GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : BumbleShot September 23, 2008, 01:22:16 PM
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I know Jeff eats his take.
I see a lot of dead critters and airguns, but I don't see the critters on the grill very often (Thank you Jeff!), nor do I see tanned squirrel hides, or raccoon hides, or opossum pelts.
Aside for killing these creatures and taking a picture, does anyone tan the hides or doing anything useful with them? Any recipes?
Now shooting rats, house sparrows and pigeons is just plain justice to me, but nutters and rabbits have more to offer when we hunt them than a snap shot and a cony lunch. Are ??here any links to home-tanning the pelts, or the best way to anthill or maggot a kill for the skull and bones trophy? Do you crush the remaining bones up for your rose garden and tomatoes?
Has anyone a collection of nutter skulls you hit the fuse-boxes on and took the time to preserve the little guys brain box? Macabre, but I'm thinking there is more to hunting than sniping creatures and not eating them. My wife asked me about the pelts and the skulls tonight. She loves how cute Nutters and bunnies are, and asked that once I start mauling these guys with my Beeman and BAM that we keep the pelts and skulls. (I married a great woman!) I am very interested in the pelts and the meat. I don't want to kill a nutter and chuck em into a hefty bag either.
Who here does not eat the nutters and rabbits they take? I understand not eating rats and pigeons. Yuch!
All the best. Lots to chat about!
Neil
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I eat the tree rats that I harvest. I haven't gotten any rabbits yet, but when I do, they'll go in the dutch oven, too. I hear pigeons are excellent eating. Squab. All they are is a feral rock dove.I'll eat damned near any animal that doesn't eat me first. Hate to tell you, but they're no dirtier than any other bird. Yeah, they poop on statues and such, but all birds poop, and all bird poop is nasty.
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Rock Dove carry a lot of PCBs. Be careful and don't eat city pigeons... Do you tan your pelts?
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Tanning the hides is understandable but preserving the skulls is a little morbid. The problem with preserving squirrel pelt is after you have taken the time to tan them what are you going to do with such a small piece of leather?
There is nothing I like better than squirrel and dumplins, then again rabbit stew might tie it!
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I have recently refrained from shooting animals that are not pests or food. After the initial fun wore off i couldnt justify shooting living things for no reason
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Kudos to you Neil for honoring your harvest by wanting to utilize as much as you can.Not many in todays world have the time or inclination to salvage the pelts but when you do you get more than just a meal to remember.With your wifes support perhaps you could make something that is really unique like a one of a kind hand made squirrel coat or blanket. Considering the time and labor required to acheive such a feat, a squirrel fur coat would be priceless.
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I admire your ethics,
When young my grandfather raised fighting roosters ( yea, I know him not me ) the native birds would eat his feed and I was encouraged to dispatch them which was done by the hundreds or more with a Benjamin .22. A kid's dream. When we raised our kids they were taught that if they didn't want to eat it and it was not a destructive pest don't shoot it.
The boys (grown now and on their own) Backpacked with me in the Arizona Black River country. We brought a couple beers and my youngest son john was throwing rocks at the bats that showed up at sunset. Our second oldest son josh said " John if you hit one of those bats dad is going to make you make thumb mittens from the hide!" Our oldest son jay is still laughing about it :)
Dave
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....Grackles ready to be slow cooked and their broth used to make soup.
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Is it unethical to fatten them up before you shoot'em :)
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Nice lookin birds Stanley,,, just wondering what your recipe is for the soup made from the birds??? Sounds interesting.....
Jeff
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While I don't shoot birds, that looks delicious!
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At lunch time today I thought about you and your post Neil,,,,,, had a delicious plate of cajun fried squirrel and man was it good !! :)
Matter of fact I fried up a bit to much so tomorrow I'll be putting the leftovers in the slow cooker to cook up another tree rat meal :)
Jeff
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Hey Jeff, Good thinking!! Crock-pot season is juuust about here in the land o' Dixie!!!!! Have a few more BT's in the freezer left, but openning day is October 1st!!!! Already got my 'honey-holes' scoped out!!!! Now I just have to decide which rifle to take and where,...the Sierra,...the 0035,..my "ace in the hole",....or the dominatrix 34 in .22!!!!!! LOL's Aaaaah, decisions, decisions, decisions. What's a boy to do?!?!?!? Crow season starts November 1st! I can see it now,....rotisseried crow breasts with all the fixin's!!! Dang I'm gettin' hungry!! tjk
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Hi...What the hell is a Grackle?
Looks a bit like a black bird or Starling!
which are good pellet back stops but
never even thought of eating them.
Hope they taste better than they look
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Too Funny!! Them birds gots holes in em!! Course,, outa respect,,, thier little "Faces" are covered up!! Look mighty tastey though,,,,,, I Guess?? He He!! Tim.
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I skinned and cooked a grackle once just to try it,,,,,wasn't my cup of tea. But He has me curious about this soup thing....
As for the starlings,,,,, I've eaten quite a few of em, you need a mess of those tiny little breasts for a meal, but I gotta tell ya,,, they are really good.....
Jeff
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and whistles. I carry at all times and kill as many as I can they are a real problem here there are so many and they will push out and destroy other birds nest and eggs I have even seen them kill sparrows and eat them. they are realy nasty and loud pest that need to be gotten rid of
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Hmmm yes I do eat the critter's that I take and some of the critter's are given to friend's to try. As for skull's I do save them, maby morbid to some but the study of the skull's has helped me understand the effectiveness of a certain a type of pellet on bone and the best shot placement location. The hunt's speak for themselves I must say.:) Ed
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Well the broth our family made out of them tasted great....just like any poultry I guess. The meat were abit tough.....guess they were older birds and/or we didn't slow cook them long enough....just be careful because their bones are sharp. We didn't broil or grill them....maybe the next one.... Since we now know that their meat are tough.....we'll have to marinate them for a couple of days in lemon juice or some other recipes I've read here. And yes I covered their heads out of respect....yeah right!!!!.....I actually covered their heads because I emailed those photos to a few relatives and friends and I didn't want them to have a stress attack. Lol That's right, you can see the pellet hole(s) in them....I never realized that and I took the photos. duh Forgot to mention....we just made vegetable soup with the broth.
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Thanks,,, I think I'll give the soup thing a try next time I pop some starlings... I can save the breasts for the pan and the carcass for making some soup stock... :)
Jeff
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Don't even get me started on Grackles............sheesh, avian villans.........
(Technically, Grackles are cover under the U.S Migratory Bird Act. But, I won't tell, if you don't)
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Yeah, I figured this post would get a response from Peak :) we all know how much she loves grackles :)
Jeff