I am from Southern IL, where hunting is (as it is in most less-than-urban places) very much the norm. Hunting everything. Deer, possum (oh my I sound redneck, but I assure you I am not!
), raccoon, squirrel, you get the picture.
Black squirrels are apparently rare, and I guess gray ones marked with black are as well. My boyfriend's brother was hunting and bagged a gray one with a black stripe down its back. The whole family was impressed. He wanted to mount it (yes, they have wildlife staring down at them from their walls-takes some getting used to, but adds to the ambience-their house is a lodge-looking place) but didn't have time immediately (he's in the Air Force, and well....they are somewhat busy at the present...). So what did they do with it? They froze it. Yes, they just plopped it into a Ziploc freezer bag and put it in the chest freezer.
So I go downstairs to the freezer to get some peaches for ice cream, open it, and SCREAM, because nobody warned me that I would be greeted by a rock-hard squirrel. The whole family got a huge kick out of it, and always ask if I want to go check the freezer.