World Championship Squirrel Cook-off

We recently participated in the World Championship Squirrel Cook-off in Bentonville, Arkansas. You'll be delightfully surprised to learn about this event and it's deep hunting roots. In the words of Joe Wilson, the founder of the cookoff, he asked, "Could small game hunting be a way to get back some of our freedom?" See what he means by checking out this very unique episode. Also, meet the cooks and learn what they cooked. Long live the squirrels and squirrel hunters!

 

The Bear Hunting Magazine Podcast is Powered by Simplecast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Sportsman's Nation podcast network, brought to
you by Interstate Batteries from your truck to your trail
camera and everything in between. If you have a piece
of hunting gear or a piece of hunting equipment that
needs a battery, Interstate Batteries is that got you covered?
You can go to a local retail store or you

(00:22):
can go visit online at Interstate Batteries dot com. They
have thousands of local retail shops all over the US,
so you can go there as well. Interstate Batteries outrageously dependable.
My name is Clay Nucleman. I'm the host of the
Bear Hunting Magazine podcast. I'll also be your host into

(00:46):
the world of hunting icon of North American wilderness. We'll
talk about tactics, gear, conservation, but will also bring you
into some of the wildest country on the planet. Chasing
the battery nationally, we're kind of thought of it's just

(01:09):
a bunch of hillbillys um so to retaliate that here
in Northwest Darts So we've got a billion dollars worth
of artwork at Crystal Bridges. We've got James Beard Award
winning chefs. I'm telling you. We are high for Luton,
so let me bring my squirrels and cook them on
your street. I like your style, man, I like it.

(01:31):
On this podcast, we're gonna go to a really special place.
We went to the World Championships Squirrel cook Off, and
you're gonna hear a lot of different things inside of this.
We went around and interviewed almost all the contestants that
cooked in this contest, So you're gonna hear from these
people and you're gonna hear what they cook. But we

(01:53):
also met with the founder of this event, Joe Wilson.
We talked in depth with him about the history of
this contest, why did it, and what it's all about.
I want to talk to you for a minute about
my friends at W Hunting Supply. W Hunting Supply is

(02:14):
a company that sells all types of hounds supplies and
hunting supplies. W Hunting is based out of Washington and
they are known for extraordinary customer service. Just this month,
I was going on a big coon hunt and I
had a collar die and they overnighted me a caller
to Arkansas. No problem. When you call them, you're talking

(02:35):
to real houndsman that know and use all these products
every day, but more importantly W Hounds Supply and specifically
Buddy Woodbury, the owner of W. They are extremely mission
driven for the purpose of preserving our hound sports. Really,
W Hound Supply is a very mission driven organization and

(02:59):
I have seen that over the last six years of
dealing with these guys. So check out our friends at
W Hunting Supply for all your hound and hunting needs.
Also want to talk about our good buddies at the
Western Bear Foundation. You've heard me say it over and over,
but these guys are fighting the good fight out west
for hunters and for bear hunters specifically. They're doing a

(03:23):
great service out there. They're rescripting the narrative in that
region for what it means to be a conservation minded
bear hunter. There are voice out there in a pretty
hostile environment towards bear hunters. Become a member of the
Western Bear Foundation and you will you'll get Bear Hunting Magazine,
and you'll support a great organization. Check them out. The

(03:47):
World Championship Squirrel cook Off was started in two thousand
and eleven on a whim and the lie. Now in
its ninth year, the event has attracted national attention and
you could even say global attention. The event is held
in Bentonville, Arkansas, each fall, arguably the bare state's most

(04:09):
uppity and high end corner the state. According to the
founder of the event, Joe Wilson, that was done quite
on purpose. The world's largest retailer, Walmart, is headquartered here,
and it's brought the attention and wealth of the world
to the Ozark Mountains. Joe didn't want that to get
to our heads or the region to migrate away from

(04:32):
its rural identity. So at least part of the reason
he started this obscure event was to counterbalance the trend.
This is Joe Wilson, and then there's the aspect of
Northwest Dark Saulk getting too big for its bridges. You
look around, there's more Mercedes BMW's in our pickup trucks.

(04:53):
The irony of that is is on a national level,
Arkansas is forty nine or fifty in every category across
the books. So from an outsider coming here, they expect
to be surprised when we got shoes on the Nationally,
we're kind of thought of, it's just a bunch of hillbillies. Um.

(05:14):
So to retaliate that here in Northwest art staw We've
got a billion dollars worth of artwork at Crystal Bridges.
We've got James Speard Award winning chefs. I'm telling you
we are high for loutin. So let me bring my
squirrels and cooking the street. I like the style, man,
I like it. He describes the World Championship Squirrel cook Off. Well,

(05:36):
I'll tell you about my competition. The best way for
me to describe it is a culinary event like no other. Um,
we have complete freedom. So uh, it's a culinary culinary
event with the meaning and a purpose. The purposes is

(05:57):
first to show people that why game meat done right?
When I say done right, it's probably not like your
mom or your dad cooked it. Um, most people are
scared of game meat. They they're afraid it's gonna have
disease or or something wrong with it. Well, as a hunter,

(06:18):
you know that we hunt animals typically during breeding season.
We hunt animals during the migration. Now, if you can
fly from Alaska to Louisiana, you're probably pretty healthy. I
can't say that for a chicken leaving Decade or Arkansast Springdale, Arkansas,
it's about twenty miles. They die in the truck. The

(06:39):
stuff that we're hunting is as healthy as you're gonna get.
It's the cleanest meat we could we could put in
our bodies. With the community trending away from its original
identity and trying to abandon its hillbilly roots, Joe has
met some opposition. So so you know, we we had

(07:00):
this on the Bentonville Square in front of the very
first Walmart five and dime for five years. This is
a very ritzy, high end part of Bentonville where the
Walmart Museum is located. On a side note, this actually
adds weight to Joe's stance on being there on the square.
This museum displays Sam Walton's old Ford truck, complete with

(07:23):
his original dog box. Sam Walton was a big quail
hunter and an honorable and common man despite being one
of the world's richest people. And uh yeah, the mayor.
The mayor called me on it. I asked it. I
thought I was doing the right thing, And I asked
him who he was ashamed of if he was ashamed

(07:44):
of me personally, or was it the fireman, the police officer,
the school teacher, or or the Walmart person who was
cooking In the event he didn't have nothing good. You know,
he couldn't really he didn't. He didn't like it, no,
because you know we had the Wall Street Journal coming
to give me front page of the Wall Street Journal.
Now that's crazy. I didn't file bankruptcy, started a war, nohing,

(08:09):
I just cooked squirrels. And uh, he knew that they
were going to try to drag us through the mud
because you know it's the East Coast by his paper. Um.
Truth is, they wrote their article and as far as
I was concerned, everything they wrote was the truth. And
I don't say that a lot about about media media,

(08:29):
but uh, it was absolutely the truth. Um. It showed
what my goal was was to promote small game hunting,
to try to get kids into it. Um. And we
outgrew the square. So then we moved it to Eighth
Street Market, which was a giant venue. Um. We had

(08:50):
it there one year, outgrew it. So now we're out
at the Benton County Quail Barn, and we've got hundred acres.
We got some indoor smout door and and it's perfect.
You know, we counted. I had the youth shooting group
at the at the gate and they clicked nine vehicles Saturday,

