Is this a new Squirrel disease

[NaturesRespect]

Hunting down south eastern MN over in the preston Lanesboro area and only 2 squirrels were taken. One fox squirrel and one gray. Braught them home boiled them and plucked the hairs, the fox squirrel was fine the gray one had red spots like chicken pox and my father was thinking fleas. We thre it in the freezer not knowing if its safe to eat or not. What do you guys think?

oh yea another thing the hunting sucked! all the people we hunt with either got a few like 3-6 or some got 1 or none like my dad and i. Not sure why but on our way to our preston lanesboro area we saw lots of thunder and it rained a couple times not alot just about 30 mins of sprinkles every now and then. Last year we went sunday to small games and usually all the squirrels would have been shot saturday already but we were able to harvest about 12 squirrels from my dad, uncle, and myself, however today one of my uncles was able to harvest 15 squirrels on a private land within our area.

any sugestions on WMA's around anoka county for me to get more squirrel? Dont want to drive 3 hours again down south lol

[picksbigwagon]

I have no idea about the red spots, we usually skin our squirrels. I have never seen them boiled and plucked before. I wish I could have gotten out squirrel hunting this weekend, I have to wait a couple more weeks before I can get down to SE MN and spend a few hours chasing tree rats.

You uncle hunted private land by himself and took 15 squirrels? that is more than twice the legal daily limit and is still one more than the possession limit.

[Archerysniper]

Picks bring a blowgun and I'll hang a stand next to mine lots of tree rats crawling on me today. The red spots I'm with pick's never plucked one before just skin them but guessing fleas after watching them scratch all day in the bow stand.

[picksbigwagon]

Hadn't thought about a blowgun, maybe I need a new hobby.................

[NaturesRespect]

so no one really knoes if this is a new squirrel disease or some known one?

[YoMan]

Last time I got a squirrel there was a tick on its ear. Bug bites?

[LightningBG]

Herpes

[Archerysniper]

Herpes

[Tom7227]

Looks to me that some sort of bug infested the animal and it scratched all the fur off trying to either dislodge the critters or just scratch the itch. Since it's not clear what it was/is I don't think I would take a chance eating it. Heck, I wouldn't pick something up that was that strange looking.

[Archerysniper]

Tom they had scaulded it to pull the fur off instead of skining it.

[bottom-bouncer]

however today one of my uncles was able to harvest 15 squirrels on a private land

theres a surprise.

[Tom7227]

Tom they had scaulded it to pull the fur off instead of skining it.

OK, but you don't really know what kind of infeaction or whatever was going on inside the critter. Probably not a big deal any more but I would bury it rather than eat it.

[Archerysniper]

I wouldn't eat it either. I have cleaned some nasty rabbits in the past also huge boils or loaded with tape worms gross but the clean ones are tastey.

[Archerysniper]

Nature when you clean them that way how do you cook them, makes me want to clean a few this weekend and try it. If it gets crispy like pork skin I will fry it in bacon and peanut oil.

[NaturesRespect]

I have no idea... i watched my dad pluck the hairs off then after it was nice and bald he used our open flame stove to kind of half cook and fry the squirrels skin or outer meat then he later boiled it or something with veggie oil. Its like making soup i guess were you get the meat nice and tan on the outside and then boil the rest somehow. Some experienced hands are needed to pluck fur i can tell you that lol my dad dips the squirrel in slow boiling water and plucks the hair, i cant even hold the squirrel after it takes a dip in the hot water!

[RumRiverRat]

You uncle hunted private land by himself and took 15 squirrels? that is more than twice the legal daily limit and is still one more than the possession limit.

I hope this is not true.

[NaturesRespect]

im pretty sure he was with his son and one other uncle though. party hunting so no harm done there

[BigJakeL]

looks like someone hit it with a shotgun at long range and the BBS didn't penitrate

[walleyehunter80]

why are you guys shooting squirls?

[gp13581]

Plucking fur? That's a new one. Why would you do that? I would say it's flea bites.

[The Grebe]

Yuk, that looks nasty! The scaulding makes it look worse! Maybe the little bugger took a load of #9 shot on its dying edge and lived to tell about it?

What do you do after you scauld it and pick it? Skin it? Why not just skin it?

[Whitefishnetter]

Be careful, tularemia is a dangerous disease carried by rodents, its a good idea to wear surgical gloves (12 cents each) when cleaning beaver, muskrats,rabbits and sguirrles. The virus is killed by cooking.