Have given some that I shot to folks to eat but have never tried them myself. I have skinned a few and had them tanned. Of course I am shooting them in warm or hot weather and they do not smell very good when I skin them out. I have heard quite a few folks say they liked them. Guess I ought to try one sometime.

Do folks out west eat ground squirrels? I am talking about the ones which look like regular tree squirrels.
I think the big deal for some folks is that they have a problem with eating something like groundhogs because they live underground.
Groundhogs are some of the pickiest eaters out there. I see no reason why they should be wasted.

Ground hogs do pick out the choicest vegetation to eat.

I cooked a marmot one time. The kind that lives up close to timberline. We called them whistle pigs. Never knew the real name was marmot till I was grown. Roasted some over a fire. The only thing worse I ever tried to eat was coyote.

Same in WNC. BlueRidge Parkway used to be covered with them. I haven't seen one in years up there. I knew of some local boys thT caught over 30 one summer on the Parkway jumping off the bumper of a truck with a fish net. There wasn't coyotes there back then.