(09:13):
so as a pile of people come out not only
to see the circus act that we we provide, but
they really wanted to try that squirrel. You know how
this come about? We've told a lot, No I want
to ask you specifically how it How it started? Well,
it was me lying and you were up. You were

(09:35):
actually you didn't know you were part of my life,
but you were part of my life because tell well,
I'm known as the go to red neck here in Bentonville.
If if there's something red neck they know, they could
call me and I'll come up with it. So Bizarre
Foods for the Travel Channel with Andrew Zimmer had reached

(09:58):
out to the Visitors Center here in Bentonville wanted to
know about doing an ozar condition. He called the Visitors Center. Yeah,
their media department as a whole whole big deal. So
they hooked him up with me and uh I become
kind of the fixer on that show. Right, So they
listed out a whole bunch of items they wanted to see,

(10:20):
and the funny one was crow. You know that's right
when our football coach Bobby Petrino got directed crash. We
lost her coach April fool's day, right, and uh so
in their research it said Arkansas fans eat crow. You're
gonna need a little backstory. So Bobby Petrino became the

(10:42):
head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, and we really started
looking good. And it had been a while since we had.
Petrino got caught in some scandalous activities and was fired.
We figuratively ate some crow and our beloved Razorbacks still
haven't recovered. As a matter of fact, we lost last
week to San Jose State. Yeah. I don't even know

(11:04):
where that is. So they thought that meant that everybody
here in Arkansas. I thought it was literal. We were
tabling crow and so the very first thing they wanted
to see was a crow hunt. And I said, yeah,
we could do that. They said, well, how often do
you cook crow? I said, I believe it's been twice.

(11:26):
And they said, so you don't do it all the time.
I said, no, man, poultry is forty cents a pound.
I said, we just we just don't eat crow. So
I got Philip Spears, yes, who's a long time legend
in the state, Arkansas outdoor chef, got her to cook
the crow. Uh, they want to do a rabbit hunt.

(11:48):
I lined up for rabbit hunt. They wanted bear. Uh
that's when I got with Blake because Blake had a
monster bear. And then they said what about squirrel? I said, oh, yees,
you don't even know. I said, we cooked the World
champions squirrel. They said, how do you do that? I said,
when we throw the World Championship, which was a lot. Oh,

(12:09):
it hadn't even started nod to start. So uh. They said,
well we want to film it. When is it? I said, well,
when are you gonna be here? They gave a date.
Hey man, he gave me a week and I threw
together twenty teams from four states in a week plus.
We had to kill all the squirrel. What year was that? Okay, yeah,

(12:34):
so that was That was the start of it. That
was the start of it. I had no idea. It
had probably six seven hundred people show up to this
warehouse and and we did what we do, We cooked squirrel.
And uh, as you know, that show aired in a
hundred plus countries and people got interested. Had the Doctor
Oz show call and I asked if I could come

(12:56):
to New York cook squirrel. Oh yeah, so what you're
alluding to? Is that me and uh a buddy of mine,
we're cooking bear for Zimmern on that show, And it
was a similar thing. They called me and they At
the time, I didn't know who Andrew Zimmern was. I
didn't have the Travel Channel, I didn't have cable or anything.

(13:17):
Somebody calls me and says, Hey, we're from such and
such a place. We'd like to come and film you
skinning a bear, and I was I was immediately like
stiff arming them. And I said, if you're looking for
some toothless redneck to make fun of on your show,

(13:37):
you got the wrong guy. That's I said that word
for word. You know what, I said, the same thing.
And I think me and you share a lot of
the same values. We're never gonna trash where we're from.
I'll never degrade where my kids go to school, where
I work. It's not worth it. Man. Joe went on
to talk about the difficulties of the compis built of

(14:00):
the biggest problem I have is maintaining teams and uh
not because people don't have a good time. It's just
if it's a chilly cookoff. You could go to any
grocery store and buy what you need. Um, it's not.
It's a squirrel cookoff, and you can't buy them at
the grocery store. And so since you can't buy them

(14:21):
at the grocery store, that means you're gonna have to
put no jokes, some blood, sweat, and tears into it,
go out there and and get it done. Well, that's
what I want. You know. From having a hunting background,
small game hunting on a national level is in an
absolute decline. Um. Here in the state Arkansas, it's like

(14:41):
seven percent, right. Uh. When I was the total hunters,
of the total hunters actually hunt, and when I was
your boy's age, I woke up just itching to go
trump through the woods, and you know, there wasn't a
rabbit that was safe, a squirrel that safe, and the
only thing that would save them was that small about

(15:03):
an ammo I had in my pocket. Right, And uh,
we learned how to actually hunt. We learned how to
know what was gonna make us itch, know what we
could eat while we forged in the woods. That's where
we learned how to mushroom and pick berries and do
all this stuff. But what we learned was was how

(15:24):
to I aim at small targets and hit small targets. Um,
I'm I don't want to degrade anybody's way of hunting.
But I'll tell you, sitting in a plastic box overlooking
uh five gallon bucket of corn, I aim in third
ribbed back and pulling the trigger. It's never gonna teach

(15:46):
you what I learned. And uh, that's the part. That's
the part as a as a culture, as a country,
that's where we start losing our heritage, because you gotta
work for for your glory, right And as a kid, heck,

(16:06):
I never seen a deer, you know. I mean, if
we did, we bragged about it for weeks that we've
seen a deer. I can't leave the house and come
to work without seeing half a dozen deer. I dodged
them trying to keep my fenders on the truck, you know.
But it wasn't that way and I and I'm saying
thirty years ago, there wasn't the deer we have. We

(16:26):
have a million deer in the state Arkansas. We harvested
nearly three hundred thousand deer this year in Arkansas, which
is pretty much a record year, you know. I mean,
that's the way we're going. I bet you we didn't
harvest three hundred thousand squirrels and there's a heck of
a lot more squirrels than there are deer. Why because

(16:49):
you need a hundred squirrels to fill up the freezer
space that had one single deer would do. And uh,
I guess I just blame people for being lazy, um
easy by not taking the kids out, lazy for not
giving the kids the freedoms that we had as kids.
My backyard ain't changed in two hundred years, you know

(17:12):
what I mean. There's the same risks in my backyard
today as there was when I was a kid. And uh,
I think that gets forgotten. What has changed is the
way that the public sees us as humans with guns. Right,
there's no more scary stuff out there in my backyard.

