Redneck Black Belt

Well, I finally earned it.

Today, I decided to get up before dawn to see if I could finally get the frigging groundhog that's been living under the house, chewing on the joists and shredding the insulation.

So I got my air-rifle, started my stake-out behind a tree and waited.

An hour and a half later...nothing.

Then I was given a gift.

Sitting back, I spotted one of my nemeses...a squirrel ran across the roof. Not only had I spotted one of the bastards that did all that damage last year, I caught the fucker right in the act. I watched it crawl to the very edge of the roof over the bedroom...and start chewing at the very area I had to repair last year.

It gave me a perfectly safe shot, And sat perfectly still.

Finally, I can give my seal of approval to the Storm XT's ability to take small game. I hit it perfectly right behind the eye and it went straight through...killing it instantly. It dropped like a stone.

That was when I decided to earn my redneck black-belt. I'd killed the squirrel as pest control...but I decided to clean it and eat it.

Cleaning it was MUCH harder that I thought it was. Apparently, the easiest way to clean a squirrel is to cut just behind its tail, stand on the tail and pull it's back legs upwards...apparently stripping most of the skin like a sweater.

It didn't work...mostly due to me cutting too deep on that first cut.

In the end, it took me almost 45 minutes to get the thing skinned, but I managed to clean it without rupturing the stomach and in the end saved both back legs that ended up like looking like honest-to-god cuts of meat.

Next time, if there is one, I'll know to be far more gentle with the first cut, and use a MUCH sharper knife.

I'm currently soaking them in slightly salted water to clean out the blood, and I plan on lightly breading them and frying them up later...I'll let you know how they taste.

Oh, did I mention I was wearing a camo shirt at the time? BONUS!!!