whats your favorite small game

[rooster52]

What is your favorite small game animal to hunt and eat?

[Brent]

Eat-pheasant hands down

Shoot (at)- toss up, b-c the quail give you more opportunities, but they sure like switching directions in the area and cross the patterns of the other birds in the cover. Then again, I go upland hunting on the intent to shoot a rooster.

[grousehunter]

Grouse On Both Counts, Quail Are The Only Other Upland Bird That Are Found In Kentucky On A Regular Basis. We Have Few Woodcock,Sometimes.

[hunter168908]

i like pheasant hunting but only saw about 12 this year didn't get any i got 1 lonely quail i like to hunt rabbits and any birds. i'm a young kid so i hunt about any small game if a can hit it those **** rabbits to fast any suggestions on how i can hit them or practice so i can hit them.

[rooster52]

Keep huntin and keep shootin,you will get better with experience,most of all have fun!!

[870SPECIALPURPOSE]

The first memory I have of hunting is dove season. I was to small even for a 410, but my dad would let me take a BB gun. I mostly shot trees and things and if I was lucky I got to finish a few doves off. Then after I graduated to real guns (shotgun & 22) I would go squirral hunting every day after school. As years passed so did my game of choice, deer, quail, rabbit, etc. If there is a season for it I hunted it.
But now I mainly duck hunt. Sure I still hunt the others but not as often as I once did. Duck Hunting is my favorite!

[Flatcoat1]

Favorite small game - squirrel. Eat - squirrel. Why? Don't know. Probably because that was the first real hunt I went on. They are plentiful usually, easy to fix, a long season and my son likes to go with me to get them (he is not old enough to hunt yet). Our season starts Aug. 15 and goes to Jan 31. I love'em fried and boiled with dumplings. This was the first meat that my son really liked. At age three he could - and would - eat a whole squirrel! (If we had chicken and I told him it was a giant squirrel leg he would eat it!) Like may of the posts - I like to hunt . . . anything. Just being outside and enjoying the time there is it. Eating what you take is just special . . . and a time to give thanks to the Creator. (Who else would give us those beautiful sunrises/sunsets, the non-game animals and the love of the outdoors.

[rem 700]

To eat? Pheasant. To hunt? Geese.

[xtrema]

Eat,dove.Hunt,ptarmigan.

[smallgamehunter]

rabbits and squirrels

[Dclewis]

For food its got to be a toss up between Pheasant and Ruffed Grouse. For the hunt its like they say;

If it Runs, it's Done

If it Fly's, it Dies

From the North it tastes like Chicken

From the South its finger Lick'n

From the East I'll cook on wood

From the West, **** Its All Good!

Grab your gun either Old or New

Pull the Trigger and cook some Stew

Dave

[Obsessed]

Rabbits We have rabbits all over our farm. The dirty buggers only show when your not hunting. If we get a fresh snow, it only takes one night and the ground is littered with rabbit tracks. It is amazing. I like to hunt other small game too but rabbits are the only ones I have grudge against

[birdhunter]

hunt quail, nothing compares to the sound of the flushing quail. eat quail also........i know i am biased............lol

[wranglerdude]

I love to hunt bobwhite quail but there aren't many any more. Good to eat too. I guess I need to get out and hunt squirrels and rabbits again. When I was a kid, I was always out killing'em and bringing'em home. Mom would cook them up. Seems squirrel was better than rabbit.

All this talk of fried squirrel is making crave some. What are some good receipes for squirrel and rabbit?

[DinkKiller]

To Eat: Blue Grouse

To Hunt: Geese

[257Magnum]

Both on the same account; Chukar. **** I love this time of year!!!!!!

[timberwolf61]

squirrel& rabbit but I still cant skin em without removin all the hair any sugestions on how to remove the hair before cooking?