(17:33):
And I tell my wife that because my daughter's twelve,
she's been hunting with me since she was four, right, Um,
she doesn't have near the freedom my head. Hell, you
don't have the freedoms that that our dad's had, you know,
at our age. And uh, I just think that it's
time we maybe squirrel and small games a way to

(17:56):
get back some of our freedom. And and it's working.
I mean, you've seen we had five six thousand people
running around. None of them were upset, they were all happy.
There's every shape, size, color, you name. It comes to
this thing. Uh. If you'd have told me in two
thousand eleven i'd had gay guys cooking squirrel at a

(18:18):
squirrel cook off in Arkansas, I'd tell you that that.
I don't think I would. Well, we've had it, right, Um,
we've had doctors, we've had everybody. There's I can't tell
you who we haven't had. And uh that's because you know,
and I interviewed bunches of these cooks and uh, there

(18:42):
were there was all women teams. There were professional chefs
that had restaurants, but there were African American teams or
Hispanic teams. There were the way I described as I said,
there's old hillbilly teams that guys wearing overalls that probably
squirrel every day. Right. There were people that I talked
to one lady who had a team and she'd never

(19:05):
cooked squirrel before in her life until she started preparing
for this event. You know what I call that? I
call that America. Yeah, right, I mean the one thing
that everybody wants. Whichever side you said on that fence,
they always say we we should always just come together,

(19:25):
right as a country. We do it. Yeah, and and
was I'm not gonna say zero effort, but with very
little effort. I ain't picking out somebody because they're black
to cook cook squirrel, right. They volunteered for it. I
mean all these people did. And and I think that's
where us as as uh as an outdoor community, a

(19:48):
hunting community. I say a tribe, right, and uh as
a tribe come together. Everybody could come together together over food,
breaking bread. It's kind of an old thing. And so
if if you can do the the eating side of it,
we could get to people's minds through their bellies. I

(20:12):
promise you, brother. We have proven two hundreds and hundreds
of people over the year that hunters just don't put
heads on the wall, right. And and that's you want
to know one of my goals. Hell, that's one of
my goals. I want to prove to the non hunter.

(20:33):
I don't want to change them. That's not my job. Okay,
that's that's nobody's job. That's their MoMA and daddy's job.
My job is just approved to them that because we hunt,
because we kill, you can't hunt without killing. Because we
kill we're not bad people. Um, there will never be

(20:58):
an impossible squirrel, like an impossible burger. Okay, that ain't
gonna happen. If you got the want to try game meat,
you're gonna have to kill something to get there. And uh,
I just if I could give you a sample of it,
if I could show you a sample of the people
who are doing it, the school teachers, the professionals, the doctors,

(21:21):
the reverend, whatever it is, and just show you that
it's everybody. It's our party. If you want to come
to it, show up. So then this was my first
time to come to it, and uh, there it would be.
It would be interesting to really dissect the what was

(21:43):
actually happening with people. But I usually don't like big events.
I mean, I'm just being honest with you, Like if
I were to come, I would have come for an
hour and been like, yeah, that was cool and you know,
tasting some squirrel without But know, I committed to be
I was on a team. I committed to be on

(22:05):
a team. I didn't do anything. I just they did
all the cooking. But I came home and I told
my wife and kids came for a short period of
time and I said, man, it was really fun and
it and what made it fun and I'm trying to
find the words to describe it. It was almost, uh,
all these people were here to eat squirrel, and it

(22:28):
was almost so it's like a carnival ridiculous and irreverent
is not the word, but like you just felt like
you could walk up to any person there. And I
did that when I was interviewing people and just like,
why are you here, and they'd have a smile on
their face and they'd tell you. And uh, people walking

(22:48):
around and squirrel outfits. It was an interesting dynamic of
this this thing that was connecting people, and this thing
was was wild game, and this thing represented something that
we all deeply, deeply cherishes outdoorsman, which is our right
to hunt, our ability to harvest game for our families.

(23:10):
And and there were all these people who clearly weren't hunters.
This was this is not like a redneck party. I know,
I'm gonna say. I'm gonna say if I was to guess,
I'm gonna say probably, Well, I just told you seven
percent of the state hunts small game, right, and they

(23:30):
weren't all there. So I'm gonna say that we're probably
nine non hunter's right. And uh. And so if you're
gonna promote your your product to people outside of the
hunting industry, um, it would be through us. I mean
if I go to if I went to an outdoor

(23:52):
show and through this deal, I know who I got.
I've got all the hunters, right. But that that's never
been the goal. The goal it's is we've got to
show everybody else that all of us, no matter what
your genre of hunting is or or even fishing, um,
we're here to help the whole thing. And and you know,

(24:15):
I was filming another show that that last week and uh,
he said, what can I do to help you? And
I said, you ain't gonna like my answer. I said,
my answer would be take it all off TV. And
I said, if you took it off TV, I said,
you wouldn't hurt small game hunting one bit. I said,

(24:36):
because we're not on those shows. And I said, the
reason is is you don't need a ten thousand dollar ranger, uh,
five thousand dollars scope sent lock everything. You know. I
don't know who your sponsors are, but I'm just saying
to small game hunt you could have a white T

(24:57):
shirt on a pair of blue jeans and and some
bug spray. Um, you could have a shotgun and air
rifle of twenty two, don't matter. You're gonna see some squirrels.
And uh, so there's no money in it. And no
matter what the industry is or or what politician it is,
there ain't nothing without money. And so this deal World

(25:22):
champions Squirreld cook Off, it's done without money. And and
uh that's that's the weird part because no, no big
outside industry wants to say we're cooking. If this was
the World Championship white Tail cook Off, then it would
be massively influenced by all the people that were trying

(25:44):
to make money. That's right, you know it's true. And
uh and in outdoor media and and this is honestly
what there's there's a few people inside of the outdoor
media world and not a few more and more that
are starting to realize at authenticity has more power and
influence than bowing to the mighty dollar of the industry. Man,

(26:08):
if you go out hunt and look like there were
twenty one teams in the competition, and I was able
to get around to talk to many of them. They
came from as far away as Florida, Texas, and Braska,
even as far away as the Netherlands, all with hopes
of being the World champions Squirrel cook The demographics and

(26:32):
experienced levels of these cooks were all over the board.
The teams ranged from all women teams to teenage teams,
two serious chefs who owned restaurants, to Hispanic teams and
African American chefs all the way to old hillbilly men
and overalls who probably eat squirrel every day, even over
to people who've never cooked squirrel before in their life.

(26:55):
But they'd all gathered under one cause, squirrels. The hardline
traditions of squirrel hunting are primarily rooted in the South,
but squirrel hunters range all the way across the eastern
deciduous forests. Gray and fox squirrels are the two species
typically cooked. The whole event seems to come under this banner.

(27:17):
Squirrel hunting is for anybody and everybody. You don't need money,
great skill, or a faraway destination. It's every man's critter,
and the victuals are good. What kind of people would
enter the World Championships Squirrel cook Off? What did they cook?
You're about to find out the answer to both questions.

(27:42):
I'm here with Jonathan Wilkins. We're at the World Championship
Squirrel cook Off. The best squirrel cooks from around the
world flock in to Bentonville, Arkansas once a year. Jonathan
Wilkins is one of those cooks. What did you cook today, man? Man?
I did a I did a kurt curried squirrel. I
served that on top of some duck fat French fries

(28:03):
and paired it with a squirrel and fuse duck fat vinigrette.
Uh that I put on top of just a cucumber
tomato salad kind of helped cut the heat from the curry.
Where'd you get your squirrels? Man? I shot about half
of them and my father in law shot the other
half of them down in the swamps of Arkansas, Southeast Arkansas.
Is that right? No? I think I think we killed

(28:24):
them all in central right around a little rock. You
double you double fried those, uh those fries too, right? Yeah,
brass a re style. So you cook him first for
like five minutes at to fifty. That'll get the inside
kind of creamy and soft, let them cool down, and
then fry him and get at three fifty now to
get your crispy right on. Man, Well, I wish you'd
saved something for me, but I didn't even get any Man,

(28:47):
we can we can work it out. I can make
it for you again something. Oh man, all right, well
we'll see good luck man. I'm standing here at the
back Country Hunters and Anglers Booth with Ryan Pettigrew, Kip Krueger,
and uh Man, you just turned in all your food.
How you feeling a little bit defeated right now? Especially

(29:11):
I'm generally optimistic, but we got a little focused on
feeding the public. They were excited about getting some squirrel meeting.
We kind of missed our timing on our turn in
a little bit. But tell us what you cooked. It
was awesome, man, I had some of the I appreciate it.
We did squirrel carneta's and a little bit of squirrel
stock black bean refried beans with it. Can you give us,
uh without giving away all your your secrets, can you

(29:33):
tell us a little bit about the process of cooking
these squirrels. Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you the whole process, man,
because it's uh, it's not that complicated. So we got
a limited timeframe to to get these squirrels tender, and
you gotta cook whole squirrels. So we're pressure cooking them
uh and uh some citrus heavy stock and then we're

(29:54):
picking them off the carcass. We're reducing that stock down,
tossing them back into that and then and getting the
skillet sere and hot with with butter and oil and
putting a crisp on them and then salting them up
and serving them. So you're serving them on like tortillas
and chips. You're making some nachos. Well, for for the public,
we did kind of nachos. We did a caso that

(30:15):
had a Venison burger in it that I had, and
then uh, that's we we did the case, so put
it on the chips, put the squirrel on top of that,
and that's kinda we served to the public. But we
did a little bit different, something different for the judges.
So what are you guys gonna do when if you
get the W I mean, what's gonna happen? Is your
life gonna change? I don't, I don't. I mean, I

(30:36):
don't even know what you win. I don't know what
you know. Honestly, we were out we were out here. Well,
you quit your day job, possibly where would you move? Okay,
if you win, you would, you would you would sell
what you got here and moved. Now, I don't think
i'd moved. I like it a lot right here. There's
lots of public land around. I've got private property to hunt.

(30:57):
I mean, just like we're loaded with outdoor opera tunities
here in North Arkansas. So you know, I'm fine taking
my trips out west or whatever and I'll just hang
out here. Now, what about you, Kip? For sure, if
you win, it's gonna change your life. I think we'd
at least get T shirts made, multiple T shirts because
its face faces. That'd be pretty good because I got
pretty good beards, big guys, y'all, I'll look good on

(31:19):
a T shirt. Yeah, one T shirt will probably wear
out pretty quick because I mean, i'd probably wear it
every day everywhere I went with your hats. Your hats.
So they've got these like old school foam rubber top
high top looking ball caps with a squirrel playing a
banjo on top of it. That's pretty good stuff. Oh,
it's fantastic. It's the Internet, man, it has changed the

(31:39):
way we live. Well, good luck, guys, thank you. I'm
here with Stan Krause stand it was a contestant in
the World Championship Squirrel cook Off. Where where are you from? Stand? Lincoln, Nebraska?
You came all the way here from Lincoln, Nebraska. I
have for seven years. Stand is in the seventies and
wearing a pair of faded overalls. I'll be darn, what

(32:03):
what did how did you hear about this? Well? I
came this way Andrew Zimmer Cooking Show. Really you saw
it on Andrew Zimmer? Yes? I did, when the very
first one. I'll be darn. Do you do you remember
the actual show that Zimmer did. They cooked bear on
that one. Do you remember that they also cook crew? Yes, yes, yes, yes,

(32:27):
I was the guy that cooked bear on that show,
on that actual episode you remember that? Yeah? Yeah, that's wild.
That's where you said, well, hey, what did you what
did you guys cook? We made myself. I made squirrel
gravy soup, squirrel soup gravy, and my son in law
made a sandwich, a squirrel sandwich. Can you tell me

(32:49):
a little bit about making your squirrel gravy? I sure, ken,
I got the recipe out of a book and it's
it was I'm looking for something a lot simpler than
things I've done in the past, And this is so simple,
I just decided to give it a try. Well, what
do you think your chances are winning here today? Well?
I wouldn't want to put money on myself, but you

(33:12):
never know, you know, there's strange things have happened. Is
this gonna change your life? If you win? It ain't
gonna change my life, But you're gonna film my pocketbook
even I don't even know what you win if you
win this thing. I have no idea what there's I have.
I don't come here for the winning or losing. I
come to play the game, right. Uh, good luck to
you man standing here with with Bud from Buck Snort, Arkansas.

(33:38):
Have you been here before, Bud? Yes, we've only missed
one year on this cook off? Have you ever won?
We got third place eleven and last one time? Yeah?
One time. Well what did you cook this year? We
cooked a kind of like a Chick fil a sandwich
with a squirrel and uh budget buns, Uh sweet potato

(34:00):
waffle fries. What do you think it takes to get
the w here at the World Championship Squirrel cook Off?
You just have to have a good dish. There were
some wonderful dishes here. I mean, these people right next
to us, I think they ought to win, and the
ones right over there out to win too, because what
I tasted was fantastic. And it's all about fun and
sharing and just community. And there's just lines of people

(34:22):
lining up to eat free squirrel made. So if you
get the w how is it gonna change your life?
Bragging rights are gonna be awesome. Good luck to you,
good luck, thanks so much. So what's what's the name
of your team? It was General Squirrel, General Squirrel that
introduced yourself. I'm Ashley Jacobs, Denny Ross, Sarah Rize. So

(34:43):
how long have y'all been to this event before? Now?
We came last year just to see it. Actually moved
to Rogers and uh we heard about it when to
come see it, and then we decided to compete this.
So where are you guys from? Okay, Cartha drove a
couple of hours. Squirrels Missouri squirrels. Okay, they're better than
Arkansas squirrels. No, I won't say that, but they are better.

(35:06):
They're better. Um, so what did y'all cook? We made
General Squirrel General So Squirrel Oriental dish and then squirrel
egg rolls and squirrel free and goon. What what is
your hat? I'm looking at three bright red hats here?
What are those hats? Say? Oh, you know, we've been
living off the farm. We try to harvest and live

(35:28):
organically as we can, and we're still getting Make squirl
grade again. They cut you to the chase. Make squirrel
hunting great again. Yeah, those are sharp. So uh, what
are your chances of bringing home the W to the
World Championship Squirrel cook Off? Pretty much a hundred for
si chance? Okay, okay, I think we want it. I
like the confidence when you bring home the W. How

(35:50):
is this gonna change your life? But you gotta you
gotta sell out and moved to California, Big never California.
But I will be the squirrel Queen. You will be
the squirrel queen married to the squirrel king. Right, good luck,
good luck, thank you? All right? Tell me tell me
your name. I'm Ben Walsh, Hunter book out Jacob Fronz.

(36:12):
So have y'all ever done the World Championship Squirrel cook
Off before? Hund and I did it two years ago,
but we didn't do it last year? And then This
is Jacob's first year. Where y'all from. We are from Favor, Arkansas.
So what did y'all cook? We made a squirrel bond
me with a scallion biscuit, Uh, sarata, mayon, mayonnaise, chili

(36:34):
cole sau and and a Vietnamese caramel sauce. Gang man,
that sounds pretty ligit. It was good, It was good,
It was good. It was really good. Where the squirrels
we hunted them? Um, we got a in which we
all hunted. It killed not all. Did you did you
use a dog or just hunt them? Still? Hunt them? Dog?

