A Squirrel Hunt with Mason- Part 1- Success & Cooking

Last Christmas I gave my oldest son Mason a gift that I have wanted to give him for a long time, his first gun.  It wasn't much, just a cheap, single shot .410 shotgun.  However, to me it was symbolic.  I've taken Mason hunting a few times and on those trips we have had more days where we didn't harvest something than days where we have.  He's been a trooper on all of our hunts and rarely complained about the temperature or lack of activity.  He had also proven his ability to be responsible with his BB gun.  In my mind, he had proven himself ready and was at the age where I felt he was ready to be the one pulling the trigger.

A few days after receiving his gun, we set out on his first squirrel hunt.  The sun was out on an unseasonably warm December day and thankfully the ground was dry as well.  For a small stretch of road, we even drove on Mason Road.  My grandpa and his brother farmed this land and it is because of them that my son has his name.  Today, my uncle and his son farm the land that my mom and dad inherited.  It's a special place for a lot of reasons and the sentimentality is something that lingers in my mind every time I visit this place.  

We found some squirrel nests in some creek bottoms and saw some activity as we approached a spot that I wanted to sit for awhile.  We sat back to back and watched in opposite directions.  I banged a couple of quarters together because an old timer told me that helped catch the curiosity of squirrels.  About ten minutes into the hunt, Mason looked over his should in my direction and spotted a squirrel before I did.  I was pretty impressed by his eyes and attentiveness to be honest.  

After a little quiet coaching, he stood up slowly and snuck around a tree that was between him and the quarry.  He moved slowly and purposefully to get a better shot.  At one point I thought the tree rat was going to bolt, but instead it walked out on a branch and gave Mason a perfect shot.  With a single squeeze of the trigger my son completed his first successful hunt.  High fives were exchanged and more than a few hugs were given.  Prior to picking up the prey, we had a brief discussion about the circle of life and the reverence that life deserved when it gives it dies so others can survive.  I say it was brief because Mason reminded me that we have had this discussion a few times before.

Mason learned a few different lessons on this particular day but maybe the biggest lesson that he learned was that the real work begins after the trigger is pulled.  We gutted and cleaned the squirrel prior to taking it home.  Once we got home, we gave the meat a 24 hour bath in salt water and prepared the hide for tanning.  The next evening, we used the same recipe that I used to cook the turkey I harvested last spring (Mason was with me on that trip).  2/3 cups flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 3/4 teaspoons of pepper made for some good breading.  Mason, Cody, and I all enjoyed a little of the harvest as well as Wendy's son Collin.  Everyone agreed that it tasted like fried chicken...GOOD fried chicken!  

The next project that we took on was to tan the hide which we will get into tomorrow.