Posted by NightSky on August 31, 2000 at 15:33:48:
In Reply to: Re: Of red and gray pootchie-boo squirrels posted by Many Flags on August 31, 2000 at 09:46:10:
: Oh, My....here we go!!
: I do not want to get into a discussion on meat or no meat, hunt or no hunt, etc, etc. Yes, I hunt squirrels, flintlock with shot, usually late season after Christmas and I go all 18th century clothing and accoutrements. Yes, I eat them, and at one time relied on a few meals of the critters to get my family through the winter (three growing children and my dear wife). They are grays which are larger than reds, reds having little meat on them but also much sassier. If you have reddish squirrels which are larger than grays, then they are fox squirrels which live in western Penn's Woods, not here where I live near Fort Carlisle and Harris Ferry and I roam north to the Fort Augusta area (MacWm. Chronicles!). I don't hunt the gray critters like I once did cause I have lost my taste for them, and I do not hunt an animal unless I use the animal. I do enjoy flintlocking after the critters, along with my .54 Berks Co. rifle and my Brown Bess, I have a .62 smoothbore (Centermark) which I use for squirrel. No different than our friends Hawkeye, Uncas, or Chinkachgook. 'Nuff said.
: Pax Aye! Slante' mhath!
: Many Flags
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Many Flags: The squirrels we have locally are also known as Clinch Mountain Red Squirrels. Evidently, they are indigenous to our small remote area only. I had never seen anything like them until I moved to this farm, and to tell you the truth, the first one I ever saw scared me, and I'm not easily frightened. The local hunter's say if you can bag one of these guys, then you're truly a hunter. They are very timid, rarely come closer than our back pasture, and are about the size of a half grown fox. They never carry their tail up, and have a face only a mother could love. Their expression looks like a cross between a bat and a rat (we keep the binoculars in the sun room). The wild turkey are easier to get close to than these guys.
And maybe you can answer another question for me. Why is it my husband loves to see groundhogs along the road and thinks they're cute, but looks for a gun the first sign of one on our property? They're the same critter - doesn't make sense to me.
Has fawn weaning time come to your area yet? It's sad here to see the little ones wondering around, like they've lost thier best friend. It's always scary this time of year, they get in the road and instead of going to either side when a car comes, they head straight up the middle more often than not. They are really left out now that the bucks have started growing their racks and mom's more interested in the deer version of loincloths than she is in her offspring. Makes me sad. Come the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and this valley will sound like WWIII has started. Nothing like the first day of deer season to set your teeth on edge.
One last thing: Isn't linen, cotton? And I just can't imagine wool in such a private place. Will have to think on that. And trying to think of it 250 years ago when the wool wasn't cleaned that well before it was woven. Glad I didn't have to do the laundry then!
NightSky