Colorado squirrel hunting ?

[hunter25]

Kind of the wrong time to ask this considering big game is underway but I'm always planning ahead and looking for something new.

Anyone hunted Abert's squirrels or have an idea where to look for them? I know general areas and what they need and like such as ponderosa pine but it's several hours drive so trying to narrow it down. My son and I plan to chase them a bit in mid December.

Online research and talk with cpw points me to the front range foothills. Rampart range road has been mentioned a couple times in the past. Just looking for any additional info on them I can gather up before we give it a go.

Might look for some fox squirrels as well. We don't have either of them on my side of the mountain.

 

[MuleyHunter]

All the places I know for them here on the West Slope would be very difficult to get to in December....

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[wy-tex]

They are up North of Ft Collins. Tried hunting them the year I had my deer tag but couldn't find any on the forest. We did see some scouting on private land so they are around.

 

[CoHiCntry]

I live close to Rampart Range and we do have Abert's running around. They seem kind of hit or miss. Not sure where the concentrations of them are, but they are definitely around. We have them in the backyard sometimes. They are neat looking little things.

A buddy of mine shot one in his backyard a few years ago and tried cooking it up to serve for dinner and said it was disgusting and tasted like a pine tree! Take that with a grain of salt I guess. Are you looking to harvest a bunch to eat, or what? The season for them is shorter than the regular squirrel/ small game seasons.

 

[Predatore]

Coming from Arizona, I am very disappointed with the Abert squirrel populations I've seen in CO. I belonged to a squirrel hunting club back in AZ, where we would routinely bring home 5-10 each per weekend. They are consistently in ponderosa pine forests, the more mature the better. Their primary food source is truffle fungus that grows on the roots of ponderosa pines. You can usually assume that if there are Aberts around, there are truffles. Once there is snow on the ground, Aberts turn to ponderosa branches and cones to fill their diet, and this is not sustainable at all. Therefore they require more mild areas with less snow.

Having said all of that, I have only seen them in a select few areas over the past 1 1/2 yrs that I've lived in CO. I have seen them around Buffalo Creek (SW of Denver), Rampart Range (SW of Denver), a few miles west of Boulder, and localized regions of the Lost Creek Wilderness and surrounding forest (SW of Denver). Surprisingly, I haven't seen any in the nice ponderosa forests of Woodland Park, so I'm learning that you can't simply associate the squirrel with ponderosas. Given what I've seen, I'm no longer going to worry about squirrel hunting (very unfortunate).

Oh, and yes, I have eaten a ton of these squirrels. They are gamey, but if you put them in recipes with stronger flavors that mask them, then they are quite enjoyable. I typically turn to enchiladas, lima bean stew, and cheddar broccoli (boil the squirrels, remove all meat, then put it in the dishes). The fox squirrel tastes similar, but I find them to be more of a chore for the amount of meat derived.

Happy squirrel hunting!

 

[hunter25]

I live close to Rampart Range and we do have Abert's running around. They seem kind of hit or miss. Not sure where the concentrations of them are, but they are definitely around. We have them in the backyard sometimes. They are neat looking little things.

A buddy of mine shot one in his backyard a few years ago and tried cooking it up to serve for dinner and said it was disgusting and tasted like a pine tree! Take that with a grain of salt I guess. Are you looking to harvest a bunch to eat, or what? The season for them is shorter than the regular squirrel/ small game seasons.

I will eat them if we get any but mostly just wanna give em a try for something different. Always cooked squirrels in the crock pot when I was a kid in Upper Michigan

 

[hunter25]

Excellent information.

Probably gonna head over mid December for a weekend and give them a try. If nothing else we'll see some new country.