Eatin Wild things? Racoon cooking??

[wyoDreamer]

Roadkill is not so good eats - it tends to have alot of bruising to the meat and fractured up bones. Also, squirrel is alot easier to skin when it is still warm.

 

[gryeyes]

I was watching one of the gray squirrels in my yard, gauging how I could fatten it up between now and September....

I'd even be willing to try skinning one although I've never done anything like that before. (Once something's dead, it becomes a teaching aid. That means somebody has to make it dead for me.)

I have an awesome electronic pressure cooker - I bet squirrel stew would be interesting.

 

[Ntsees]

Skinning our native gray squirrel is relatively easy. It should come off easily with a good knife. The earlier posts mentioned about ground squirrel and that is something you don't want to skin. I took a taxidermy class once and one person brought in a ground squirrel. I don't know if it's the same for all ground squirrels, but the skinning was difficult. It looked as if the skin was literally glued to the meat.

 

[Triple Willow]

I see this thread is a few months old but still I am glad to see it! I have asked different people if they eat the coons that they find at their coop. Nobody will answer me. I believe they think I am strange! lol There have been so many coons wasted by people who keep chickens! That is A LOT of good meat that is just being thrown away! I haven't had one at my coop yet but if I do he will be ate! They are good cooked on the grill. You just have to be careful not to dry it out. Do any of you have actual coon hunters where you live. Hunting is big here where I live: coon, quail, squirrel, rabbit, deer, wild turkey and in years past fox. Oh, and now coyotes are hunted too. Nothing on four legs is safe! lol I have had plenty of rabbit, squirrel and some coon and turtle. That is my solution for predators, "kill it and eat it before it does you!" lol A local church here has a yearly "Wild Game Supper". They have all kinds of meat! But the meat is gone so quick I have missed out on a lot of it. I was wanting to try bear but it was gone before I got to it. Deer hunting is huge here. Those people do take their hunting SERIOUSLY!

 

[Ntsees]

Thanks for sharing. So fox are consumed by some people? Ok, I was wondering what people did to the fox meat after they skinned it for its pelt.

 

[Shellz]

Neat thread! Too bad I'm the only willing person in the family to try anything new. Maybe I'll just have to try coon in secret somehow. Anybody got tips for dressing one out & recipes to share? I did red squirrel once on my own. Yeah, disappointing. We starting getting into hunting last year, so pretty new to it & haven't succeeded yet in getting a deer. Have 18 acres here with all kinds of wildlife. Yum, yum!

 

[Triple Willow]

Thanks for sharing.  So fox are consumed by some people?  Ok, I was wondering what people did to the fox meat after they skinned it for its pelt.

I'm pretty sure the fox meat is just thrown away. Even though fox hunting use to be a big deal here where I live, I'm sure nobody ate them. I would try it but I'll try about anything. lol I'm sure it's good if cooked right.

My family originated from Scotland/Wales so I suppose they kept the tradition of fox hunting when they came here. But now where I live white tailed deer moved in about 30 years ago and messed up the fox hunting. The foxhounds would jump the scent of a deer and forget all about the fox and run off for miles. Then the hunter would have to try and find their dog. A lot of times come time to go home a dog still hadn't come back so the hunter would leave his coat laying on the ground and when he came back the next day the dog would be their waiting with his coat. When they run off for miles chasing a deer leaving the coat didn't work as well. I guess fox hunting just got to be more of a hassel than it was worth because of the deer. Now the only people I know of around here who hunt foxes have a huge area fenced off (acres and acres) and stock it with foxes for hunting. Here hunting is a big deal. Coon hunting and even more so, rabbit hunting are big. Coon hunting is done at night so it takes an even more special breed of person to do that. lol I have no desire to be out in the middle of the night chasing a dog that is chasing a coon! Too many snakes out there at night! LOL

There is just "running the dogs" where the hunters just sit at camp listening then there is actual hunting where they follow the dog and go after the animal. It is a real "social thing" for men to go out and "run" their foxhounds (in the past), their coon hounds or their rabbit dogs. A group of them would go out and set up a little camp, fix some coffee and maybe bring a little something to eat and listen to the dogs run. Each man would know the sound of his dog and they could tell by listening which dog was in the lead and let me tell you, it was a contest as competitive as watching the Super Bowl! lol Those men did/do have so much pride in their dogs! They pay BIG money for them!

 

[bigmike&nan]

In my area all you gotta do is wait until dark, light up a cigar and pour yourself a whisky. Wait for the coons to come to you, and the DO !! They come around for any scratch or other food we left for the chickens. They like egg layer pellets. Of course eating coon, sheesh man it'd take me drinking a LOT of whisky for me to eat coon. To me it's a pest, roadkill at best.

 

[Triple Willow]

Neat thread! Too bad I'm the only willing person in the family to try anything new. Maybe I'll just have to try coon in secret somehow. Anybody got tips for dressing one out & recipes to share? I did red squirrel once on my own. Yeah, disappointing. We starting getting into hunting last year, so pretty new to it & haven't succeeded yet in getting a deer. Have 18 acres here with all kinds of wildlife. Yum, yum!

I haven't ever dressed a coon but I am sure there are videos on youtube that will show you the easiest way to do it. It seems like those who hunt (regularly) know a simpler way to get it done. Just be sure not to break the intestines in whatever you are dressing. Some old folks would put a coon or possum in a cage and feed it for a few days to clean it out before they would kill it. But of course that would be illegal now, if a person were to get caught caging a wild animal.

My mom (who is 85) says she use to just put the coon in the oven and bake it at 350-400 degrees. Just be sure you don't dry it out. You might want to use some foil on it or maybe baste it. I have had it off the grill too but the person who cooked it got it a little dry. Other than that it was really good. It is a real dark meat. If all these chicken folks who have killed coons and tossed them could taste some they would be wanting to kick their own butts. lol I haven't had one in a long time, it is past time for one to be in my oven! lol

I haven't tried possum but some people eat it too. But they are some nasty creatures! I had one come up in the yard that must have been eating lots of roadkill. Oh my gosh that thing smelled just like something dead, real dead, for days DEAD! But the people who eat them bake them in the oven too. A lot of times they put sweet potatoes around it and bake it all together.

A little vinegar cooked with wild game take a little of the "wild" taste out. I had a deer roast that I cook on top of the stove in a pot. I put plenty of water and about 1/4 cup of vinegar, some dried lemon peel and soy sauce and just cooked it until it was tender. Oh my goodness, it was so good. I bet a coon seasoned up like that would be great.

 

[Blue CopperHen]

I have eaten deer, deer heart (cooked), squirrels, wild rabbit, wild hog, javalina, wild turkey and rocky mountain oysters. ( I was tricked into eating that)