pause in the squirrel's forward momentum, as it lost a piece of its tail. If they don't have a life-preserving separation mechanism, I don't how that happened, unless that particular squirrel just had a weird anomaly in its tail. I assumed it was a life-preserving mechanism, since I know there are other animals which sport this feature (perhaps only reptiles though, and daddy-long-legs whose legs come off easily for this reason.)

[Terriergal]

but how often does one have the opportunity to fling a dead squirrel? Sometimes you just gotta carpe diem.

LOL!!!

Yeah I was gonna comment that it had nothign to do with decomposition. Doing that with a fresh squirrel would have likely had the same effects (trust me, done it before... even on something light as a chipmunk the tail will strip like a wire.).

I've seen lots of furry tailed rodents running around with parts of their tails missing likely from close run-ins with cats or dogs or cars or other hazards. Eventually the exposed bone falls off and they have a stubby brush the rest of their little lives.

[Terriergal]

And what do rabbits taste like? I've got two in traps already at our new house. Haven't seen anymore, but I have a gopher hole right next to our front walk, that's my next project. Don't think I'll be cooking a gopher. Say GE, how do you skin a rabbit or squirrel without getting loaded with fleas? That always turns me off, and I'd like to know how.

[shaggy eel]

,,, mmmmmmmmmmmm-MMMMMMMMMm, rabbit pie (with fur) for supper!

[Terriergal]

Hasenpfeffer!

I just saw fresh tracks this morning. Pesky widdle wabbits!