[smallgameonly]

eat squrills hunt doves

[plentywood]

Prarie Dogs

[winchesterwon]

Heres the easy way to clean squirrel. Lift up the tail and cut directly above the anus all the way through the tail bone. DO NOT cut through the skin on the far side. Now continue this cut at about a 45 degree angle toward the hind quarters on each side of the tail. Lay the squirrel on his back with his tail facing you. Step on the tail as close to his butt as possible. Grab ahold of his back legs and pull up towards you. You will pull the squirrel right out of his hide. You will have to stop at the front legs and help pull them out. Then while still holding the hide with your foot and the squirrel with one hand, reach down and make a slice at the neck . There will still be hide left on the hind legs. Just stick your finger in there and pull it of like a sock. The first time you try this the tail might come off. The key is to not cut to far through the tail , and that half inch cut down each side to help the hide come off. Once you master it squirrel cleaning is pretty easy. Heck you wont even get any hair on the squirrel.

[Chubminr]

I call it hunting, some call it fishing, but my favorite small game is frogs, Bullfrogs and Greenfrogs. The little critters are really a blast when the only way you take them is by hand, no guns or gigs, no nets or hooks, just your hands and a good flashlight.
Frog, big frog, he's just singing his song while feeling all safe away back in that rootwad. Little does he know that the light in his eyes is planning on eating him. The farther back in the weeds or deep in the tree roots the more fun it is, the harder the better.
I don't do much in the ponds, I like to float the river, you take one bank and your buddy takes the other. They will give themselves away when the light hits them. Now you are out of the boat and chest deep in slow water. The real trick is keeping it blinded and not making a ripple in the water, if you do you are busted. When you get close enough you go for it, you grab him. Try it if you haven't. I can't get enough of it!
The eating is even better!

John

[gportra]

I love hunting squirrel and eating it is not half bad either. I think I only like to eat it bc it gives me a reason to go hunting.

[plentywood]

Do you really eat squirell?

[ras_f250]

I like grouse rabbit squrriel any day :)

[Hotshot57]

Dove is my favorite small game animal: fast-action, exciting hunting, good taste.

[robfleck2]

Dove is my favorite small game/upland game. It may be my favorite game of all. There is nothing more civilized than a dove hunt.

- rob

[coonkiller]

my fav small game to hunt is sparrows whith a pump master 760 made by cross man

[Flatcoat1]

Plentywood, yes we eat squirrel. Really quite good. Nothing like a young grey squirrel fried up in the early fall. Served up with some corn on the cob while camping out is great! I can remember when we (young kids that we once were) would spend the weekend hunting in the morning and early evening. Get a limit of squirrel and set the trot line at the lake and then set out our fishing poles using squirrel entrails for bait. Lucky for us at times that home was not too far away to store the fish and game we had. Winchesterwon had it on the nose how to clean a squirrel. We keep a pair of side-cuts for cutting the legs off. Flatcoat

[fezanthunter]

Pheasants of course...

[Lodiman]

I like pheasant s and all small upland game birds. Ducks and geese can be fun as wel. But the small game with the longest funnest season is the cottontail. We can hunt every weekend and stil get shots.Heck, me and my oldest got up 7 or 8 last sun. not hunting hard. He got one big fat one and missed several times, and I wa sout for yote and never got one to stay still ewnough for my 6.5.06

[rooster52]

Squirrel is my favorite to hunt and eat but varmint hunting is lots of fun to,have made a few trips to Wyoming to shoot prarie dogs ,lots of fun and the ranchers want them gone! And it is FREE!

[hardisk]

i like going after rabbits. I havnt had the chance to eat them yet any one knw how they taste? I like rabbit hunting because there so easy to hunt but what makes it really fun is using a gun that shoots high and nobody tells you until you have only managed to shoot one rabbit :)

[luie b]

i like pheasant hunting but only saw about 12 this year didn't get any i got 1 lonely quail i like to hunt rabbits and any birds. i'm a young kid so i hunt about any small game if a can hit it those **** rabbits to fast any suggestions on how i can hit them or practice so i can hit them.

Do you use a .22 or shotgun on rabbits? If you use a .22 make sure you get a lead when you're shooting. If you use a shotgun all you can do is just aim. I am a 14 year old kid and I got 6 rabbits with a Henry lever action .22 with no scope.

