Woodchuck for dinner?

[Hairtrigger]

There was a thread on another forum about strangest thing you ever ate... some were way out there, animals I would never eat. Some guys are just plain nuts.
I grew up on a pork and beef farm always had plenty of great fresh food. When we got crazy we ate chicken
I would never consider trying to eat a crow, raccoon, ect. I have tried squirrel and turtle.. both times my mind got the best of me

 

[kytrapper]

Well Dang pilgrim the woods be full of civilized citified folks!!!

To the OP there is a newspaper article hanging in a local office depicting a community "ground hog supper" from days gone by.

Like most game the younger ones fry good. This of course would be a may june dinner.

If you happen on one in deer season clean, cut out glands, cut up and soak in Red pepper water. Draws the game out and does not brine the meat. meat can be crock pot with garlic and lemon juice then added to a veggy cassorle and taken to the office's annual luncheon ( right K.O??) the ladies love it ( guess among civilized folk it is just the idea of what you are eating sometimes)

or put in pressure cooker and cook on med heat til 1/2 done then add tater and onions ...when done add a white flour gravy...then call 911 because you will need stiches in your bottom lip!!!

As long as you remove the scent glands beaver , muskrat and chuck are good meat.

I did not mention anything about BBQ because other poster stated it will taste like BBQ. Good way to ruin rattlesnake is to slap some bbq on it.


Does anyone really know what is in processed meat products??????

Just a thought to think before turning your nose up at a meat from known herbivores.

TC

 

[Mike 338]

I remember reading an article some years ago, it was in Varmint Hunter Magazine. A Dr. and his wife took a sabbatical to Mongolia. They have a similar large rodent there that they cook by peeling back the hide enough to clean out the entrails and cut up the choicest cut's(???). Throw the meat back into the skin with water, seasoning, and God knows what else, tie up the back end of the marmot and put him on the coals. They turn the critter constantly to ensure even cooking.
They continue this way until all hair is singed off and marmot is done, they can tell when it's chow time when the water/steam has heated to the point that it starts to sound much like a lobster I guess. They call it the "Last whistle of the Marmot"

**** tough people if you ask me

I saw a documentary once just as you described it. They really liked it.

 

[ARTY SGT]

We need more people in here from the woods in Eastern Kentucky! I've killed hundreds of rattlesnakes and invited each one for dinner...Love it...Clean em...Gut...skin...de-head and tail...soak in cold salt water till your ready to cook em....sometimes they crawl out of the water....Just stuff em back in...sometimes it takes two people to get em back in the bowl....When you got your cast iron skillet full of Crisco cracklin ...cut em up in 3 inch chunks...salt and pepper lightly and roll in equal parts of corn meal and flour. Get read for a fight to be the first one to get a chunk cause its heavenly! The smell will draw everyone in the house with a smile!...Cook em till dark golden brown!

As far as Groundhog they are fantastic!...Dont have a recipe but used to eat them at an old friends house dozens of times when his mom fixed em....they would melt in your mouth and were delicious! Have lost contact with him for years... Will try to get in contact again and get the recipe.

Slow oven baked Coon is fantastic..make sure you butter baste it..not margarine!....Fried Squirrel..Squirrel Gravy and Biscuts are made for KINGS!...Opossum is great! fix it just like coon!.....Never ate a crow but I'll try anything a dozen times!

I've also eaten Dog...Monkey in Survival school in Panama and French Guiana....And a few things you dont want to know about.

Dog is a bit greasy like goose or duck but a very good meat...easy to cook over an open fire. Monkey was tough as nails but I'm sure there's a crock pot recipe out there somewhere!

I was 17 years old before I knew there was more to eat in the world but what you killed...Soup beans and green onions...Corn Bread.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Here I am all caught up in the Second Amendment stuff and I'm missing the good stuff.....

My mom was half Sioux and she cooked whistle pig and turtle all the time, in fact I love turtle soup with beans and vegies. When I was a kid, I'd get a snapper by the back end and drop him in a burlap sack and get him home. I'd flip him in a washtub and take a broomstick and get him to clamp on it. When he clamped down, my dad would take his Buck and wack off the head. Then he went in a big pot of boiling water to loosen the shell plates which dad peeled off to get to the good parts. All the meat was cut up and went in the stewpot with the beans and vegies. Always good.

