How you butcher your squirrels up can depend greatly on how you intend to cook them. For stews, you may often be able to cook the squirrels whole. However, if you need to cut them up a bit in order to get them into the pot, cutting the squirrels into 6 pieces works well.
For grilling, pan frying and/or deep frying, you are going to want equal surface contact with the heat of the grill and/or the cooking fat on the pan. You will also want to have consistently sized pieces for the aesthetics of eating. For these purposes, we recommend cutting your squirrel into 9 pieces. Do not discard the backbone, it actually eats quite well!
One other tip: Be sure to retain the “brisket” meat attached to the tenderloin as it is some of the best eating on the Squirrel.
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