Campfire Squirrel on a Stick
Two forked green sticks, a small vial of seasoning, and a fire you have to be patient with.
- calories
- 320
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 46
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Pre-mix at home
- Day one only
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Squirrels, skinned and cleaned | 2 | legally taken, gutted and rinsed at the water |
|---|---|---|
| Kosher salt | 3 tbsp | part of the premixed vial |
| Black pepper | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 2 tsp | |
| Cotton butcher's twine | about 18 in per squirrel | cotton only, synthetic melts |
| Cooking oil | 1 tbsp | optional, in a dropper bottle |
Method
- Build a small fire and let it burn down. You want a bed of coals with low flame, not a bonfire. Cooking starts once the fire stops jumping.
- Cut two green hardwood sticks with a fork at one end. Sharpen both tines of each fork.
- Push the sharpened tines through the hind legs of a cleaned squirrel so the carcass hangs off the fork. Lash the front legs and body to the shaft with cotton twine so nothing swings loose.
- Season the whole animal hard on both sides from the vial. Squirrel is lean, so a light film of oil helps if you carried it.
- Prop or hold the stick so the meat sits eighteen inches or so off the coals. Turn it every few minutes.
- Roast 25 minutes or until the thighs pull away easily and the juices run clear. A young squirrel gets there fast; an old one takes longer and may need to be finished in a covered pot.
- Cut the twine, pull the meat off the bone, and eat it with your hands.
This is a fire-and-stick recipe, so almost everything that can go wrong is heat management. Flames scorch the outside and leave the hips raw. Coals with a low, steady flame cook a small carcass through in about twenty-five minutes without turning it into jerky. Keep it high and turn it often.
Squirrel is very lean, which is why the seasoning is heavy and why a little oil is worth carrying. The twine matters more than it sounds: use cotton, not synthetic, because synthetic melts into the meat over a fire. The seasoning blend is premixed at home so the only thing you handle in camp is a knife, a vial, and a stick.
Packing
Mix salt, pepper, and garlic powder at home and carry it in a film canister or small vial. Twine goes in the same pocket as your knife. Everything else you find or shoot on site.
Variations
- Wrap the roasted meat in a tortilla with hot sauce if you packed them.
- Older squirrels do better simmered in a pot with water and the same seasoning, then finished over the coals for color.
- The same rig works on a rabbit or two dove breasts with less time on the fire.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/campfire-roasted-squirrel