Full Circle

Photos by Bill Davison.

My dad took me on my first squirrel hunt when I was 12 years old. The 40-acre beech-maple woodlot on a friend’s farm seemed like a vast wilderness to me at the time. When I got a little older I would walk out my back door in northern Ohio and head to Louie Brown’s farm. My friends and I baled hay on Louie’s dairy farm and had permission to hunt on the property. We hunted deer, squirrels and rabbits.

My early experiences hunting were motivated by a desire to be outdoors in nature mixed with the practical need for meat and money. In addition to hunting I also fished and ran a trap line in the mid-1980s when fur prices were high and I could get $4 for a muskrat pelt and $20 for a raccoon pelt. Hunting, fishing and trapping set me on a career path that started with joining the Army to get out of my small town, followed by three different colleges and a career as a wildlife biologist, organic farmer and Extension agent.

Moving every couple of years, having two sons, and running a diversified organic vegetable farm meant that I was unable to hunt often in the past 20 years. Now that I am in my mid-forties and my sons are 12 and 14, I have a strong desire to take up hunting again.

One of my biggest challenges is finding a place to go. Despite living in central Illinois for the past 20 years and working with farmers, I have struggled to gain consistent access to a place to hunt. Being an introverted Midwesterner doesn’t help with finding a place to go. I always feel like I am imposing on people, so I wait until I get to know someone before asking for permission to hunt. Of course in the process of getting to know someone I’d invariably find out that either they or someone else is already hunting on their land.

But then I got hooked on a few well-produced and thoughtful new hunting shows and podcasts, and I was motivated to reach out via social media and phone calls to find a place to go. This resulted in me getting access to a farm in Tazewell County 50 miles west of Normal. I also forced myself to drive 30 minutes to explore the nearest state conservation area, and I am glad that I did.

My new outlook on hunting makes me proud to be a hunter. I always had misgivings about hunting as I knew that I was in the minority and that people often equated hunting with killing and were not comfortable with the idea. Now I look for opportunities to be an ambassador for hunting and to model the best and most ethical behavior. I see that hunters can, in many ways, be the most effective conservationists, and that hunting can renew your spirit and provide a direct and tangible connection to nature. To be consistently successful requires great concentration, study, practice and hard-won skill. When you do succeed in killing a game animal, you are rewarded with the best quality meat you can get anywhere.

Preparing for the upcoming squirrel season, I purchased a Savage Mark II 22 rifle with a 2X7 Vortex scope and CCI subsonic rounds and spent an afternoon sighting it in and practicing shooting out to 50 yards. I set the scope to be zeroed at 50 yards, which means the trajectory of the subsonic round would have a point of impact aligned with the cross hairs at 20 and 50 yards. The point of impact is approximately 1/2 inch low at 10 yards and a 1/4 inch high at 30 to 40 yards. I was unsure what my maximum effective range would be with my new set up. I knew I could shoot 1/2 inch groups at 50 yards off a rest, but that was under ideal conditions.

I obtained a site permit for Mackinaw River Conservation Area and spent part of five days in January, after the close of archery deer season, hunting squirrels. It took me three days to get familiar with the property, find squirrels, and get close enough for a shot. Squirrels at the Mackinaw River Conservation Area that have been hunted in August and September quickly become wary and would not let me get within 100 yards of them. I learned where they were by listening to their scolding call before they ran off to safety. After exploring most of the property, I decided to take a different approach and snuck into an open ridgetop where I had seen squirrels before. I sat down against a downed tree with upturned roots that provided a good rest for my rifle.

Twenty minutes later I started to hear the telltale, continuous rustling of squirrels moving through leaves. Shortly thereafter I saw movement and then noticed the round shape of a squirrel sitting on the limb of a large oak tree. My first thought was that he was too far away, but he was not moving, so I got out my range finder and checked the distance—52 yards. I rested the rifle across the tree root and repositioned myself to find him in the scope. I put the crosshairs right behind his eye and held steady. I thought about my tight groups when I sighted in the rifle and decided that I could take a shot.

When I looked through the scope again the squirrel had moved and was now moving up the trunk. He circled behind the tree and disappeared. A few seconds later he came back around and sat up on another limb. I put the crosshairs on his head and when he started to move to go up the tree I shot. He did not react at all. He did not even look in my direction. I realized that I was far enough away, and the subsonic rounds were quiet enough, and that the squirrel did not know what was happening. I was dismayed at missing, but realized I had time for another shot. I took long slow breaths and focused on slowly squeezing the trigger. The outside world disappears during this moment of truth when you are fully engaged in concentration and matters of life and death. There was a light crack from the rifle and the squirrel fell out of the tree. It hit the ground with a thud followed by silence. I was as excited about this squirrel as the last deer that I shot. It is the experience of hunting that imparts value and makes memories, not the act of killing or collecting a trophy.

My sons are currently taking their hunter safety test online and I took them out with me to observe me hunting in hopes that they will choose to start hunting when the squirrel season opens in August. It is a struggle to compete for their time with sports, video games, and other easy and convenient urban activities. Fortunately, braised squirrel is a powerful motivator and that may just be what gives me two new hunting companions. People often fail to appreciate the quality of wild game, but that is usually the fault of the processor and cook. Most wild game meat starts out being exceptionally high quality, and if you handle it appropriately it is delicious. This holds true for squirrels, and this recipe highlights their quality and flavor.

Bill Davison is a Local Food System Educator for University of Illinois Extension. With his academic background in wildlife biology and 8 years as a diverse, small-scale organic farmer, Davison continually looks for ways to apply his insights into biology, ecology and agriculture to drive change in the local food system in Illinois. Davison grew up hunting, fishing and baling hay in a small, rural town in Ohio.

Pasta with Squirrel, Muscat and Cream

2 squirrels (or 1 rabbit), cut into braising portions Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 fennel bulb, sliced

1 onion, sliced

2 cups green cabbage, thinly sliced

3 cups Muscat or another sweet white wine

1 quart game bird stock, chicken stock or water

1 cup heavy cream

1 lemon, zested

¼ cup parsley, chopped

1 pound flat pasta

Directions

1. Season squirrel with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and lightly brown the squirrel on all sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
3. Add the fennel and onion to the pan and cook until softened but not browned, about 10 minutes.
4. Add the cabbage, wine, squirrel, and enough stock to cover the squirrel by 4 inches. Bring to a simmer, lower the heat, and cook until tender, 1 to 2 hours depending on the age of the squirrel. Add enough stock to the sauce to keep the squirrel submerged.
5. Once the squirrel is tender, remove from the sauce and let it cool slightly. Pick the meat from the squirrel and return it to the sauce; discard the bones.
6. Add the cream and continue to cook the sauce until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the lemon zest and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Keep the sauce warm over low heat.
7. Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil and add enough salt to make it taste like seawater. Add the pasta and cook just until tender, 10-12 minutes. Drain well in a colander. Add the cooked pasta to the warm sauce and toss to combine. Serve immediately on warm plates.

From Afield: A Chef’s Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish