Warning! This is a hunting video. Some viewers may find it graphic. Use your best judgement. I'm hunting Fox and Grey Squirrels in NW Illinois. Then we clean them up and turn them into stuffed peppers. Yum!
He hunts, he cooks, he rebuilds obscure manual transmissions and he does it all with a sense of humour that's dryer than the Sahara... Thanks for another excellent channel Wes.
Honestly I was expecting a fine troubleshooting session on the Crock pot complete with wiring diagrams and multimeters. Kind of surprised really. Great video Wes, thank you for the second channel!
He was too busy cleaning and removing ALL evidence of ANY squirrel pieces and parts in the house BOFORE " white knuckle towing" gets back home!! LOL I notice she wasnt there or involved in this fine cuisine ....haha
here i sit ,mouth open, almost burnt my dinner fixation watching this. and praying for more videos like this. brings back fond memories for this old man. keep them coming please.
Love the content, Wes. I grew up hunting squirrels and rabbits in SW Missouri, also with a .22. We ate everything we killed. People who turn up their noses at squirrel are just uninformed snobs. Any day spent outdoors is better than the best day working.
No you are right on with Squirrels. At ten years old, I started squirrel hunting and rabbit hunting. My mother would make stew with them. We loved Squirrel and Rabbit season to come to Southern Illinois. Most families hunted them and there was different ways to make them but we relied on making stew over Polenta with a side dish of salad. I hunted with a 22 cal. and have carried a scar from a squirrel that I shot then run over and picked it up by the tail. He was only stunned and took a bite out of my left elbow. A box of 25 cartridges for forty cents a box. Enjoy your new channel.
My grandma used to cook up rabbit gravy and squirrel gravy depending on what my grandpa shot with his .410 shotgun or .22 rifle. She used fresh cow milk, flour, salt and pepper and fried game meat. Of course she served homemade biscuits to spoon the gravy over. Great video Wes……takes me back to a time folks lived off the land.
3 years I've been following your WWW channel and now, finally, a firearm in your hands. I can now breathe a sigh of relief as a fellow Illinoisan. You *_are_* one of us.
I’ve been watching your fix it channel for years and just stumbled upon this one. I started squirrel hunting when I was about 10 yrs old, well over a half century ago. I skinned them out exactly like your grandpa showed you. My son in law recently took my five year old grandson on a squirrel hunt. They got two of em…. And they made squirrel stew. Love the new channel. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I couldn't tell if this was serious at first, but then I got really into it. I gotta say, squirrel hunting seems way more fun than it sounded, and seeing it through to the end, from tree to plate. Awesome Wes, thanks for sharing! Digging the new channel
A retired imagineer who enjoys both channels ---unappreciated cottontails from the North Iowa flat land corn fields are my winter sport and comfort food.
Wes I've been hurting squirrels and other small game since I was 6 years old, my family enjoys going out and eating the game they shoot. I'm almost 60 years old now and my grandkids are asking questions about it. Makes me damn proud, keep up the great videos brother love both of your channels
Squirrel hunting in the UK is very different, if we use rimfires then the game has to be on the ground with a good backstop, so it's a case of stationary hides and very little movement, no dogs. Shotguns are used for when they're in trees. I was going to skip the video, but then your skinning section started which is well worth waiting for, and the rest was golden. Thanks for sharing your grandads method.
I don't get out hunting nearly enough and I've been wanting to go after some tree rats. Pretty sure I just learned more about cleaning squirrels from you than I have from actual tutorials. Subscribed!
Well, that takes me back to my youth in the wood growing up on the farm. Didn't have to walk as far as woods are a lot more plentiful in the Blueridge of Virginia. I remember cleaning a lot of squirrels and a lot of rabbits with my grandfather, with rabbits being his favorite critter to hunt. Rabbit gravy and biscuits still linger in my memories. I also hunted white tail and turkey but those hunts always seemed more stressful than the squirrels and rabbits.
Great video! I hunted squirrels with my grandfather many years ago and now I hunt squirrels with my grandsons. I spend much more time in the deer stand but the time hunting squirrels is always rewarding. Thanks for reminding me of good memories!
my high school girl friend was a Tennesee transplant to SW Mich & her Dad brought a squirrel hunting history with him. many a fall day was spent with him tramping Michigan woodlands harvesting those "tree rats" back in the 60's. glad to seethe proud tradition continue!
I loved this Wes!!! I hunted and ate squirrels growing up in central Illinois. My mom soaked them in saltwater and onions overnight and then fried like chicken. We loved it! Not controversial at all in my book! Thanks!
Why have you kept this channel a secret???????? Anyway The first day of squirrel season was a sacred day around here. Dads took their little sons and many years later those little sons grew up to take their aged Dads. It was a father/son bonding day for sure. I still shed a tear or two on opening day for my departed Dad. Overcast deary days are always the best for squirrel hunting. Something about their eyes…they don’t like sunny days. They also have short memories. If you see one getting away, sit quiet/still for 15 minutes… they generally come back. You are the only other squirrel hunter I’ve seen using a squirrel call. I’ve used one for years.
Squirrel hunting was our first experience hunting. Our mom would fry them up like fried chicken. My dad was a gunsmith, so we started with a 22, then 410, then 20 or 12 gauge, then hi-power. We learned the proper way of handling and shooting a gun. I'm 67 now and look back at those times as the best times of my life.
I grew up on a farm in Arkansas. Dad's rule was if you shoot it, you eat it. For that reason, I was not a duck hunter, but was a rabbit and squirrel hunter. Squirrel stew and dumplings was a favorite of mine. This needs to be on a different channel.. .. watch Wes play.
My father loved squirrel hunting (with a 22), I was raised hunting/cooking game, but I am more of a deer hunter now a days. My father was also an auto mechanic so I have always been a car guy, why I watch your original channel. I love your new channel. Kudos making hunting videos, I struggle just with myself hunting, can’t imagine videoing at the same time…thanks
I feel sorry for people who only know food comes from a store. I love groundhog chili too. Great video Wes. I had a grandfather who was an amazing hunter and fisherman.
Congrats on the new site. I was a licensed market hunter at age 15 in Louisiana in 1961. I was allowed to hunt rabbits and squirrel for money. It was a way the state had to keep the population of both in check. That's how I made my spending money and money to buy my school clothes. El Mirage, Arizona
@@watchweswingit Your right. At the same time alligator hunting was banned for about 20 years since they were becoming endangered. Now you have to watch out for them when going into the water and the squirrels are coming into town and eating up the pine trees. When I was hunting I used a Harrington and Richardson .410 shotgun with #6 and #7 1/2 shot. Not a .22. I enjoy your channels. Tom Boyte, GySgt. USMC, retired Vietnam 1965-66/1970-71
i really hope you keep up with this 2nd channel! too often i see creators make a 2nd and then neglect it. understandable since it's a lot of work, but still. keep up the great work homie! 🌚🖤
I have a deer blind set up near a walnut, an oak, and an apple tree. After watching a group of 6-8 squirrels enjoying the smorgasbord foe 5 afternoons, I decided to hunt squirrel. Got 5! They kept coming back in!! I made a batch of Buffalo wings outta squirrel. First time eating squirrel. Not bad! You are more than welcome to spend a week hunting here on my land in Ohio. Maybe next year when you bring my PowCon!!!
New subscriber to this channel which I just learned you had and I have to say I'm very impressed. I espeacially enjoyed the humorous part of the video awesome job Wes. Thank you very much for the recipe. Anyways enjoy your meal and have a blessed day. Aloha from Kansas
I'm loving your new channel!! I'm one of maybe a handful (I guess) of people hunting grey squirrels and eating them, in the UK. I have 2 ready for the pot in the fridge right now. Bit short of squirrel recipes, so this has made my day. I knew there had to be a reason why I liked your channels, keep 'em coming. Thanks for all your hard work & Mrs Wes.
Hey Wes! Enjoyed the video, & happily subscribed & I'm sure I'll enjoy it as much as your other channel. My Dad taught me & my siblings to fish along with cleaning them, but he wasn't a hunter, so I missed out on that as a skill although, when I was 16, he offered to but me either a 410 shotgun or a 22 rifle, & I opted for a Marlin semi-automatic (don't remember the model#). When I was 24 (I'm 65 now), a co-worker buddy had me come hunt w/him in the woods near his house for squirrel (sadly, the only hunt I've ever been on). We started when the sun was just starting to come up, & at his suggestion ended only about a hour& 1/2 later, & bagged only 1. He showed me how to skin/gut/wash it & after wrapping it in aluminum foil let me take it home. My late wife, who until her early teens had lived in the metropolitan Chicago area (she moved here to NE Alabama then, where I still am now), would NOT hear of or even consider trying to find a way to cook it, but our elderly neighbor lady most happily accepted it with joy! I asked her a few days later about how it went, & she said it was most enjoyable & gave her fond remembrances of her early life & childhood. While I'm not much of a cook, I still enjoyed you sharing the recipe. I did have one question though; I had heard growing up that with any wild meat, to get rid of the gamy taste, especially w/deer, you should 1st marinate it in a pot of buttermilk overnight in the refrigerator & then wash it before cooking. Is that only required for large game like deer if you don't take it to a processor? Anyway, did enjoy & look forward to more!
@@watchweswingit You may be right, but in my own personal experience, the 1 & only time (unfortunately) that someone blessed our family with some venison, Mom did NOT follow that advice & cooked it up, & it did NOT turn out/taste good at all! It's a shame, too, that we had our own source of fresh buttermilk from an Aunt of mine. I eventually DID get to try some grilled venison & it was SO delicious. BTW, my daughter was recently given some Bison that she cooked in a stew in the crock pot...I highly recommend it if you can score some somewhere, it's SO good! Also, thanks for the quick response!
@@Giovanni_Litterini You are right, sir, because after seeing your comment, I did a search & it is INDEED the model I once owned. Sadly, there were 2 mishaps that plagued me. 1, I wound up causing a slight crack in the stock, in the main body right behind the trigger, caused by me slipping on a U-Haul ramp during a Summer shower whist moving (UUUGGGHHH!!). 2. As a young married man, my wife & I had debt we had to clear up quick, so I belatedly took it to a pawn shop; the cracked stock made it a little more bearable taking it in, but still, in the end I never retrieved it. It was a great gun, the sights were so adaptable, I never really used the scope that came w/it! Thanks for helping me with my memory, I really do appreciate it!
@@alvon911 yeah, skinning them is easier when they are still warm and I think squirrel hunting season is in November. So it’s starting to get cooler outside.
Down south we use the vine shaking method to scatter squirrel from the nest. Great job for kids and keeps them entertained. Appreciate your efforts in making this, well done and nice job filming field to table.
used to squirrel hunt on Grandpa's farm, amongst the big Walnut and Oak trees in his wooded bottomland in Southern Iowa, Grandma cooked them and we ate them, just as good to eat as cottontail rabbits
It must be nice to be able to hunt small game with a semiautomatic rifle, the 10/22 is a fantastic gun and extremely accurate. You may want to try different ammo, .22 LR guns can be quite finicky with what ammo they like.
Nice one Wes. Good to see you out and about doing normal things as well as work stuff. Any chance of a rabbit hunting vid at some point. You mentioned them as well as squirrels that you hunt. This would be a good vid as everyone else who does ‘hunting vids’ does larger prey.
Great Video Wes. A friend of mine posted a video called "How to clean a turtle". A lot of people mistook that to be how to wash your pet turtle. They had an eye opening experience that day.
Great video. I’m not surprised that someone who can go from repairing welders, track loaders, diesel trucks and the modern pain in the butt check engine light classics knows how to hunt, clean and cook up a tasty dish of squirrel.
WAIT! I thought Illinois passed a law preventing the use of a-salt rifles and large magazines. Yep, that Ruger 10-22 can't be legal. LOL I too have land in Illinois, land of high taxes. My brother-in-law used to hunt squirrel all the time. That place is crawling with those Tree Rats! Excellent video. Keep up that good work and great content. I was very impressed with the camera shots. As you say, it's not easy to combine hunting and dragging a camera around. Thanks for doing that.
I gotta say you are a man with many talents, really enjoy the squirrel hunt the butchering and the meal prep. Just going out on a limb and say that your wife doesn't share your enthusiasm for squirrel! I have shot a lot of the rats but never had a hankering to try eating them! Keep it coming I enjoy your channels!
Thanks for not contaminating your principal channel with this "lifestyle" material (e.g., fishing trips, Caribbean cruises, flag salutes, swap meet visits, farm auctions, tool reviews etc.) and putting it over here. I did enjoy this squirrel hunt, though.
I picked up a 10/22 many years ago, looked just like yours. Discovered that they are a bit ammunition sensitive. Some brands grouped pretty well, many didn't. My fix was twofold. First I smoothed and lightened the trigger, they have terrible factory triggers. Mine is now around 3lb pull. Then I put a stainless bull barrel on it, fitted the stock. It shoots dime sized groups at sixty yards and with about anything I feed it. Sure, it's heavier to pack around but I consider the improvements worth it. We shoot "sage rats" out here, Richardson Ground Squirrels being the proper name. They also go by Flicker tail gophers. They're like tiny prairie dogs, full grown male is about 4-1/2" tall.
I’m with you 100%. Small game and especially squirrel hunting consumed a lot of my child and young adulthood. I’d say you had a decent outing. Miss some, get some. You are humbly honest about your marksmanship.it’s all about getting out and enjoying the sport of hunting, not being perfect. It’s a lot like fishing, some get away.