(36:59):
No dog? Dog? Okay? So what are your chances of
bringing home the w today? Um? We actually died d
Q because we got disqualified. Yeah, how do you get
disqualified from the World Championship Squirrel cook Off? The detail
we prepped beforehand? We didn't know. We weren't supposed to
do that. You're to bring either squirrels or just hind quarters.

(37:22):
And we had pre cooked and breaded our squirrels. Oh no,
I'm really sorry, but I have to disqualify you. But
we think that we did. Even if we didn't, if
we hadn't gotten disqualified, we would have done really well,
I'm certain with that. Well, that's not as good as
story as I thought you were gonna say. I thought
you were gonna say it like you like you know,

(37:42):
like I don't know, cheated in some like major way
to get the W because you wanted it so bad. Hey,
don't tell anyone or a secret. It's all bear meat.
Let's say you didn't get disqualified and you won. How
would this change your life? Ay, I'm one of the
best people on the planet cooking squirrels. That would be

(38:04):
a game changer. Yeah, just bragging rights on that one.
The youngest people. How old are you? Guys are? Okay? Okay,
right off? So y'all are all in high school? Yeah,
it's cool man. Well, good job guys for for cooking
some squirrel. Are you're gonna be back at it next year?
Um mate? Probably? Yeah? Come on, yeah after the d

(38:24):
Q you gotta come back. Ye. Yeah, I want to
get that W. Alright, good job guys. All right, tell
me your name Vale. Where are you from? Kind, I'm
from Kansas City. So have you ever competed in the
World Championship Squirrel cook Off before? No? I never have time.
First time? Yes, you got a big team here we

(38:45):
do we have your family and friends. Yes, you're gonna
want to pay special attention to this team. Is this
your husband? This is my boyfriend's boyfriend. Okay, what's your name? Man? Okay,
so where did you get your squirrels? My stepdad hunted
them and shot them themselves. Are they Kansas squirrels or
Missouri squirrels? Lives in Paris, Texas and he shot all

(39:06):
the squirrels and sexes squirrels. I've talked to people. We've
had Florida squirrels, Missouri squirrels, Arkansas squirrels, squirrels from all over.
So soon as your first year in the contest, what
did you cook? So we cooked squirrel in chili roja
sauce with dirty fried rice and squirreled balls. Oh you're

(39:30):
not kidding. This wasn't like a meatballs squirrel nuts. Okay,
we'll tell me the name of your team. Here. We
are the raw Hide Nut Pirates. Man. I see I
missed this. I should have got in on summer days.
So okay, so you turned in your your flight to
the judges. We haven't heard back. Who's gonna win? Who's

(39:51):
one yet? What are your chances of bringing home the W.
I don't know. Everyone's we feel good that everyone did
a really good job. Every team is pretty serious, so
I don't know. Okay, So let's say you bring home
the W. How is this going to change your life?
We'll come back, okay, and I'm sure it will become

(40:16):
You think this with you increase your street cred back
in Kansas City like big time. You guys would be
legends in Kansas City. I've been to Kansas City. You'd
be legends in Kansas City if you won the World Championship. Sure, yeah,
well good luck to you. All right, tell me your name,
Spada Mercedes, Doug Crouch now you guys family? Nope, okay,

(40:41):
well pretty much pretty much. Okay, So there, yeah, okay
from and I'm from Springfield, Missouri. Okay, y'all came up
from Texas to Antonio, Texas. So if y'all done squirrel
Contest before very first one, first cook off, we haven't

(41:03):
done nothing. We had no idea what we were. How
did you hear about this thing? Well? We camp here
last year, right, yeah, last year we were here vacationing
and we heard some people the restaurant next to us
talking about this because it was happened to be that day,
and I'm an average squirrel hunter and I'm like, oh,

(41:23):
we still got to do this. So here we are
right on. So, uh, you got your squirrels from Missouri? Then? Yes,
sir with a dog? Oh no, sir, still out of
my canoe? Do you really? Yes, sir, you can shoot
it while you're floating down the river, Yes, sir, really
works on your marksmanship. Yeah. So what did y'all cook today?

(41:45):
We cooked squirreling chiladas and we had anaheim peppers with
squirrel sausage and homy squirrel neck in it. What are
your what are your chances of bringing home the w
I'm really hoping for eight teenth place because I really
want to go trout fishing with those guys from the
naughties squirrel on the river. If you win nineteenth place,

(42:08):
you get to go with him for real for the
first through fifth place gets surprised. And that's what I
really want to go trout fishing on the White River. Okay, Well,
let's say you don't get nineteenth place and you win
and you bring home the World Championship Squirrel cook Off.
W How's this going to change your life? Well, I'm

(42:30):
getting a new tattoo, perfect perfect. Yeah yeah, World champions Squirrel.
So will you be back? I mean, oh hell yeah.
We're bringing our a game next year. We learned a
lot good well, hey, good luck. We'll see who. We'll
see who wins. It brings that nineteenth Yeah that's right,

(42:52):
all right. Tell me your name? Name is Greg Cockroom,
Austin Bond, Natalie Morrison. So have you guys been to
this before? Yes, sir? Uh four years for me, seven
for Natalie and three for Austin. Oh man, you are veterans.
Where are you'all from? Uh, not here originally, but from
here here now? So have have you one before? I
mean you've been here a lot of years? We play

(43:14):
six slash year as a team. What's it take to
bring home the W at the World Championship Squirrel cook
Off that changes every year? Has to be something creative,
out of the box, out of the ordinary. Um, and
it's gotta be good. I mean, it's gotta tastes good,
it's gotta look good, and it's really just you know, yeah,
complete boxes. Do you think the presentation means a lot? Absolutely? So?

(43:39):
What did y'all cook? So? This year we did a
Chimmy chonga with a Casa blanco and Pico de guy
over the top of it. We did a Scotch egg,
which is a soft oiled egg. It's covered with squirrel
sausage and then fried to perfect golden brown. Then we
also did a bania not a banana bread pudding that
we did candy squirrel over the top of it. But

(44:00):
it's good there showing me a picture of what they've
done here that looks incredible nice. I'm really happy with
their box this year. I think it's the best one
that we put together yet, and I think we're gonna
do really well today. So right on, Well, good luck
to you guys. Thank you appreciate you. Tell me your
name Natalie, and I'm presuming by all the purple beads

(44:20):
and everything that you guys are from Louisiana. I went
to college in Louisiana and lived there for about seven
or eight years. So yes, love the food and the culture.
One to bring in here, you should tell him the
story of Oh yes, so our team name is two
Squirrels vien Venue. So there was a sweet family down

(44:41):
there that kind of took me under their wing while
I was in college and loved on me, and he
died and his funeral was Friday, so we were kind
of im wanting to win this one for him. Oh yeah,
y'all live in Louisiana now, No, we live here now? Okay?
So have you competed in this contest before first year?
What pushed you over the edge to just put all

(45:02):
your eggs in the in this basket and compete? My husband, yeah,
he told me that he didn't think I could do
it challenge. I was risky, brother, yep. So are you?
Did you eat squirrel your whole life? Never eating a squirrel,
never killed a squirrel, never cooked a squirrel? Yes, sir,
So how did you get your squirrels? My sweet nephew

(45:25):
shot all of them for me. That was so. So
did you test out your recipe before you came here?
I did? Yeah? So what did you could? Tell me?
What you could? And we had a squirrel and cream
cheese stuff talapino wrapped in bacon and that was our appetizer.
We had a squirrel jumbalia and with also a squirrel

