James Wesley:
With respect to the recent posting on squirrel processing, I suggest that anyone seeking squirrels for food, not sport, leave the guns at home. Save the ammunition and preserve the silence. Use of a 110 Connibear trap
on the side of a tree is much more effective and surreptitious. There are a lot of ways to set them, but the easiest is to place a couple of screws into the side of a tree about an inch apart and set the trap so that it clamps itself to the screws while remaining in the horizontal plane. A bit of rag with peanut butter makes a great bait on the trigger whiskers. The usual caveats regarding fingers, pets, and children apply. Available for about $19 a trap and with a useful lifespan measured in decades, a dozen of these traps will put much more meat in the pot than a .22 rimfire ever can. Here is a picture of a similar set. I very much enjoy squirrel hunting, especially with dogs, but it’s more of a recreation than a harvest. – Will T.