My dad skinned the whistle pigs and deboned them and she boiled the meat and then roasted it in the oven with a tomato sauce she always made. Only youg ones. The older ones, my dad said were too muscled to eat. It was good eating but then we ate rabbit all the time as well. My dad never prepped squirrel, he always said a squirrel was a rat with a bushy tail.

They both been gone a long time. I wish I had the recipes but my wife most likely would not cook them.

Those were the days. I miss em both.

 

[biged57]

Hey ARTY know what you mean have eat a lot of groundhogs coons and squirrels over the years a young squirrel fried and gravy eggs and biscuits for breakfast is as good as it gets

 

[ARTY SGT]

All right Ed...you gonna mention this again and I'm gonna have to head out and shoot some of these Fox Squirrels here in the Bluegrass thats too fat to climb a tree....Shamefull! LOL!

My wife and I shot trap last week and on the way home we watched one "WADDLE" down a road in front of us about 10 feet and made it about 4 feet up a little walnut tree....He stopped and was panting so hard I thought I was gonna have to do CPR on him!! My wife could have reached out the passenger window and petted him LOL!

I hate to hunt em in that poor condition...all you need is a baseball bat!

 

[varmintH8R]

Great posts, make me laugh. I am way too citified. I will eat a chuck when civilization has ended and I can no longer find meat that doesn't rub its stomach on the ground when it walks! Don't call me a wuss or a citified pretty boy - I already know.

Of course, now that the dreaded sequester has occurred my chuck eatin days may be right around the corner. If the gummit can no longer pay my fat lazy aunt to take friendship dogs to half-way houses twice a week the complete breakdown of our economy and society is the only possible result.

God help us all. Oh the humanity.

 

[112Savage]

Within the last few years I've really gotten into groundhog hunting. As such, I wondered what the meat tasted like. It is an omnivore eating some of the choicest grasses how bad could it be?

This is what I found out. Grilled it tates good but gets very tough; solution to that is to cook it longer at lower heat. Now, when I see young ones I try to take head shots only and I cook them in a crock pot with a recipe from a member here Barrett81.

Two things to note, 22LR and 223 Rem don't waste too much meat especially with head shots. 308 Win, 25-06 and 264 win mag are way too much and even with head shots can get quite messy. Lastly, I have a very sharp skinning knife and still resort to a scalpel when skinning groundhogs. Their skin is ridiculously tough.

Here is barrett's recipe (hope he doesn't mind) I used a very dark somewhat sweet beer (New Belgium 1554)
I love this one
2 -2 1/2 lbs dressed rabbit cut up
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium potatoes, peeled and halved
3 -4carrots, peeled and bias-cut in 1 inch pieces
1 onion thinly sliced
1 cup beer
1/4 cup chili sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/3 cup cold water
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
paprica(to garnish) (optional)
parsley(to garnish) (optional)
Directions:

1
In a crock-pot, place potatoes, carrots and onion.
2
Season meat with salt and pepper; brown in oil on all sides and place in crock pot on top of vegetables.
3
Combine beer, chili sauce,, brown sugar, and garlic; pour over meat.
4
Cover and cook on high heat setting for 3 1/2- 4 hours.
5
Remove meat and drain vegetables.
6
Measure cooking liquid and add beer, water, or broth to make 1 1/2 cups.
7
Put reserved cooking liquid in a saucepan, and return meat and vegetables to the crock pot.
8
Mix 1/3 cup water with 3 tbs flour in a gravy shaker or jar and shake until smooth.
9
Stir into reserved liquid; cook, stirring constantly until thickened.
10
Serve sauce over meat and vegetables, sprinkle with paprika and garnish with parsley if desired.
11
Note: This can be baked in an oven-proof casserole rather than a crock-pot.
12
Bake at 350°F for approx 1 1/2 hours, or until meat and vegetables are tender.

 

[kytrapper]

Need to try that recipe sounds good......even with store bought meat