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Woodchucks look delicious

Elmo

By Elmo,
in General Chit Chat

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Pygmy Experienced

Pygmy

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I have eaten a number of woodchucks over the years...The half grown young from this year are the best..Mild, tender and quite similar to squirrel or rabbit...

 

The older ones are tougher and stronger flavored..Edible, but not as good IMHO as the young ones.

 

The same generally applies to coon....With either critter remove as much fat as possible from the critter before cooking..The fat tends to give the meat stronger, less desirable flavor.

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wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

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I eat them indirectly.   They make great fertilizer when I bury them under my apple trees.  I just took my first of the season 15 minutes ago.  A fat one I have been after for a couple weeks crawled out from under my barn as I was doing dishes.  A rushed shot from our bedroom window with my .22/250 hit a little far back, leaving the entrails piled next to it.   A second, well-aimed .22 rim-fire shot to the center of the head quickly ended the suffering of the eviscerated chuck.  Hopefully it will be good for a half bushel or so of delicious Cortland apples this fall.  I only like to directly eat animals taken during the cooler months when I don't have to deal with the bugs.   Fish are the way to go in the warm summer months.    In the fall, I have often thought about tossing a young coon in the crockpot but haven't tried it yet.  Thanks for the tip about removing as much fat as possible, I will be sure to do that if I do decide to try it this fall.  They also make great fertilizer.           

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jjb4900 Newbie

jjb4900

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I eat them indirectly.   They make great fertilizer when I bury them under my apple trees.  I just took my first of the season 15 minutes ago.  A fat one I have been after for a couple weeks crawled out from under my barn as I was doing dishes.  A rushed shot from our bedroom window with my .22/250 hit a little far back, leaving the entrails piled next to it.   A second, well-aimed .22 rim-fire shot to the center of the head quickly ended the suffering of the eviscerated chuck.  Hopefully it will be good for a half bushel or so of delicious Cortland apples this fall.  I only like to directly eat animals taken during the cooler months when I don't have to deal with the bugs.   Fish are the way to go in the warm summer months.    In the fall, I have often thought about tossing a young coon in the crockpot but haven't tried it yet.  Thanks for the tip about removing as much fat as possible, I will be sure to do that if I do decide to try it this fall.  They also make great fertilizer.           

I thought Jesus guided all your shots for a quick, clean kill...what happened? was he on a break doing more important stuff like looking for a cure for cancer today?

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cdmckane Newbie

cdmckane

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I eat them indirectly.   They make great fertilizer when I bury them under my apple trees.  I just took my first of the season 15 minutes ago.  A fat one I have been after for a couple weeks crawled out from under my barn as I was doing dishes.  A rushed shot from our bedroom window with my .22/250 hit a little far back, leaving the entrails piled next to it.   A second, well-aimed .22 rim-fire shot to the center of the head quickly ended the suffering of the eviscerated chuck.  Hopefully it will be good for a half bushel or so of delicious Cortland apples this fall.  I only like to directly eat animals taken during the cooler months when I don't have to deal with the bugs.   Fish are the way to go in the warm summer months.    In the fall, I have often thought about tossing a young coon in the crockpot but haven't tried it yet.  Thanks for the tip about removing as much fat as possible, I will be sure to do that if I do decide to try it this fall.  They also make great fertilizer.           

 

You picked up a second rifle to shoot it again after a center-mass shot with the .22-250?  Why?  It died within seconds of the first shot, as you described it. 

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wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

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The second rifle was handy and it was a pitiful sight watching it crawl away those "split seconds" using only its front legs and trailing the pile of guts.    I don't like to see any animal suffer.   This was my first shot from a box of new bullets (40 gr Federal premium sierra varminter HP) and I wasn't overly impressed with the 30 yard performance.  My last box of 55 gr plastic-tip Hornady's always exploded internally when struck mid-body at short range, putting the lights out instantly every time and seldom leaving any external marks on the chuck.  I don't like disrupting the neighborhood more than necessary hence the "little gun" for the second shot.  Also, the ammo is orders of magnitude cheaper.  I usually get as many chucks as I fire 22/250 rounds, rarely shooting over 100 yards.  It has been several years since I missed one with that rifle.            

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Doc Experienced

Doc

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There is no reason for a woodchuck to taste bad. They are vegetarians with the same diet as rabbits ..... BUT ..... I just can't do it. I have even gone as far as dressing one out in preparation for eating, and still couldn't do it. It's just another one of those unexplainable biases. Of course those remembered images of some of those nasty disgusting, runny, maggoty, stinking, oozing, woodchucks that our dog used to drag home and roll in may have something to do with that particular bias. Can't get that picture out of my mind.

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WNYBuckHunter Experienced

WNYBuckHunter

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There is no reason for a woodchuck to taste bad. They are vegetarians with the same diet as rabbits ..... BUT ..... I just can't do it. I have even gone as far as dressing one out in preparation for eating, and still couldn't do it. It's just another one of those unexplainable biases. Of course those remembered images of some of those nasty disgusting, runny, maggoty, stinking, oozing, woodchucks that our dog used to drag home and roll in may have something to do with that particular bias. Can't get that picture out of my mind.

 

Im the same way, just cant bring myself do do it.

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Uncle Nicky Apprentice

Uncle Nicky

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I have eaten a number of woodchucks over the years...The half grown young from this year are the best..Mild, tender and quite similar to squirrel or rabbit...

 

The older ones are tougher and stronger flavored..Edible, but not as good IMHO as the young ones.

 

The same generally applies to coon....With either critter remove as much fat as possible from the critter before cooking..The fat tends to give the meat stronger, less desirable flavor.

 

We had them quite often as a kid. Like Pygmy said, older ones are a little strong but younger ones are a lot like rabbit or quirrel. I'd probably reach for a frozen pack of groundhog before I reached for a pack of bluefish.

 

What turns me off is handling any dead animals once the heat gets over 80. Not sure why, but the smell seems to multiply X10.

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