Squirrels

[gstoneberg]

I believe strings are made from rawhide.  Take a look here: http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,3042.0.html   If you want to try a squirrel string, what you have is probably perfect.  If you google squirrel rawhide bowstring you'll find some tutorials out there too.

Good luck.

George

[El Destructo]

You don't want to tan them....if you are going to make a string from them....you want Rawhide....either scrape.the fur off....or leave it on....don't matter and take the hide and start cutting a continuous strip a quarter inch wide....in a circle....till you end up with a curly cue piece of leather....do it again ...and then you are ready to start making a string..

[El Destructo]

Dang George...we must have been typing at  the same time....

[Cacatch]

El D-

So it takes a couple big squirrels to have enough for a string? I'm interested in trying this. But I think all we've got here in Indiana is fox squirrels.

CP

[El Destructo]

So whats the problem?  Are they protected?

[Cacatch]

Nooooo, actually I need some clarification - I always thought red and fox were the same, but I read in the link you put up where fox work the best for strings and red aren't as good. I meant to say I think we only have red here. Because ours are kind of small and pretty smart. Don't get me wrong, I still plan to try it no matter which they are. I just don't know the difference between red and fox, I always thought they were the same 

CP

[jeff halfrack]

   our   gray  squirrels  are  good  eating!!!  tender  and  taste  like  chicken!!!      dip  'em  in  franks  hot  sauce  for  an  hour  then  roll them  in flour and  fry  like  chicken   good  stuff.   whats  a  fox  squirrel???   3#'s  that  would  be  cool  JEFFW

[gstoneberg]

I guess we were El-D.    Isn't there even a tool out there to help you cut perfect rawhide lacing circles?

Everywhere I've lived we've used red and fox interchangeably to refer to what is really a fox squirrel.  There were gray squirrels in Illinois, but they were smarter, smaller and harder to get a shot at.  Our Texas fox squirrels look like this:


One time we got a trail cam picture of a more proficient squirrel hunter having success at the feeder:


Boy, the Moultrie sure takes better pictures than the Remington. 

George

[stickbender]

     There is a western red squirrel, which is a pain in the arse when hunting, and it is smaller than the grey squirrels.  The Fox squirrels down here in Florida, are reddish and grey, like a fox, and a black, and a reddish with some black.  They get pretty big.  Both the fox and grey squirrels are quite tasty.  My mother used to cook them with dumplings, just substitute the squirrel for the chicken.  She also used to fry them, like chicken.  Either way was delicious, but my favorite was squirrel and dumplings, with a side of field peas, and fried okra, and fried corn bread, a platter of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet and onions, oh man!  It just don't get any better!
                                                                                Wayne

[sailordad]

weve got all three here
the red squrriel is smaller and noisy as all get
then the gray,they are smarter than the red
thn the fox which is red/grey like fox,and much larger than the gray and also as smart

[mullet]

 Here is one of ours in Florida.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[sailordad]

thats cool Eddie 

but where did that squirrel ever find a taxidermist to make a mount of that kid 

[Badger]

  Eddie, that looks like and about the same size as the one I was talking baout, mine might be a bit fatter but looks about the same. Maybe it is a fox squirrel. Steve

[Cacatch]

Now the head on that one looks bigger and fatter than on the ones here, but ours are mostly the same color as that one. We do have greys here I know that, and as said above they are supersmart and fast, and then we have some that are red or reddish grey, but they don't seem quite as big as that guy. I will say this though, if you get ahold of a 2 year old or older male red he will have a tough hide. I tried to poke the tip of my freshly sharpened pocket knife through an old buck's hide once, and really had to work to get it in there. 

[wally]

He looks bigger than most grey squirrels here in England. Maybe they grow bigger there.
 Our native squirrel is the red which is smaller and more wary than the grey and usually solely a woodland animal. They grey was introduced here from America (I don't know why?) and being bigger and bolder than our red has virtually taken over and wiped out the red. The native reds are still strong in some areas of UK but the grey is taking over their territories and wiping them out gradually. The red is a protected species here now. I've never seen one around here in the south.