I have shot and eaten Squirrel. On my Grandfather’s farm in central Illinois. We used 22’s, not shotguns. Need more than 3 or 4 for a good meal.
People eating game is not that uncommon once you get outside of urban areas. Although yeah, a possum is rather like a very large rat. My late wife killed one in our yard once. I myself helped kill a duck and a couple chickens in the last 9 months. A lady friend has a small animal farm with quite a variety.
There are dangers, of course. Copilot helped refresh my memory: Conservation and Health Considerations
The bushmeat trade [wild game in Africa] is linked to wildlife depletion and zoonotic disease risks such as Ebola and HIV
Israel Hayom: “Smit Machchhar: Who is the Hero Flydubai captain” According to local outlets in India, the pilot who was stabbed by his co-pilot on the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv route is an Indian national called Smit Machchhar. His heroic action managed to alert crew and passengers – who intervened.
I’d second Shirehome’s observation… squirrel, like dove or quail, or even rabbit, requires more than 1 or 2 to get a meal for one person.
Most game isn’t awful…just need to know how to cook it.
Possum? Hard “No.”
The off duty pilots flying as passengers who took control and landed the plane were a Russian and a Ukrainian.
There will probably be a post on this, but let’s talk about the FlyDubai terror incident. From the sketchy information available, one pilot stabbed the other pilot, one of whom (either the stabber or the stabbee) was going to try to crash the plane, perhaps 9/11 style into a Tel-Aviv skyscraper. Passengers (apparently trained Israelis) helped subdue the terrorist pilot and also helped safely land the plane, despite a rudder that fell off during a steep high-speed descent. Flight 93 level heroism, and they averted a disaster.
Oops, didn’t see CE’s post before mine. So maybe they weren’t Israelis, but there were certainly Israelis on board the plane. We’ll learn more over the next 24 hours.
According to Caroline Glick 166 of 174 passengers were Israelis.
And too, there are Israelis who have come from both Russia and Ukraine.
One of the Israeli passengers who subdued the pilot-hijacker on board flydubai FZ 1073 told PM Netanyahu that the stabbed captain managed to open the cockpit door before collapsing. This enabled the passengers to enter and seize the attacker, as he was attempting to destroy the aircraft systems and crash the plane.
The British PM has come out:
__________________________________
Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, Burnham said: “There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford, but of course it remains an ongoing, complex, and serious police investigation.”
“We will say more in due course, but we can confirm our belief that we believe Iran to have played a part,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t be sharing further details at this time.
What the heck is going on? Did they release the perps to see who they might contact?
To eat squirrel, first you gotta skin it, not an easy task. Rabbit is a great food.
It sounds like it might be SOP to put backup pilots in among the passengers as a guard against the duty crew being taken out by terrorists.
I was on three Delta flights yesterday. On two of the three were people who looked like off-duty pilots.
huxley – you mean David Clayton was spouting right out of his a**hole?!?! Whoda thunkit? Admittedly you have to take into account the Labour PM could be a MAGA stooge …
To eat squirrel, first you gotta skin it…
My dad hunted, and I’ve eaten squirrel. Among my first and worst memories is seeing the skinned squirrels. Smell terrible too.
@David Clayton: Another lesson in not dragging out your in built assumptions before you see what the world is really like?
FOAF:
It appears that Clayton was speaking about himself.
_______________________
When you point your finger
‘Cause your plan fell through You got three more fingers
Pointing back at you, yeah
–Dire Straits, “Solid Rock”
I’m definitely vegan when it comes to squirrels. 🙂
Yuck. My border collie hates them and tries her darndest to kill them. But she won’t eat them. Making the kill is all that matters to her.
The classic cookbook Joy of Cooking has recipes for cooking squirrel, muskrat, and all manner of countryside critters.
There are other good reasons for not killing opossums, which are actually shy and gentle marsupials (not rodents). They eat ticks, slugs and other garden pests.
I watched a guy in Florida eat possum, years ago. Construction site, where I was picking up some extra labor work on my day off from the regular job, sitting with the rest of the guys in a shady spot, with their lunch boxes. He had a sandwich, white bread stuffed with possum meat. And as he held the sandwich up with both hands to take his next bite, the grease from the possum meat would run down his forearms and drip off his elbows. I was never curious about the possum culinary experience.
Our two klein poodles (smaller than “standard” much larger than “toy”) poodles (half sisters) had different prey drives, the elder would catch kill and eat squirrels in the back yard. Squirrels made complacent by neighbors who would feed them. Unfortunately, the squirrels can have parasites that aren’t good for dogs so we would immediately have to try to prevent consumption of the treasured prey, or promptly dose the poodle with dilute hydrogen peroxide after it had swallowed the squirrel. That induced vomiting out of the squirrel. Quite a mess, but necessary.
Only when vision loss in the hunting poodle set in were the squirrels safe. The other younger poodle would mostly just watch them; never caught and ate them. Her older half sister didn’t share her kills.
We still greatly miss both of them.
But the squirrels can safely “play.”
“The bushmeat trade [wild game in Africa] is linked to wildlife depletion and zoonotic disease risks such as Ebola and HIV”
I thought that Ebola and HIV were caused by contracting viruses. I didn’t realize you caught them from eating meat.
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I have shot and eaten Squirrel. On my Grandfather’s farm in central Illinois. We used 22’s, not shotguns. Need more than 3 or 4 for a good meal.