[bearhunter]

I love to hunt rabbits most. They taste REALLY good too!

[mstarbird2000]

Mostly I hunt partridge. I have hunted some pheasent with out much luck. Haven't seen a Quail in the wild in about 25 years!!! Rabbits are good eating but ever time I hunt rabbits I don't see any. I see plenty during deer season and quite often when hunting with a shot gun I take bird shot out with me just for them speedy little critters. Though the rabbit has to make it sporting. If it just sits there at my feet and don't move then I tend to let them go. A 12 ga at two feet make more mess then its worth!!!!

[tat37]

Rabbit, or snow shoe hare realy. I love the sound of a beagle running a bunny! I met a guy when I was in my early teens who took me and over 20 years later we are still great friends and hunting buddies. I even made him be in my wedding last year. Camo vests and all.

[bushface]

A little off the subject but I thought some may enjoy. I knew a guy that had a large vacate lot and he put a chain link fence around it. He added pipes and other things at cottontail like to hide in. Then he added cottontails. Every week or 2, he took his beagles to that lot and enjoyed hearing them run the rabbits.

[luie b]

My favorite small game to hunt is squirrel but I prefer eating rabbits.

[aussie21]

i like pheasant hunting but only saw about 12 this year didn't get any i got 1 lonely quail i like to hunt rabbits and any birds. i'm a young kid so i hunt about any small game if a can hit it those **** rabbits to fast any suggestions on how i can hit them or practice so i can hit them.



just practice with a 22 and try for head shots only even when running and you get the hang of it

[aussie21]

i love shootin doves when they come in at dusk over water, valley quail would be second, then mountain quail, then rabbits

[.22]

Definately squirrels for me. There seems to be a nearly unlimited supply around here, unlike cottontails which have all but died off, and they are a challenge running through the trees while you are trying to hit them with a .22

[H2O Dog]

I just moved back to the east coast from Alaska, but back there it was ptarmigan.

H2O Dog

[.22]

I just moved back to the east coast from Alaska, but back there it was ptarmigan.

H2O Dog

Why would you do such a thing?! =o

[bobus]

they let us hunt wild hogs in small game season, but when i lived in pa i loved hunting ruffeled grouse.

[camoclad]

i like pheasant hunting but only saw about 12 this year didn't get any i got 1 lonely quail i like to hunt rabbits and any birds. i'm a young kid so i hunt about any small game if a can hit it those **** rabbits to fast any suggestions on how i can hit them or practice so i can hit them.

In order to hit rabbits these are some of the rules I follow and I kill many of them, over 60 last year alone. If a rabbit is running away from you aim between the ears. If it's running across in front of you aim about 6 inches in front of it. If it's running towards you aim at the ground in front of it. Alot of times people want to shoot as soon as they see the rabbit and sometimes I catch myself doing the same thing, but try to get into the habbit of letting them get out in front of you a little before you fire. This allows your pattern to open up a little more and allows you to take better aim. The first year I hunted rabbits I couldn't hit them to save my life, now it's like I can't miss. I shoot alot of claybirds which I throw with a hand launcher and with the hand launcher you can get the claybirds pretty close to the ground. That may help you a little. Also try finding a place that has skeet shooting, in skeet the targets move across the ground instead of in the air. Hope this helps improve your shooting. Good Luck!

[camoclad]

Do you really eat squirell?

Yes I do and why wouldn't you? We as sportsman are supposed to utilize the animals we harvest to the best of our capabilities. That's our responsibility. I don't know where you are but in PA it is against the law to willfully waste a harvested animal.

[madcatter]

would shooting them to peices with 7.5 shot be considered willful?

[dukethepcdr]

Quail are a lot of fun to hunt. Especially when you are with someone who has a good, well trained bird dog. Pheasant are a close second. Just being out there in the fall walking along watching the dog work, then suddenly having one or several birds flush up right in front of you is great fun.

As far as eating goes, if I had to pick just one I'd say pheasant. Has a nice, mild taste compared to a lot of small-game birds.