When I was very young, my grandmother and great grandmother sold their houses in town and built a new home at the family complex in an area of farmland and woods so that they could look after each other in old age. My great grandmother loved birds and had no less than a dozen bird feeders hanging off of her deck.
The problem with bird feeders is squirrels (and raccoon, but that's a story for another day). Squirrels are murder on bird feeders. Not only do they scare away the birds, but they also spill all of the feed on the ground and break the feeders. There are a lot of squirrels in Maine.
So what's a octogenarian with a squirrel problem to do? Call in the guns. Literally.
My great grandmother enlisted the help of my cousins and uncles and their hunting equipment to take care of her little problem. On occasion, she would pick up the (always loaded) shotgun by the door and take aim herself. Then there was the method of reward.
Squirrel Stew.
Yes, my great grandmother dressed the squirrels in her kitchen and then created "food" out of them.
Because of this, I know what squirrels make "good" stew and what squirrels won't do. So in Maine, we have two varieties of squirrels, there are the red squirrels which more closely resemble chipmunks and then there are the bigger gray squirrels. Both of these varieties can be used for stew, but the red squirrels can only be used if they are killed with a clean shot to the head. The gray squirrels, which are bigger and yield more meat, could be shot by a less accurate marksman. It also takes several more red squirrels to make a meaty stew, so it either has to be a really good day for the hunters, or the stew is really thin. It only takes a few gray squirrels to make it worth making stew.
I drew the line at squirrel stew and would never even try it. Which may come as a surprise when you read about what else I would eat in later entries.
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