People eating game is not that uncommon once you get outside of urban areas. Although yeah, a possum is rather like a very large rat. My late wife killed one in our yard once. I myself helped kill a duck and a couple chickens in the last 9 months. A lady friend has a small animal farm with quite a variety.
There are dangers, of course. Copilot helped refresh my memory:
Conservation and Health Considerations
The bushmeat trade [wild game in Africa] is linked to wildlife depletion and zoonotic disease risks such as Ebola and HIV
Israel Hayom: “Smit Machchhar: Who is the Hero Flydubai captain” According to local outlets in India, the pilot who was stabbed by his co-pilot on the Dubai-to-Tel Aviv route is an Indian national called Smit Machchhar. His heroic action managed to alert crew and passengers – who intervened.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/09/30/flydubai-pilot-stabbed-tel-aviv/
I’d second Shirehome’s observation… squirrel, like dove or quail, or even rabbit, requires more than 1 or 2 to get a meal for one person.
Most game isn’t awful…just need to know how to cook it.
Possum? Hard “No.”
The off duty pilots flying as passengers who took control and landed the plane were a Russian and a Ukrainian.
There will probably be a post on this, but let’s talk about the FlyDubai terror incident. From the sketchy information available, one pilot stabbed the other pilot, one of whom (either the stabber or the stabbee) was going to try to crash the plane, perhaps 9/11 style into a Tel-Aviv skyscraper. Passengers (apparently trained Israelis) helped subdue the terrorist pilot and also helped safely land the plane, despite a rudder that fell off during a steep high-speed descent. Flight 93 level heroism, and they averted a disaster.
Oops, didn’t see CE’s post before mine. So maybe they weren’t Israelis, but there were certainly Israelis on board the plane. We’ll learn more over the next 24 hours.
According to Caroline Glick 166 of 174 passengers were Israelis.
And too, there are Israelis who have come from both Russia and Ukraine.
https://x.com/ariel_oseran/status/2105336165020717190
Re: Fairford incident
The British PM has come out:
__________________________________
Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, Burnham said: “There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford, but of course it remains an ongoing, complex, and serious police investigation.”
“We will say more in due course, but we can confirm our belief that we believe Iran to have played a part,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t be sharing further details at this time.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/30/uk/suspect-police-terrorism-uk-base-fairford-intl-hnk
__________________________________
What the heck is going on? Did they release the perps to see who they might contact?
To eat squirrel, first you gotta skin it, not an easy task. Rabbit is a great food.
It sounds like it might be SOP to put backup pilots in among the passengers as a guard against the duty crew being taken out by terrorists.
I was on three Delta flights yesterday. On two of the three were people who looked like off-duty pilots.
huxley – you mean David Clayton was spouting right out of his a**hole?!?! Whoda thunkit? Admittedly you have to take into account the Labour PM could be a MAGA stooge …
To eat squirrel, first you gotta skin it…
My dad hunted, and I’ve eaten squirrel. Among my first and worst memories is seeing the skinned squirrels. Smell terrible too.
@David Clayton: Another lesson in not dragging out your in built assumptions before you see what the world is really like?
FOAF:
It appears that Clayton was speaking about himself.
_______________________
When you point your finger
‘Cause your plan fell through
You got three more fingers
Pointing back at you, yeah
–Dire Straits, “Solid Rock”
I’m definitely vegan when it comes to squirrels. 🙂
Yuck. My border collie hates them and tries her darndest to kill them. But she won’t eat them. Making the kill is all that matters to her.
The classic cookbook Joy of Cooking has recipes for cooking squirrel, muskrat, and all manner of countryside critters.
There are other good reasons for not killing opossums, which are actually shy and gentle marsupials (not rodents). They eat ticks, slugs and other garden pests.
One of my favorite animal videos:
–Wildlife Rehab, “Opossums eating bananas” (45s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRIVTEBaLkA
Yes, opossums do a good job in the world.
I watched a guy in Florida eat possum, years ago. Construction site, where I was picking up some extra labor work on my day off from the regular job, sitting with the rest of the guys in a shady spot, with their lunch boxes. He had a sandwich, white bread stuffed with possum meat. And as he held the sandwich up with both hands to take his next bite, the grease from the possum meat would run down his forearms and drip off his elbows. I was never curious about the possum culinary experience.
Our two klein poodles (smaller than “standard” much larger than “toy”) poodles (half sisters) had different prey drives, the elder would catch kill and eat squirrels in the back yard. Squirrels made complacent by neighbors who would feed them. Unfortunately, the squirrels can have parasites that aren’t good for dogs so we would immediately have to try to prevent consumption of the treasured prey, or promptly dose the poodle with dilute hydrogen peroxide after it had swallowed the squirrel. That induced vomiting out of the squirrel. Quite a mess, but necessary.
Only when vision loss in the hunting poodle set in were the squirrels safe. The other younger poodle would mostly just watch them; never caught and ate them. Her older half sister didn’t share her kills.
We still greatly miss both of them.
But the squirrels can safely “play.”
“The bushmeat trade [wild game in Africa] is linked to wildlife depletion and zoonotic disease risks such as Ebola and HIV”
I thought that Ebola and HIV were caused by contracting viruses. I didn’t realize you caught them from eating meat.