You're a man of many talents Wes, nice to see you relaxing and the Pup getting out into the field. I used to hunt squirrels on my friends farm with a .410 shotgun, they're good eating.
Wait I thought I was watching Watch Wes Work?!? 😅 Very excited to see your new channel, thanks for sharing all your videos, your content helps people more than you realize.
I have used Remington target ammunition in their blue box for more accurate and tighter groups. Frequent barrel cleaning will help avoid leading in the barrel. The standard velocity loading has less powder residue to coat the chamber and bolt face. The 40 grain solid will take squirrels without difficulty.
I have hunted squirrels most of my life. When younger with a bow and later with a shotgun. The way I prefer when I can, is with a 22 using shorts. I find using them with my SEMI-AUTO barely makes an audible sound. More like a cap gun than a rifle. Many times, I am able to shoot multiple squirrels without alarming the group.
you started your video w/a bang. Had an old timer that told me he shot squirrels for breakfast, when he was a kid, in Kentucky. Remember when those ruger semi's used to sell for $79.00. Good watch, huntin a good way for you to recharge so you can go to work at life in your shop & with your family.
Back decades ago when I used to hunt a bit I was out looking for grouse. I was on an old grown over road I saw a grouse up ahead, I raised my rifle a Cooey 22 and fired. The grouse did not even flinch. I fired again same result. I thought ok I might have missed once but never twice. I walked up to find a rock which from where I had been standing looked exactly like a grouse. From the literal hundreds of lead streaks on the rock I was obviously not the only person fooled. Cheers from the wilds of Canada where there is currently waist deep snow in my yard. ~ulrich
The title in the thumbnail for this video is just to funny! You have a GREAT sense of humor. Great video Wes. Thank you. We used to eat gray and fox squirrel all the time when I was growing up in Iowa. They are delicious. We moved to the Pacific Northwest and I tried eating a red pine squirrel. Don't ever do that.
I really enjoyed the hunt, brings back good memories. I noticed the wife didn't enjoy the feasting of the kill. I will have to try your recipe 😋. Good video young man!!
It sounds like you are a Texan at heart. I grew up hunting and eating tree rats. They are good, taste like dark meat chicken. If you ever decide to move to Texas you also could cut 95% of rust you would have to work on. Remember the little Chevy suv from Oklahoma, well we are farther south than them. Enjoy all your videos.
Memories... I use to hunt squirrels many year ago with a Ruger 22 as well. You reminded me of the time I fell through an icy creek crossing a rotten log ... haha it was cold. Thanks.
I live in upstate South Carolina. We have a lot of gray squirrels here but you have to go south to the middle of the state to find fox squirrels. I also have a 10/22 from the 70s.
Mortski is just envious. Squirrel Hunting is good fun and squirrels are some of the best wild game you can eat. We used to just run through the woods with shotguns. Far more effective way to fill the trunk. However. Sitting under a tree with a 22 is far more fun.
Enjoyed that vid Wes. I'll be interested to see how your second channel does. I've been thinking of doing the same for quite some time, just never pulled the trigger. (Pun...?) While their zoom capabilities are limited, I find filming outside with a gopro in 4k is a good option many times. You can digitally zoom quite a lot without losing too much quality since it's 4k. I wouldn't want to try and lug around my Canon doing that, it would work me to death. You need one of those fancy digital scopes that can film the shot automatically. Get the high resolution thermal for the low, low price of $8k...for hunting squirrels! 😂
Those little 1022's are a great gun, I've had one for 25 years anyhow, clean it good, a quick trigger job maybe a replacement hammer and you will be surprised how good it is. That and try a few different brands of amunition, duds and fliers can be largely avoided with the right ammunition.. for the bulk box stuff, mine likes Winchester and Federal, not Remington. and get the copper washed rounds if you can the waxed lead is dirtier and really sensitive to having a clean action.. if your rifle is slightly out of battery it will still fire, but you get inconsistent primer strikes and rifling engagement.
Dad got me up before sunrise as a kid to get to the woods around day break . Stake out a good spot and a tree and start watching and waiting . A real bitch on a cold morning .
American squirrels are very common in the UK. And as such are classed as introduced vermin. My Dad was a sort of Game Keeper on a large estate. He used to shoot a lot of these squirrels. And he would bring some home to eat. We roasted them. Not bad. The dogs didn't mind them either. Never seen that method of skinning. We used to gut them first with the fur on. peel out the back legs. Then pull the skin down over the head. Cut off at the neck. We did rabbits the same way. He also used to bring home all manner of birds. From Pheasant to Goose. As a kid I got sick of picking whatever he brought home. We even had swan and guinea fowl.
