[HN Gopher] A day with the squirrel hawkers of East Texas
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A day with the squirrel hawkers of East Texas
Author : samclemens
Score : 43 points
Date : 2021-10-23 01:03 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.texasmonthly.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.texasmonthly.com)
| willyt wrote:
| 'A kestrel for a knave' is another great novel on this theme.
|
| It was made into a film 'Kes' I've not seen it though.
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Kestrel_for_a_Knave
| CamperBob2 wrote:
| TIL that killing animals for no reason at all is OK, as long as
| you do it with a trained exotic bird and not with a gun.
| finiteseries wrote:
| These chickenhawks are about the least exotic birds imaginable
| in this part of the world FWIW.
|
| Hobbies like this typically result from spending absurd amounts
| of time outdoors in the first place, that some of those most
| attuned to their local environments have turned themselves
| symbiont with the neighborhood apex predators is quite
| beautiful, and closer to where we should be headed imo.
| rsj_hn wrote:
| It's perfectly OK with both a bird and a gun. As well as bow
| and arrow.
|
| Falconry is the oldest sport in history, dating back at least
| 6000 years. Thousands of years ago, men hunted with raptors --
| falcons, hawks, owls, and sometimes even eagles. They would
| catch young falcons in the wild, spend years training them,
| live with their birds, then release them, using signals from
| hundreds of feet away to coordinate the hunt, and then split
| the hunt with the bird.
|
| Today, they usually give all of it to the bird, nevertheless
| it's still a beautiful and noble sport in which man and bird
| work together to catch prey.
|
| Fun Fact: Falcons are used in public parks and golf courses to
| chase away nuisance birds. It's also used by farmers -- more
| effective than scarecrows. There is a long apprenticeship
| required and a centuries old system of knowledge and training.
|
| The most famous book is called "The Modern Apprentice". It's a
| worth a read even if you don't practice falconry.
| http://www.themodernapprentice.com/glossary.htm
|
| Here is the CA club: https://www.calhawkingclub.org/falconry-
| apprenticeship/appre...
|
| Each state has its own regulations for falconry as it does for
| all other forms of hunting.
| gamache wrote:
| > Every squirrel she kills is gradually fed back to her.
| telesilla wrote:
| H for Hawk, mentioned here, made me fall in love with the idea
| and at the same time, know that I should never have a falcon.
| Intense commitment.
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/H_is_for_Hawk
| fmakunbound wrote:
| Backyard apricot tree owner here. I thoroughly approve of this.
| trhway wrote:
| and i'm not. I like how squirrels come harvest the persimmons,
| carry them around, find convenient place and munch on it.
| AlbertCory wrote:
| Too early in the morning.
|
| I read "squirrel hawkers" and thought of "hawker stalls" in
| Singapore, which have nothing to do with hawks. "A vendor of
| squirrels?" OK.
| MandieD wrote:
| To be fair, I also saw that headline and thought "guys going
| around selling squirrels they had caught/shot," and half my
| family is _from_ East Texas!
| AlbertCory wrote:
| Patent Hell!
|
| Marshall, Tyler, all those places I never had to go for a
| trial, although other tech assistants did.
| jccalhoun wrote:
| A pair of red shouldered hawks have nested near me this summer
| and it has been really fun to see them flying around or perched
| up in trees or once the fence outside my bedroom. They are loud
| though.
| clairity wrote:
| i was mesmerized just yesterday by a hawk circling lazily over
| my LA neighborhood and crying out in regular intervals (the
| same piercing call from a western or historical wuxia film). i
| couldn't tell if it was distressed, hunting, or just being a
| hawk.
| zoomablemind wrote:
| _"...Unlike at other, similar hunts, these full days of hawking
| did not culminate in family-style meals; there were no hunters
| stirring pots of gamey stew or smothering their chicken-fried
| squirrels in cream gravy... "_
|
| I'm trying to understand if this really means the hunters do eat
| squirrels on other occasions? How is it chicken-fried?
