Crazy Camping Trip + Sriracha Teriyaki Grilled Squirrel
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| Behold, leviathan! |
I turned a ripe twenty five this year and in celebration me and a couple of friends decided to head out to Baltimore Bend conservation area for some fishing and squirrel hunting.
At least, that's what we thought we would be doing...
Alas, past the rolling, orchard laden hills of middle Missouri, laid perhaps one of my greatest adventure failures yet. Actually, the only failed adventure is an adventure not taken. I'll put that in my biography someday.
The main problem with fishing in that area was the lack of good bank spots along the Missouri river. We were too far to walk to potential spots or they were on private land. I had been hoping that the flood plains would be full and have fish, but they weren't.
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| Good morning America how are you...not well, not with you trundling past at 2am! |
Then there were the trains. Trains to make a person scream! 1am, freight train, 2am bigger freight train, 2:15am, the FREAKING POLAR EXPRESS!! *Sigh* Well, we did ask for it, taking the camping spot 100 yards away from train tracks.
Day two of the trip started with a failure of a squirrel hunt. I saw one grumpy squirrel, he flicked his tail a lot and barked at me, one baby who was in the world's thickest brambles, and heard rumors of others. No shots taken, no wee creatures bagged. So, we went searching for a fishing spot.
We actually caught three channel cat and some sunfish in this portion of the trip. Kudos for Stuart for getting them. Sunburned and exhausted, Stuart, Matt, and I returned to camp. Matt had to leave early and Stuart and I were billed to go another night. We decided to call an audible. We left Baltimore Bend, its mosquitos, trains, and mulberry bushes (which we'd tried to hunt), and came back to KC to try a spot a little closer to home.
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| My first fox squirrel! (No one shoots like Gaston, takes pics of boots like Gaston) |
We hunted an upland area and split up to cover the treeline in a field. Let's briefly talk squirrel tactics. When looking for squirrels, the type of trees are important. Hardwoods, mulberries, and Osage Orange trees have been the best producers for me. You'll know Osage Orange by its wild, twisty branches and hedge apples and mulberries by their fruit and waxy green leaves. It can be helpful to look for larger trees or patches of trees that stand out from the rest of the woods. Squirrel hotels, if you will.
Along an Osage Orange hedge, I posted and did the classic nutcracker call (tapping and rubbing shotgun shells together in an attempt to mimic the sound of squirrels eating), and lo and behold, a fox squirrel appeared just before I was going to move to another spot!
He was pretty high in the trees and there was a lot of leaf litter. I crept forward for a shot. The first got him, but didn't knock him down, so I had to shoot again. He was surprisingly large and according to the interwebs, Fox squirrels are generally larger than our suburban friend, the grey squirrel.
One thing I would've done differently this hunt, would be to take shots from farther away. I underestimated the reach of the 20 gauge I was using. After doing some research, it should be able to take out a squirrel at twenty or twenty five yards family easily. Thirty yards is close to the limit of effective range.
Stuart also managed to tag two.
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| Stuart's catch. His squirrels were more photogenic (alas) |
Our trip turned out to be a success! Well, except that I got apocalyptic chiggers. Let's put it this way; chiggers have no respect for privacy. If the remedy is bathing and calamine, I was the cala-man. I used that lotion so much I had pink fingers!
Here is the fruit of my labor, a wonderful recipe for your next squirrel acquisition. If you're too chicken for squirrel and eat, uh, chicken...well, point is, you can use other meat for it too.
Ingredients:
(squirrel)
1 squirrel
Teriyaki sauce
Sriracha
ginger
1 orange
sesame oil
(rice)
2 cups cooked and cooled white long grain rice
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of butter
1 1/2 cup of peas
1 carrot
baby portabella mushrooms
ginger root
half a cup green onions
2 cloves garlic
soy sauce
sesame oil
other high heat oil (coconut, grapeseed, ect.)
Method:
1. Clean squirrel. Save heart and livers if desired. Save ribs and spine for stock. Score the leg and arm meat so the brine will penetrate deeper.
2. Mix meat in with ginger and orange zest. Add three parts teriyaki to one part Sriracha into bowl with squirrel. Add one tablespoon of sesame oil.
3. Let sit for a few hours or overnight.
4. On the grill, heat it on high heat. You can put the stomach meat, heart, and other loose meat on skewers. Add brined squirrel. Get nice grill marks on the meat, about four or five minutes per side.
5. Serve with rice. Recipe below.
(rice)
1. Mince garlic and grate ginger to taste. Dice green onions.
2. Sitr fry eggs in butter. Set aside.
3. In a pan on medium high heat, add a tablespoon of sesame oil and a tablespoon of carrier oil. Stir fry green onions, garlic, and ginger. Set aside.
4. Stir fry carrots and peas.
5. Stir fry the rice, adding a little extra sesame oil. After the rice has been partially browned, add vegetables and two to three tablespoons of soy sauce (or to taste).
6. Continue to stir fry for a few more minutes. Make sure you taste the rice to see if it needs more soy sauce.
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