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dr7197 · Member

I know this might seem silly, but here it goes.... It's been quite cold over the past 24 hours. Last night it dipped down into the high teens, not over 20 degrees f today.

Shot a squirrel yesterday, around 2
;30 pm. Not a good shot (darn scope problems). Watched it fall from the tree, and run to another and into a hole, where it stayed (at least for the next 45 minutes or so, when I gave up waiting for it to re-emerge for a finishing shot).

This afternoon, around 2:15, my son was walking around the tree it holed up, he found the expired squirrel on the ground.

Question: how safe would it be to eat this nutter? It's basically frozen, so.... Not yet sure where it was hit, but if it wasn't a gut shot (don't think it was because he said it was bleeding from the nose...) Assuming that its been down for 20 hrs or so, and I won't be able to get to it for another few hours. People are eating road-kill in the summer time, so I can't imagine this would be to bad... your thoughts?

Airhead · Member

if the meat is froozen, i personally dont see anything wrong! As long as the meat did have time to rought is should be good to eat.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Make sure it is the squirrel you shot before doing anything. Don't want to eat a dead rabid one and then find the one you shot later, still in the tree.

Mark5043 · Silver Status Member

dr7197 · Member

Thanks for the info! Well, I got home and checked it over. Not frozen solid, but well refridgerated!

When I shot it, I was aiming for the head, just below the ear. It appears that the pellet entered on the right side of the snout, almost the end of its nose, and came out the other side, below the eye. Apparently, didn't reach enough into the fuse box for an immediate kill. I never feel good about the animal suffering... thankful that we found it and it won't go to waste.

I've since removed the scope on the RWS 350, and re-installed the factory iron sights. I've never shot this with the open sights until after this happenend yesterday. I cannot believe how accurate this gun is now! I now know that it wasn't me being a terrible shot, or that there was something wrong with the gun. It was definately the scope(s) that I had that was causing the inaccuracies. Now, I can get nickle and dime sized groups on paper @ 30 and 40 yards. The only problem is that my eye sight "ain't what it used to be", and its very hard to see a small target at distance. I guess now I'll have to wait until I've got a 20-25 yard shot before I pull the trigger.

All the vitals looked good; no liver spots, pink lungs, etc. The meat did not have any strange smell, so we'll take our chances and include it in the next squirrel creole casserole!

Mark5043 · Silver Status Member

oddtodd · Silver Status Member

I like mine in a honey glaze and broiled. Twisted Evil

Mark5043 · Silver Status Member

shawnhu · Member

Glad that your gun is shooting well, and more importantly, you're not a horrible shot!

We should go hunting sometime if you're around the NYC area.

mod90 · Veteran Member

dr7197 · Member

jlwilliams · Veteran Member

A good way to test a dead animal is to pinkch some fur and tug on it. If the fur pulls out of the skin, it's decomposing enough that you shouldn't eat it. If the skin holds the fur, it's probably fine.

toadmyster223 · Senior Member

I'm sure most people eat plenty of processed garbage that is poisoning them far worse than a squirrel from their back yard will.

Mentolio · Veteran Member

Hey dr7197, could your scope have been "walking?" My Crosman Nitro Piston "springer" had HORRIBLE accuracy problems, until I noticed that the scope was moving...both the mounts on the receiver AND even the scope within its rings. I tried a few different ring combos (and am still looking for the "right one"), and found that when I could lock that sucker down tight enough, it was surprisingly accurate, even with the crappy scope it came with (which self destructed shortly after I got it "locked down"). Don't give up on the scope. My eye sight ain't so great either. I couldn't let a pellet go, confident that it would be a kill shot at greater than 15 yards, with this rifles iron sights. Gimme a scope that doesn't move (or break on the 10th shot), and I'll put a pellet right behind the eye at 30+ yards.

Hey, how was that frozen squirrel, anyway?

dr7197 · Member