(45:50):
shrimp in sausage jumbalia I'm sorry, and a squirrel in
sausage dirty rice our side Atem was a cream cheese
problem cheese squirrels, stuffed fridge bread, and then a dessert
was a bread pudding with a caramel glaze, bourbon squirrel
and pecan. Are you did you like to cook? Are

(46:10):
you like a chif? I like to cook? Yes? Yeah,
Well how did it taste? It's everything I got to
taste was amazing. I didn't get to try a whole lot,
too busy trying to cook. But okay, so what's your
chances of bringing home the W one out of the
same thing one? Okay, I've been asking everybody else's too,

(46:32):
So let's say you bring home the W. How's this
going to change your life? My husband's gonna have to
sleep next to the trophy tonight. Well, good, good, well,
good luck to you guys. Tell me your name, Ben Brainerd,
Chris McMillan, and so what's the what's your team name? Here?
The Spice Squirrels Squirrels. Now, you guys run a restaurant

(46:55):
and Rogers we have We have a couple of restaurants
in Roger's in a few more down in and it
kind of like like the pros playing in the amateur
league for you guys being like real chefts. It depends
on the day. Pros a big word. What you look
at it? Because, uh, I think these folks these squirrels
way more frequently than we did. Okay, maybe you guys,

(47:17):
maybe we're the amateurs spoiler alert. Ironically, these guys would
place nineteenth place, and when the fishing trip to the
White River, remember when that tattoo guy said that he
was shooting for nineteenth place. These guys were great sports
and gave the trip away to a kid that would
end up singing the national anthem. Yeah you'll hear in
a minute. So have you all ever competed in this before? No? No,

(47:39):
I've actually never cooked squirrel until he and I tested
some two weeks ago. Then growing up, we ate quite
a bit of it, you know, so, but it was
pretty standard Reddit prid. So where'd you get your squirrels?
We killed? We killed three of them, and we we
had some friends killed five more for us. Where they

(48:00):
do you know if these were dog tree squirrels or
if these were still hunted squirrels? These these were organic
squirrels harvested ethically from a tree. That's all you're gonna say,
exactly right, right, So what y'all cook today. We did.
We did squirrel carneta. So we braised. We braised the

(48:21):
whole squirrel bone bone in uh in a in a
bunch of chilies and garlic and Mexican reagan o little
bay leaf and uh in a pressure cooker because we
had a great finite amount of time and uh thanks
to this. You know, man, I was gonna cooking a
big pot and he's called, he's reminded me that I'm
an idiot, which use a pressure cooker, which cut our

(48:42):
time and a half. And uh and it turned out
incredibly well. We we pulled pulled the meat off the
bone when it was done that we fried it on
that little So y'all, y'all submitted everything. What's your chances
of bringing home the w today? I think they're pretty good, everybody.
All the feedback I got said it was amazing. I
I'm I like our chances. I like a chance. I'm

(49:02):
shocked at the people that stand in like lines of
fifty people to get squirrel made here. You know where
else in the world, I'm not. I don't know where
that place is. Yeah, I don't. I just assume to
stay here. Man, This is great. Okay, So, so let's
say you get the w How is this gonna change
your life? It's it's gonna, mate, it's you know what.

(49:24):
It's I'm gonna feel very, very vindicated if we win.
To say, because uh, one of my partners, I'm not
gonna mention Scott McGee's name said that we're crazy for
doing this, but uh, but I would love to win
just despite him. Yeah, we're good luck guys. So yeah,
tell me your name, Damon Brown, Carrie, Forton, Mary and so. Uh.

(49:46):
I assume you guys are from Louisiana because your shirts
say l a Tree rat Killers, Lower Arkansas, Lower Arkansas.
I should have known it. I should have known it.
So where y'all from? I live in Fable, but grew
up in Southeast Arkansas. And I live in Hot Springs.
But my husband grew up with him in South Arkansas. Okay, okay,
I was born in Hot Springs. Yes, I know each other.

(50:08):
So have y'all done this before? You've done it since
the first year, so seven years. So have you ever
won before? Came in third the first year really, so
since then it's been a little tougher. Yeah, more teams.
How many squirrels did y'all bring up here probably how
did you did you hunt these squirrels? So did you

(50:31):
kill him over a dog in a tree or did
you still hunt? Still hunting him? I keep I keep
waiting for somebody to say they treat a bunch of
a dog, because that's that's why I like to hunt.
My husband had several with the dogs, so a few
were dog tree squirrels. Okay, So so what did y'all cook?
We had Philly cheese, squirrel stuff fell peppers. We had

(50:54):
not your average slaw and then for what is not
your average slaw like thing? Well, it's like regular small
and Asian smaw together with almonds, sesame seeds and Raymond
noodles crunched up raymond noodles. Your average saw very good.
And then we had porkin squirreled jammalia. So what what's

(51:17):
your what's your chances are bringing home the W today?
I think one hand, I think it's one hondo. It's good.
It was really good. Okay, you feel you're feeling strong? Okay,
So he actually gave me a compliment. I've known him
for twenty five years. Never I was like, are you
saying you'd like it? You bring home the de w.

(51:38):
How has this change your life? How has it changes?
It's not going to move ye, and we'll have to
get rid of it. I have to sleep outside to night.
That's all I'm won't be able to hear is heard
giggling like that all night long. Hey, good luck to

(52:05):
you guys. Good luck all right? Tell me who you are,
Adam Steele and Leslie Bell. Okay, spoiler alert, this is
my team. Okay, so I've been on a team, but Adam,
Adam has for sure been the mastermind of this team.
All I did was like, what did I do? I

(52:25):
shredded some squirrel? He shredded squirrel? We made your roll?
I did? I did probably summer rolls. You guys drove
from where Orlando, Florida area, all the way from Orlando, Florida.
Why why did you do that? Adam? Well, Uh, it
means a lot to me to be here. Uh. Small
game hunting, um, I think is a big step into

(52:49):
being a confident woodsman. And uh it's a good introduction
for people that have never hunted. I want to learn
how to hunt and wanted to be able to eat
what they Deer hunting can be really tough, but small game.
The the return on it, it can be pretty immediate,
pretty quick. So you can, you know, you can go

(53:09):
out there have a good time. You don't have to
worry about being super quiet or being in you know,
an expert what's been. But you can get out there,
hunts a small game, put some food on the table,
and have a good time in the outdoors. Now you're
a wild game chef though you like, Yes, I do.
We try to. We hunt a lot um. It needs

(53:31):
a lot to us to be able to get out
and enjoy the land and have a great harvest and
share that with others too. So tell me about what
we cook. Okay, we uh So, Clay hunted some squirrels
and Art saw our m I a teammate Mr Hazley
hunted some squirrels in Georgia, and I brought some squirrels

(53:52):
from Florida, And uh I bet we're the only team
that had squirrels representing three different states. Very well, could be,
definitely could be. And you could tell by looking at
them and just just the general you get. You know,
they were very different. They were very different. So Pressure

(54:12):
cooked the squirrels in pork and beef stock with lemon,
grass and ginger. So that's ten minutes at ten p
s I and that'll get you to where you can
pull the meat off the bone really easily. And then
that was tossed with duck fat and peanut sauce and
a little rice wine vinegar um. And then after that

