Author Topic: Went squirrel hunting today (Read 948 times)

DaveH · « **on:** September 14, 2004, 11:29:02 AM »

After work me and my new hunting buddy went out in the woods after Mr. Bushytail. I'm able to hunt right on the ANMCC property, which is good not much pressure on the wildlife there. Squirrels were all over the place it only took us about hour and half to limt out. The only problem is that over half of them were infested with botfly/warble fly larvae. These thing are gross..... I swear one of my squirrels committed suicide he saw me and started barking and jumping up and down like please shoot me. If any of you don't know what a BOTFLY is look at this web site:

http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/dxendopar/parasitepages/unknown/cutebra.html

fuzzy · « **Reply #1 on:** September 14, 2004, 12:44:52 PM »

Hi dave. Glad u made it back in one peice. Ive always watied for frist frozt before hunting just because of bug`s Rich

DaveH · « **Reply #2 on:** September 14, 2004, 01:02:00 PM »

Needless to say we won't be eating any of the infested squirrels. Of what I have been reading the first frost does nothing to curb the larvaes life cycle.. I talk to a biologist from Maryalnd's DNR tonight and he is going to ask permission to do a study on the wildlife at ANMCC to see if it's only the squirrels that are being infested or if it has spread to the deer also. I was told that the botfly infestistaion has gotten really bad this year. There are several case of humans being infested in this area. Man I'm gonna be taking a bath in bug spray next time I go in the woods here.

Robert · « **Reply #3 on:** September 14, 2004, 01:26:54 PM »

You guys want to go hunting Gray Squirrels..browns too....come on up here. I live under a bunch of Walnut trees and the Squirrels are a nuisance. I whack them with my Benjamin pellet rifle....I hate the damned critters. Of all the places they could find to shuck nuts they have to do it right over the metal roof outside my bedroom window at the crack of dawn.

Markus · « **Reply #4 on:** September 14, 2004, 01:36:43 PM »

Man thats nasty. I don't think I've ever came across that before. I miss squirrel hunting. I used to do a lot of it when I was a kid but haven't been in a few years. My wife won't cook them. Dang city girl.

WNY_Whitetailer · « **Reply #5 on:** September 14, 2004, 06:25:17 PM »

Markus...Don't feel bad...My wife wouldn't cook them either. Now my grandfather will cook them so when I do manage to get out he will probably be getting the meat...What little there actually is...

HuntenNut · « **Reply #6 on:** September 15, 2004, 02:21:52 PM »

Dave,

How do you tell if the squirrels are infested?

I looked at the link you put in and it says "physical exam".

If they are under the skin, can you tell before skinning them? Thats the worst part of cleaning the damn things.

mjbgalt · « **Reply #7 on:** September 15, 2004, 02:31:57 PM »

when i had squirrels like that they sometimes had sores on their skin, but you mostly find out when you open em up.

DaveH · « **Reply #8 on:** September 15, 2004, 03:57:23 PM »

Yes you can see large sores on the squirrels they rae commonly called lumpy squirrels. Here is another link I found that has a few pictures of infected squirrels.

http://botfly.ifas.ufl.edu/ABOTFLY/overview.htm

mjbgalt · « **Reply #9 on:** September 15, 2004, 04:13:33 PM »

mmmmm now i am hungry, thanks for the pics dave lol

offhand35 · « **Reply #10 on:** September 17, 2004, 03:15:02 AM »

I had gotten a squirrel a couple of years ago that had one of those......it looked pretty awful, crawing out the side of that bushytail's head!!!
Thanks for finding the info.