The plan was pretty simple and straight forth. A group of close friends and I were all suffering from a case of cabin fever, locked inside you know after the recent blast of freezing rain, sleet and snow. We would join forces at our friend Edgar Cotton’s ranch in Kaufman County and shoot a mess of squirrels. After all the leaves are mostly off the trees and bushytails would be easy to locate, or so we thought.
Our group included Donny Lynch, a well-known squirrel dog breeder and trainer. Donny headquarters at Uncertain, Texas on Lake Caddo and has a reputation of producing some of the finest squirrel dogs in the country. The remainder of our group consisted of Edgar Cotton, his son David, Larry Weishuhn aka. “Mr. Whitetail”, Jeff Rice who produces our TV show “A Sportsmans Life”, Joe Dunn and yours truly.
The odds were definitely stacked in our favor, we had all sorts of plans of how to cook the many squirrels we were sure to bag. The hunt would be the focal part of upcoming articles in magazines as well as this great publication. The only problem was the squirrels didn’t read the script. There was a stiff wind out of the north and the little rascals decided to stay in their den trees and nest rather than be out foraging for acorns and elm buds as we expected!
Our plan was pretty basic, actually one of the easiest squirrel hunts I’ve ever been on. We drove the ranch roads, keeping our focus on the barren trees, hoping to spot any actively feeding squirrels or at least one basking in the sun. David would halt our little convoy from time to time at likely spots he hoped to encounter squirrels, and Donny would get out and let his champion giant rat terrier loose to sniff around and hopefully tree a squirrel.
A good squirrel dog depends upon his eyes and ears almost as much as his nose to locate his quarry. An experienced dog can hear the sound of squirrel’s claws on bark or spot a stationary squirrel quicker than the man he’s hunting with. But if the squirrels decide to stay out of the wind and eat acorns they have stored away, the hunt turns into a very relaxing and peaceful drive through the winter woods. Such was the case on this day.
After a couple hours of driving, watching the treetops and following the dog in likely areas, it became obvious the squirrels had plans of their own that didn’t include having a bunch of old guys with a dog and shotgun turning them into a pot of squirrel and dumplings or fried in cream gravy. Besides, it was getting late in the afternoon and Weishuhn had plans to be in a deer stand situated over a food plot the last couple hours of legal shooting time.
No fried squirrel for lunch, but I had smoked a pork loin and some chicken thighs, smoked links and baked a pile of sweet potatoes. Jeff Rice had just returned from an ice fishing trip in Minnesota and brought some brined and smoked walleye that was excellent. I noticed a jar of artichoke hearts on the table alongside the fish and some crackers and cream cheese.
For the life of me I couldn’t figure out what artichokes had to do with smoked fish until I was instructed on how to properly eat smoked fish, midwestern style. Spread a little cream cheese on the cracker and top it with a slice of smoked fish and bit of artichoke. The blend of the cheese and artichoke complements the fish perfectly and I learned a new and tasty way to enjoy fish.
Weishuhn had shot a fat doe the evening prior to the hunt and the meat was well chilled and gifted to our buddy Joe Dunn who was anxious for the fresh venison. After lunch Joe and I jumped on the job of butchering the deer, each of us yielding our skinning knives and attempting to work in unison.
I really think skinning and quartering a deer is best accomplished solo. It seems the twisting of the animal by two ‘skinners’ to get a better cutting angle is more of a hinderance than a help. Every time I had the animal in position for good cut, Joe would twist it a bit and vice versa.
Our friend Weishuhn walked by and offered to wrap up the skinning job for us. I’ve watched Larry use his knife many times and post haste motioned to Joe to step back and let a master skinner go to work. In no more than five minutes, the hide was off the deer and Joe and I proceeded to remove the quarters, backstraps and ‘sausage meat’ and pack in ice in Joe’s cooler.
While I’m bragging on Larry’s skills with a skinning knife, I’ll also mention his culinary skills, especially with boned chicken thighs. Larry’s signature dish is deboned chicken thighs grilled over very hot coals. He keeps the meat turning often and makes sure not to overcook the pieces.
The day after our squirrel hunt, the Cotton’s offered to go into town and treat everyone to Whataburgers but Larry had other ideas. He was thinking fried chicken thighs but after searching the cabinets he discovered the flour bin was empty. What to do? A seasoned veteran camp hand always has a plan B. He found a box of Triscuit crackers, the ones we had eaten the smoked fish with and turned the crackers into cracker meal. The consensus around camp was to never fry fish in flour again, the seasoned cracker meal resulted in a perfect well-seasoned crust on the chicken. Another favorite camp meal was born out of necessity and I’m sure Larry will be asked to prepare this dish many times in the future.
Not every outdoor outing result in a limit of fish or in this case squirrel for the frying pan but I bet everyone present will look back on this chilly winter squirrel hunt as a fond memory. We are already making plans for round two with the squirrels. Who knows, one of us might just come up with a new recipe for cooking squirrels! Wonder how they taste battered in Triscuit?
If you might wish to learn more about the squirrel dogs that Lynch breeds, contact him at 903-601-0671.
Listen to Luke’s weekly podcast “Catfish Radio with Luke Clayton and Friends” just about everywhere podcasts are found. Email Luke through his website www.catfishardio.org