|
| Btw, the other day I was a surprised observer of a large grey
| bird trying to snatch a live squirrel righ off a relatively busy
| kids playground. I thought it was an owl, now think it could've
| been some transient hawk. The attack was unsuccessful, the brave
| rodent waved just in time to evade, then busily continued its
| foraging... Wonder how a big-city squirrel can acquire a pray-
| bird evasion skills or this knowledge is somehow hereditary?
| giardini wrote:
| zoomablemind says _> "I'm trying to understand if this really
| means the hunters do eat squirrels on other occasions? How is
| it chicken-fried?"<_
|
| Most squirrel hunters eat squirrel. Most prepare it like fried
| chicken. But since most squirrels are smaller than an adult
| chicken you need more squirrels to make a meal.
|
| Squirrel is tastier than chicken. Its more challenging to hunt
| squirrel than to either harvest or shop for a chicken.
|
| Perhaps Popeye's will someday feature "chicken-fried squirrel",
| making me both fatter and lazier.
| zoomablemind wrote:
| If squirrel meat is anything like rabbit's, it is low fat. So
| the danger may be mostly from the Popeye's added oils.
| Otherwise I'd be concerned more about "rabbit meat
| starvation" aka protein poisoning [1].
|
| [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_poisoning
| adrianmonk wrote:
| > _if this really means the hunters do eat squirrels on other
| occasions_
|
| I don't know if these same people do, but yes, people eat
| squirrel. I've had it once when a relative served it to us.
|
| They lived in a rural area, and they would often hunt for food.
| I think one Thanksgiving we had wild turkey. Anyway, I'm not
| aware of a store-bought squirrel option.
|
| > _How is it chicken-fried?_
|
| It means you prepare it just like you would prepare fried
| chicken.
|
| In Texas, this means you: (1) dip the pieces in a milk/egg
| mixture (can be buttermilk), (2) coat them in seasoned flour,
| then (3) fry them in a skillet on the stove, turning a few
| times since you're not deep frying.
|
| That would have been how it was prepared when I had it.
| forgotmypw17 wrote:
| Hawks are not that uncommon in urban land, even Manhattan has a
| handful hawks.
|
| Many tactics for avoiding predators are indeed taught from
| parent to child. I know it's true for bunnies, so I'd guess
| squirrels are no different.
|
| However, even without any prior training, imagine if you
| yourself saw a giant bird of prey (bigger than you) coming at
| you from above, you'd probably do your best to get the heck out
| of the way, wouldn't you?
| zoomablemind wrote:
| What was really amazing is that the squirrel did not run away
| and up a tree like it does when encountering a dog. Just
| waved a few inches side to side and just kept very much on
| the same spot were it was foraging the instant the bird
| attacked, like another day in the office. Such a badass
| squirrel indeed!
| clairity wrote:
| that doesn't always work. i once hit a squirrel with a
| football that i was sure it was going to dodge. but after
| scampering back and forth, it dodged right into the path of
| the football at the last moment. it didn't appear to be
| hurt, and scurried away afterwards, but i still felt really
| bad about it.
| throwanem wrote:
| I've had squirrel, though not chicken-fried. It was gamey but
| not bad, more like rabbit than venison. ("Chicken-fried" just
| means breaded and fried cutlets of something that isn't
| chicken. Often served back home with white sausage gravy, and
| just the thing for supper on a chilly night.)
|
| Hawks will take more than squirrels. My mom carries a pistol to
| let her dog out - he's a Shih Tzu, well within the size range
| of prey a redtail will stoop on, and it has been a problem
| before - and her chickens occasionally benefit from a little
| anti-air fire as well.
|
| Urban environments can be well suited to raptors, especially
| those with a habit of preying on birds. Peregrine falcons nest
| in a fair number of our structures, one of which is visible
| from my front porch, and Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawks are
| frequent visitors; while as accipiters these latter favor
| taking passerines on the wing, they won't shy from taking
| mammal prey. Squirrels are fast and agile, and big raptors can
| have a hard time giving chase after a failed stoop, so it isn't
| as one-sided a contest as it might seem.
| chasd00 wrote:
| When I was about 10 a friend and I killed a squirrel with an
| air gun. As punishment his mom made him skin it and my mom
| cooked it and made us eat it. Iirc it tasted sort of like
| chicken.
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