I am totally ignorant when it comes to these. Why do people trap them? Is there a market? What is it? What are they used for?

If Reds then why not Grays?

Good questions, Boco should be along shortly to explain!

Red squirrels are a furbearer,unlike other squirrells.They have thick slate blue under fur and dense guard hair coverage.They also have good strong leather.The pelt is very durable,and both the fur and leather wear very well.
Because of the short nap and light weight they were used extensively as linings in expensive leather coats,main market being England.
There is still a commercial market but it is limited today.With the lowering of fur prices,muskrats are cheap enough now and are used for liners in leather coats by the chinese.
Squirrels sold for years at a $2 basis,and a trapper out west could catch quite a few hundreds of them with little extra effort while trapping other furbearers.They are also easy to skin and put up.
Trappers in eastern north america mostly processed red squirrels that were caught as incidentals in sets for other furbearers.
A typical catch for a trapper in the east would be 50 to a couple hundred in a season.
My catch is normally around 50,with fluctuations in populations I can get as low as 15 and as high as 100 or so.The best price avg I realized one year at auction was $4.If you trap in february,in years when the population is high the catch of red squirrels will spike as they run around a lot mating.
The red squirrel populations will boom following a high cone year for white spruce.

Out west here if you have lots of squirrels in your bush, they are IMO definitely worth trapping in a reasonably good market. Even at $1.25 to $1.50 average they add up and help pay the gas bill.
If you are walking past a squirrel midden to check another trap, set it up with a snare pole. It has been my experience every time you check the other trap and have nothing you will often have a squirrel or two. With practice it only takes 3 minutes to skin, flesh and board a squirrel. On a trap line with a good squirrel population the squirrel catch will often cover most, if not all, of your fuel expense with little extra work.

lOVE THAT PICTURE LMAO!

here in PA we are only allowed to hunt them. 6 a day, 18 possession limit. we eat them like the other squirrels. no trapping them

Nice information!

Chris

Trapper Ron has a better picture with 6 squirrels in a row.


What some people do not realise is the middens can be 5 or six wheel barrows full of old cones that have been consumed over the ages. 3 -4 feet high with multiple holes going into the cashed pine cones. They are stored there so the cones do not open in the heat of the summer and expel the seeds.

I read a story somewhere where a older bush trapper in the 60s or 70s caught 14000 squirrels one winter. I think e averaged $1 a squirrel. I don’t remember the exact facts but it was something like that.

Old fella I trap with caught 14,000 squirrels one winter it was in the early 80’s I think, he told me that to this day he still don’t wanna even see a squirrel lol

There was an older lady here years ago that trapped and put up fur for a lot of other trappers.
When trappers would come in off the line they would drop off all their fur for her to skin,and would tell her to keep the squirrells.
Back then we had to have our fur stamped by a CO before we could sell.The lady skinner brought a fur bag full of squirrel pelts(many hundreds for sure) in for stamping one year-the CO looked at her and said-You trapped all those on your trapline?The old girl looked at him and said what do you think?
He stamped them all for her and away she went.

Are they as good as gray squirrel to eat?

What size stretcher would be best for reds? Thinking about thinning some out from my place. Maybe practice tanning my own.

When I lived in the East,they tasted very similar to grays,but they ate mostly the same things,hickory nuts,etc..There weren't a lot of pines,at least where I hunted.I haven't eaten a Western red squirrel.I have heard they don't taste good and I do know that the bulk of their diet is pine,fir cones etc.I am not sure how people know this,because few here ever eat small game.I have been told the same thing about blue grouse,snowshoe hare,antelope etc.I do realize diet can make a big difference.I will have to try a couple Western red squirrels to find out for sure but right now,I need what I can get for bait.

Mepps want the tails, they have a want add in f,f,g. Magazine .

FHA in their pelt handling manual provide the board dimensions for red squirrels on page 20: http://furharvesters.com/pdf/pelthandling.pdf

btomcat, thank you for the link to the FHA manual. That is very helpful.

a few years ago,I read here about snaring red squirrels and had to try it.I had some snatched by foxes or bobcats but did get this one picture.

Yes. When mixed in with grey or fox squirrels in a crock pot ya wont tell the difference. I assume east & west red squirrels are the same?

large weasel board works well