(54:34):
summer roll um just purple basel carrot sticks, which I've
flowers glass noodles and rolled up in a von Tring
rice rapper. And it's it's very first of all, you
can do with any small game, any wild game. What

(54:56):
are our chances of get in the w I'd day about.
I think we're going to go away with the win.
Also the Raining Indian River Lagoon Mullet Toss Champion, So
I'm really working on my resume here. Wow wow, wow,

(55:18):
Mullet Toss Champions Champion. What game is that thrown mullet
in a whole? The fish? I'm thinking the hair dude. Oh,
there were plenty of the hair dues there as well.
So yeah, it's a lot of vegetarian friends. And since
I've started dating Adam, I've gotten a lot of crap

(55:38):
for as much hunting and foraging and stuff that we do,
so it's really rewarding to be here. I never in
a million years I thought that I would be in
a squirrel competition, but a squirrel cooking competition. But it's
been quite an experience. I love seeing him do what
he does because he's really good at it, and it's
just been really cool to see everybody. And I think
also it's great because a lot of people don't know

(56:01):
that squirrel is as can be as good as it is,
and it also introduces people and lets them know that, hey,
squirrel is not just something that's running around in our yard.
It can also be something that we can sustain ourselves from.
So it's great. Right on, Well, good luck to us,
good luck to uh tell me your name and your
team name. James Whirley of the Limb Baking All Stars

(56:23):
and Baking All Stars. Where are you from, jam Kan's
the city, Missouri? And you how long you've been doing this?
This is our fourth year here, fourth year now on
your sign back here that says Limb Baking All Stars.
I see that you were the world champions Squirrel cook
Off Champions in seventeen. Yep, my my buddy Brett and
I we won in twenty seventeen, We stuff to squirrel

(56:45):
inside of a pickle and deep friday. No, yes, yes, sir.
How the heck did you find a pickle that big? Well,
it wasn't that big a pickle. We drilled it out
and uh put some homemade pimento cheese with some squirrel meat,
piped it in They're dipped it into empura batter, deep
fried it and served it on a bed of arugula

(57:05):
with some crispy youngions and honey mustard on top. We
did an eight cheese mac and cheese on the side
with a squirrel trezo and then uh we did a
chocolate covered squirrel bene for dessert. Man, that is legit.
So okay. So I've been asking all the other contestants.
I've been saying, if you win, how is this going
to change your life? You've already won, How did it

(57:28):
change your life? Uh? Well, our heads can't get too
much bigger. We're we're pretty proud of ourselves. But we
just love it because it promotes um, eating a renewable
resource and and conserving nature. Uh. Squirrels are one of
the great resources in this country that need to be used,
and we just like to showcase that could beautiful and delicious.
So winning is just a bonus and gives us bragging rights.
But uh, we're just happy to be here and have

(57:49):
a good time. Right on. Uh, So what did you
cook this year? We did squirrel three ways. We did
a squirrel wrapped in chicken skin, deep fried with buffalo
of sauce. We did a squirrel to have a pino popper,
and we did a purshuto wrap squirreled air and cheeni
with with rice. And then we did uh a cherry

(58:09):
pepper stuffed with squashed blossoms and cream cheese, topped with
a moral mushroom stuffed with squirrel and some parmesan cheese
on top. And for dessert, we did a pecan ice
cream with candied squirrel thata gum man man. After we
got the contest done, we had people lined up all

(58:30):
the way across the lawn here feed them ice cream
and buffalo squirrel and they were just eating up. We
eat every beating. I cooked twenty six squirrels for this event,
and there's not a piece of it. Last twenty six squirrels. Now, Okay,
where those squirrels treated by dogs or were they just
still hunting? Just still hunting all gray squirrels from Missouri. Um,
I just like to shoot him in the head, get

(58:51):
him up close, shot in the head. On Now are
you are you like a chef, a cook or I'm
just I'm just a foodie and I've been eating squirrels
my whole lot. My buddy Brett is the chef, and
he brings all the creativity and talent. I just bring
the squirrels and the good looks too. You know, he
was wearing a full squirrel costume earlier. He gets into it.

(59:11):
He's he has no shame, yeah, or pride or brain. Okay,
So what are your chances of bringing home the w today? Well,
I made a mistake, Um, that may cost us to win.
I forgot to toss my uh chicken fried squirrel in
the buffalo sauce, and we turned it in and forgot
that we forgot to put sauce on it. But the

(59:32):
rest of the box was a solid as could be.
So I think we've got a good chance to be
in the top ten for sure, if not top three.
So yeah, so what do you what are the prizes?
What do you win? Thousand dollars and bragging rights for
first place and five second. You're gonna have to get
a new banner if you win. Well, we took second
place last year. Well, you need a new banner anyway too.
We just need to get some little post it's on
there and add to it. So yeah, so eventually we

(59:55):
get two more banners, we can have a surrounded the
whole thing. It wind break in here. So okay, so
you led the squirrel squirrel skinning competition. Tell me about that.
That was the Well, I think that sportsmen take pride
and and be able to take care of the game
and fish that they get, and taking it from the
field to the table is a major step. So I

(01:00:18):
came up with this idea for a squirrel skinning competition.
So we had eight folks step up and we went
head to head um, and it was a mess the squirrels. Uh,
when you try to skin a squirrel fast, you make mistakes.
So there was a lot of mistakes made, but they
finally got him skinned and uh uh it was a
good time. We had a whole crowd of people. Why
aren't around botching and um the winter came from Georgia.

(01:00:40):
Uh yeah, he won, had a really good hero. You
do the tail method, the tail metho. We had a
couple of people trying to cut him in the back
and pull him that way, and they pulled their squirrels
in half trying to go too fast. Cold squirrels a
lot different than what's the best what's the best way
to skin a cold squirrel? Not? The tail method is
probably the best way, but you gotta go slow to
to know. Let let that skin and get off there

(01:01:01):
little leasure when they're frozen. But afterwards, the fun part
is a lot of people that didn't wanted to learn
how to skin a squirrel stepped up and I sat
down and taught four different people how to skin a squirrel.
They set their own squirrel and they gotta take the meat.
And let's your fact. What how do you teach them?
What method? The tail? Yeah? I do a two person
or one person holds the legs. To describe that to me.
So you grab ahold of the legs, and I grab
ahold of the tail, and I cut, you know, just

(01:01:23):
right behind the the anus and then peel them on
the back. Take his little squirrel sweater off and cut
his head off and uh, and then I take a
little squirrel riches off and gut him, and and I
liked a quarter might like to break up into pieces
because the back legs are different than the front legs,
and the back strap is a little different than the rest.
And then the rib cage is really good to make
squirrel stock out of to make soup like dumplings and
stuff like that. Okay, I've got a question for you.

(01:01:45):
There was a there was a question that came up
on another podcast I was on the other day about
what to call the section between the ribs and the
hind quarters. You know the kind of back strap, man,
that's the backstrap squirrel backscrap, Yes, sir, Okay, you ever
heard of call the saddle saddle? Well, the saddle is
actually if the legs are still attached, So the saddle

(01:02:06):
is like frog saddles. You get frog legs that have
the they're attached together. So that's your saddle. So once
you break it down, you got your two back of
your hind quarters, and you got the backstrap, the tenderloin
if you want to call it that. But you just
cut that little section out, leave it home, well, leave
that chunkle, leave it on the ribs. No, no, no,
take the ribs and separate that so from the ribs
to the tailbone, that's your backstrap, and then the ribs.

