I can still smell the gravy. It would wake me up in the early morning darkness, causing me to scramble out from beneath the itchy wool blanket on my cot and shuffle into the kitchen of the cabin. My grandmother would be there, bent over the stove as she stirred the bubbling pan. She’d smile at me and then hand me a plate of biscuits and sausage smothered in the white, tar-thick culinary magic she created. I’d wolf down my plate and with the gravy sticking to my ribs and the first rays of sunlight sparkling in the air, I’d go outside and join the others.
It was usually a smattering of my uncles, older cousins, and, of course, my grandfather. They would be standing around in a circle in the yard, clutching shotguns and smoking as they waited for me. I’d walk into the circle carrying the old 12-gauge I was slightly afraid of, and as soon as I did, they would all turn and head down the hill to the river. From there, we would pile into an old, leaky johnboat and launch downstream just as the sun cleared the horizon.
Floating in a serene silence with our eyes searching the trees for the slightest sign of movement among the branches of the hardwoods, we’d all wait for the stillness to be broken by the first blast of a shotgun. Outwardly, I’d be as calm and quiet as everyone else, but inwardly, I was bouncing with excitement. This was squirrel camp, and though I didn’t know it at the time, it was shaping me into the hunter I am today.
The Value of The Hunt
Small game camps were once a long-standing tradition that, like deer camps, seem to be falling out of fashion in the modern age. With so much emphasis being put on challenging big game hunts in exotic locations, the idea of a group of hunters gathering together to fill a truck bed with multiple limits of rabbits or squirrels goes against the grain of contemporary hunting society. Yet the value of these collaborative small game efforts cannot be understated, especially when it comes to young hunters.
Small game hunting is high work for low yield in the sense that it often takes a lot of effort to gather very little meat. But that combination of effort and results instills the values and morals that shape a good hunter.
At squirrel camp, I remember my uncle having me cut down a dead tree to retrieve a squirrel I shot that had fallen and gotten stuck in the branches. I also remember my grandfather stripping down and diving into a creek to find a squirrel that had sunk beneath the surface of the water. Those events taught me the value of the game I was hunting and the importance of respecting the life I was taking. These were lessons I took into my hunting life, which I believe made me a better, more responsible hunter.
Small game camps can impart these values and morals to hunters at a very young age. While going out to get your first deer requires a certain maturity so that you can handle a weapon and have the patience to wait for or find such skittish and wary quarry, the often fast and nearly constant action of small game hunting can be enjoyed at earlier ages. This is especially true when going with a group of older, experienced campaigners who can find game quickly and be there to help you be successful.
I was seven years old the first time I went to squirrel camp, managing to take my first squirrel with my grandfather’s .22 (a weapon he later gave me on my 18th birthday) with that wonderful old man by my side. As I added my squirrel to the pile, I distinctly remember feeling a part of something bigger than myself, a sensation that increased dramatically when we returned home and went through the process of cleaning and eating our woodland bounty.
Learning The Process
The simplicity of small game hunting extends far beyond just shooting a couple of rabbits or squirrels for a young hunter. Small game animals are generally easy to skin and process, and it is in that informal and relaxed process that you can teach young hunters the blood and guts realities of the hunt.
I remember gathering around a pile of squirrels and a couple of rabbits with my uncles and grandfather and learning to skin and process the animals in several different ways. One of my uncles insisted on tail skinning all his squirrels and showed me where to make the cuts and how hard to pull on the animal’s legs. Another uncle showed me the shirt and pants style for both squirrels and rabbits, where you make a cut through the hide on the animal’s back and then pull the hide off the front and rear quarters simultaneously.
The entire process was made into a fun and slightly competitive activity which quickly helped me get past any squeamishness and made processing game into something I enjoyed. This was especially true after I’d gone on a couple hunts because I knew what came next.
Perhaps the best thing about small game hunting is that the mild flavor and delicate meat of animals like rabbits and squirrels can be easily made into dozens of kid-friendly recipes. From chicken-fried squirrel, to rabbit pot-pie, to squirrel roll-ups, it’s almost as if squirrel and rabbit meat was made for kids.
The animals are an excellent way to introduce young hunters to the joys and rewards of game meat, especially when shared with friends and family. It allows them to become part of the tradition of the harvest and to enjoy the fruits of what can often be a lot of labor for little reward.
Creating Your Own Tradition
Starting your own small game camp can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. With millions of acres of public and private land available to hunters, with nearly all of it having some form of delicious critter running around its woods and fields, your options for creating your own small game camp are open-ended. However, before you gather a group of friends or young hunters and head into the woods to start your own tradition, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind.
To make it a successful and enjoyable experience for a young hunter, you want to make sure you’re doing your small game hunting in a productive area. Like all other forms of hunting, it can require a bit of scouting. If you’re after squirrels, try to find a spot with large swaths of hardwood trees like beech, oak, and hickory, or even fruit or pine trees.
Once you’ve found a likely spot, go in and search the treetops for the tell-tale signs of squirrel activity, such as nests of leaves and twigs in the tree tops and the gnawed husks of nuts around stumps and logs that act as feeding platforms. You want to make sure there are plenty of squirrels around these areas before hunting them, especially if you plan on taking young hunters into these areas, as you want to ensure they’ll be rewarded for their efforts.
If you’re hunting for rabbits, you’ll want to find an area with a lot of low-thick brush and rocky outcroppings where the animals can make their dens. Hunt around for rabbit tracks and their tell-tale pellet droppings as well as networks of trails through the brush and grass, and you’re sure to find a few bunnies somewhere.
In addition to animals, small game camps with young hunters should be as comfortable and kid-friendly as possible. Very few young children will enjoy sleeping in the back of a truck bed or a tiny tent like most of us do on rough country big game hunts. However, most will be more than willing to “glamp out” a bit in a large, family-sized tent with an air mattress or a bunk bed-strewn cabin.
Finally, if you’re taking a young hunter out after small game, you want to ensure they have the proper weapon. As I previously mentioned, I was terrified of shooting a 12-gauge shotgun when I was a kid, but a .410 or .22 rifle with little to no recoil is an easy weapon for almost any age kid to learn to comfortably use. Make sure young hunters have the proper safety training and can shoot accurately before taking them in the field.
Laying The Foundation
Since those early years in squirrel camp, I’ve evolved into quite an accomplished hunter. From chasing waterfowl and upland birds in the waters and fields around my home, to traveling around the country in pursuit of whitetail, elk, mule deer, and black bear in fields, forests, and mountains across the U.S, I hunt a little bit of everything. Yet, no matter where I am or what I’m hunting, when I pull the trigger and walk up to a downed animal, for a brief second, I’m instantly transported back to squirrel camp.
I feel the same coiled excitement I felt in the gray dawn of those early mornings as I stepped into the boat and launched downstream, surrounded by hunters I cared about and who cared about me. I smell the same blend of pine pitch and woodsmoke, hear the same silence broken by gentle birdsong, and feel the same love for the hunt I felt all those years ago. I let those feelings envelope me whenever I step into the woods, and when I return home as a successful hunter and begin to process my game, I plan that first satisfying meal with the meat I worked to claim, knowing I won’t skimp on the gravy.
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