Squirrel tail?

[Cajuntec]

After seeing responses to my bucktail post, I also thought of 🐿️ tail too. I’ve got a TON of them in my back yard. They raid my bird feeders, garden, fruit trees, etc…. During hunting season, I shoot quite a few. I remember Mepps used to pay people for squirrel tails (or send free lures) when I was a kid. Wondering how well Squirrel tail would take dye…. Anyone do that?

All the best,
Glenn

[SuperDave336]

Sure people use and dye them all the time. I bought some a year or so ago from Skiptomylu and have yet to use it….lol. He has the dyed combo pack in his signature still.

[DockShootinJack]

Pull the bone out of the tail. Cover in salt to let it dry out and you are good to go.

[Redge]

Pull the bone out of the tail. Cover in salt to let it dry out and you are good to go.

This is the way we do it, we do slit it with a knife to get the salt to the inside.


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[DockShootinJack]

I use a wire to push the salt down into the tail

[Ketchn]

just hang it up and let it dry out , it shouldn't require anything fancy with your knife skills to remove hair from it ...
its a bear to skin a squirrel tail , they typically tear off about 2/3 down the tail and you lose the bestest hair still on the bone part
dont ask me how I know this stuff ....

[rich mc]

i have a gray and red squirrel tail . one tried to eat the christmas wiring,other didnt know how tocross the street. i washed the tail, let dry then cut the hair off and laid in a small plano box with 5 dividers. i just take out hair as i need it. i used some moth crystal to kill any bugs

[MCG1]

I don't bother skinning them out either. Salt and borax on the stump. Stick it in a bag where the flies can't get at it. Once it is dried out, ready to go.

[Cajuntec]

Maybe the squirrels here are different. I don't know. I haven't tried skinning a tail on one in VA. But the big ones we used to shoot in LA when I was a kid were easy to skin. Basically,I cut around the base of the tail before I cleaned the squirrel (so I had something to hold onto). I pulled with pliers until it stared to come loose all the way around, and then I just pulled it in one motion until it pulled completely off the boney tail section - inside out. I'd then put my knife inside the hollow of skin / hair I just pulled off and cut down the whole distance. Once done, laid flat on a table outdoors, with non-iodized salt sprinkled all over the skin side and left out until cured. Never had an issue. It's been a while though... wow... just calculated. About 40 years. So I may be out of practice, or forgetting a step. We will see later this year.



All the best,
Glenn

[Capt Cormorant]

Road Kill is how I get my coyote and squirrel tails... Cut the tails of and dry, no deboning you just waste the good hair. I even gotten some long haired cat tails that way.