(01:02:28):
There's not much meat on the ribs and the bones
are real small, so I just use that for stock
and strain it so you don't get the bones in there. Uh,
And then the front legs are good. We made a
little buffalo chicken wings with it. Today. We had a
hot sauce heating contest to today with squirrel front legs,
and we did the front legs with hat um. But
the back legs where all the meat is, that's that's
where the good squirrel meat is. Well. Hey, good luck

(01:02:51):
today man. Fingers crossed. As I walked through the crowd,
I saw multiple people sporting full on squirrel costumes, complete
eat with four foot plus tails, pointy ears, and completely
furred garments and true squirrel color. None of these people
worked for the cookoff. It appeared to be completely voluntary.

(01:03:13):
I'm standing here and I've met a lady that has
a full scale squirrel outfit on can you? Can you
tell me your name? Kristen? So are you from Bentonville?
I am, yeah. I lived in Bentville for the last
four or five years. So have you been here before? Yeah?
This is my second year in a row, so tell
me about the outfit here. First of all of me say,
you're not the only person that I've seen wearing a

(01:03:35):
full scale squirrel outfit, so this is like not that
unusual here, but yeah, so tell me about it. Well,
last year is my first year coming and I don't know,
I just had a win. I said I'm going to
make an outfit, and I decided to come, and um,
I wore the same outfit last year, and I don't
think I saw anybody with an outfit last year, But um,
I get stopped by a lot of people and have
people take my picture with them and stuff. So you

(01:03:57):
made this yeah, right on, right on. At the it's yeah,
these are those squirrel outfits for the kids. Yet not
this year. Next year we're hoping to do squirrel outfits
for the girls and maybe cama for the boys. Perfect. Perfect.
At three thirty, the winners were announced, the crowd gathered.
The national anthem was sung by volunteer, a young boy

(01:04:19):
probably eleven years old. At one point he forgets the
words and the crowd chimes in to help him along.

(01:04:41):
Old things, We're gonna get down to the nitty gritty
right now. I appreciate you coming up with yours. We're
gonna give out third place. I'm pretty sure this is
a first time winner, and this would this would be
the old Nutty Cheek. Come on up, Nutty Cheek plays

(01:05:02):
squirrels from in the wound. Congratulations. Nutty Cheeks told the
crowd what they made, sage. We then moved to second
place in the world. Place is gonna get a trophy.

(01:05:23):
They're gonna get five hundred American dollars. Second place goes
to Big Time Barbecue. Shane, tell us what you could.
This is twice I've come in checond The first time
went by one point. I'll get better, but I'm I'm

(01:05:46):
peering up a little bit because they young young hand
singing the national and when to me for not the
words the crowd. I'm proud to be your second today,

(01:06:07):
but cool for me to talk about. I'm sorry this
guy was so choked up by the kids singing the
national anthem that it didn't even tell what he cooked.
He cooked old fashioned squirrel and dump breach. That time
that we've all been waiting for. We had some stuff
that was just up there, and we had some other

(01:06:29):
stuff that struggled. So when you're cooking in this event,
a couple of things to remember, put squirrel in your
side dish. Okay, if you didn't do that, you're not
gonna be the one I'm calling right now. Second, just
relax a little bit, don't get too cute, try to
make it right, and try to make it just as good,

(01:06:49):
if not just a little bit better. In these guys
right here, the raw hide nut pirates, that's right, he said,
the raw hide and pirates. Holy ca, let's hear what
you guys could from Texas? Can you tell? Can you
need to be talk right now? So we made General

(01:07:09):
whole braves squirrel, which is my grandmother's rice brother. And
it was just a taco with moul mold black beans,
with guess of Presco and Cilantro and cocodyas with the
sign was dirty rice with squirrel, that's right, he said,

(01:07:34):
dirty rice the squo testables. I guess that would make
it dirty. Afterwards, I caught up with a raw hot
on that power. Yeah. Okay, So we talked earlier about well,
I was just gonna change your life. Yeah, for sure.

(01:07:54):
We're so surprised. Right, We'll cook squirrel for sure, for people.
What was your grandmother's rustling? Yeah, it was actually so Yeah.
Joe ended by talking about the hunting experience in contrast

(01:08:15):
with other activities that often fill our lives, and specifically
kids lives. Oh, you're gonna focus breathing a little, pull
the trigger. Watch it hit the ground. Then they come home,
they clean it. Um, they go to school the next day.
They're not talking about Fortnite. They're talking about the squirrel

(01:08:35):
they they hunted. You could remember every single dear animal
that you ever harvested. Matter of fact, you could look
at a river and know which rocks you caught fish
behind right for years and years, there's something in our
brain that said that's where you get food. It sticks

(01:08:59):
with you forever. Yeah. These video games and check and
cheese and David Busters, you just throw money in that
deal and you don't remember it a week from now.
I promise you you remember every little riffle and the
creek and you could take your kids there and say
you cast right there, you'll catch one. Right. Um. That's

(01:09:23):
that's the part. I could talk about it every day
of the week. I could honestly tell people that if
you got PTSD, don't go to the v A. Right,
come with me, Um, if your mind needs to get
cluttered with stuff, we'll clutter it with them rocks that
got fish behind them, right, we'll we'll we'll give you

(01:09:46):
something totally different to focus on. Um. If kids have
these new problems that half the kids have, well we
didn't have that. You could blame it on what they're eating,
or you could blame it on what they're doing. We
can fix both of those with hunting. We could fix
both of them, right, I mean, honestly, if you're telling

(01:10:09):
me it's because they're putting something in the food, I
can guarantee you we don't have it in our food.
And that goes from the berries to the to the mushrooms,
to the fish, to the flesh, all of it. It's
right here for the taking. Man. It's just like God
gave it to us, um, and the ain't no big
business that owns it. Hey, awesome, man, I really appreciate it,

(01:10:34):
and uh yeah, we'll have you back on here sometime
for sure. Appreciate it. I know you've never listened to
the Barony Magazine podcast. When we close, always say keep
the wild places wild, because that's where the bears live
and the squirrels. That's right. Appreciate it had the squirrels
on today, Thank you, Yeah, thanks Joe. The World Championship

(01:10:59):
Squirrel look Off will be held next year on September
nineteen in Bentonville, Arkansas. Joe said, the best thing that
we could do for him would be to come and compete.
So start storing up some squirrels, start testing out some recipes,
and make plans to attend next year's World Championship Squirrel

(01:11:21):
cook Off. Who knows, who knows? You might be the
world's best squirrel cook but you'll have to come here
to find out. You can keep up with the World
Championship Squirrel cook Off on their Facebook page. Hey, you
can do me a favor to tell all your buddies

(01:11:42):
about all the fun we're having over here at the
Bear Hunting Magazine podcast. Subscribe to this podcast, leave us
a review, and hey, check out all our other stuff
Barony Magazine, YouTube channel and Bear Hunting Magazines Print Jewell
Actual print Bear Hunting Magazine. Check us out at bear

(01:12:05):
dash Hunting dot com. That's Bear hyphen Hunting dot com.
Mmm