Predator Meat

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I see your point Mr. Morris. But Rat and Cockroach are found in our living areas (home/farms) and are a true pest that are found in large numbers in urban areas due to our impact o the environment. To me, those are issues we as humans created. And I assume, correct me if I'm wrong, that the Rats/Cockroaches you are referencing are urban and not types of rats that are found away from humans. I suspect there is some, non-urban place on this earth that has a recipe for both.

A rodent chewing wires on a tractor or truck in a barn are just as bad as a city one chewing on a box of Christmas lights in your attic, actually worse because you can throw away the lights and buy new one for $12 next year vs taking the bed off the truck or dropping the tank to repair the wires to the fuel pump.

Rabbits eating the wife’s flowers in the city are one thing but hogs making a hay meadow unbailable overnight is on an entirely different level of destruction.

If it’s a pest, remove it, that said I don’t kill bobcats, or other predators, prey or scavengers that don’t cause damage and that depends on location often.

I don’t think about ethics of killing often but I am pretty sure it is more ethical to kill in an instant and let lay than poison and once death finally occurs, eat...

Not a judgement on anyone, rather a way to look at things from different points of view.
 
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Pato
I don't think a rat and a gray squirrel would taste the same. They have entirely different diets and as the old saying goes (You are what you eat).

To prove my point shoot a gray squirrel and then shoot a red squirrel.
Gray squirels mostly eat in the hardwoods and the flavor is nice prepared many ways.
The red squirrels live mostly in the pine forest and taste bitter.
I have shot and ate both while liveing in Upstate New York. Gray squirrels I cooked many different ways. I made soup out of them, fried them, baked them, cooked them marinated out on the grill, used them in spegtti sauce, squirrel & dumplings, the list can go on & on.
Red squirrels were used in spegtti sauce or marinated and cooked out on the grill.


Actual rats eat an entirely different diet, i have no desire to try one, but I have a friend that migrated to Washington State from India. He came from the same city in the movie (Slumdog Millionare). The average pay was $1 American money a day. They use to go to the dump to catch rats to eat. Any kind of bird, reptile or animal was table fare.
That was the way it was and they ate that stuff just like us shooting a deer, turkey, rabbit or anything else.

I know a guy who served in the military and was stationed in the Phillipenes. He got the taste for bluet chicken
I know the spelling isn't right. But they incubate a chicken or duck egg to a couple days before it is to hatch, bury it under ground for forty-five days then dig it up and eat it. .
Another thing I will pass on.
But beaver meat sounds good as does young woodchucks.
 
Pato
I don't think a rat and a gray squirrel would taste the same. They have entirely different diets and as the old saying goes (You are what you eat).

In the first year of the TV show "Survivor" they were starving. Then they trapped rats and one guy shot stingrays. They all raved about how delicious the rats were.

Rats eat whatever they can including corn, quail eggs, and garbage. Garbage is just human food that got thrown away.
 
As Highland Lofts indicated, this has turned into an interesting topic. I'm interested in all remaining comments. I'm glad to hear that many eat lion and it has piqued my interest into trying some. I'd assume those that eat lion would also eat bobcat. Both are true carnivores and although the diet is different it is all meat. Comment?

I'm still interested to see what the laws are around the country as far as Mountain Lion, Bobcat, and Coyote are. Here is what I found for the laws/regulations in Arizona. My comments are in RED:

A.R.S. 17-309
Violations; classification
A. Unless otherwise prescribed by this title, it is unlawful for a person to:
5. Take a game bird, game mammal or game fish and knowingly permit an edible portion thereof to go to waste, except as provided in section 17-302

17-302. Taking of bear or mountain lion for protection of property; report (so 17-302 doesn't impact this discussion)

Under Definitions
Big Game: Any of the following species: mule deer, white-tailed deer, pronghorn antelope, elk, turkey, javelina, bear, bighorn sheep, bison and mountain lion. (So mountain lion is "Big Game" and 17-309 requires the meat to not be wasted)

Bobcat and Coyote fall under the heading of Predatory & Fur-bearing Mammals. But a search of the regulations doesn't find the same restriction regarding preserving the meat for Predatory or Fur-bearing Mammals. So, if you assume, I know bad thing to do, that what isn't prohibited is allowed, it looks like Bobcat and Coyote meat does not have to be preserved.

A.R.S. 17-101
Definitions
6. Fur-bearing animals are muskrats, raccoons, otters, weasels, bobcats, beavers, badgers and ringtail cats.
7. Predatory animals are foxes, skunks, coyotes and bobcats.
8. Nongame animals are all wildlife except game mammals, game birds, fur-bearing animals, predatory animals and aquatic wildlife.


Lets handle the ethical portion of this last.

Clarification - 17-309 provides that taking a 'Game Mammal' not be wasted and I referenced the definition of 'Big Game' in my follow up. Just above the definition of big game is the definition of 'Game Mammal' and it is:


2. Game mammals are deer, elk, bear, pronghorn (antelope), bighorn sheep, bison (buffalo), peccary (javelina), mountain lion, tree squirrel and cottontail rabbit. Same result but different reference.
 
I've always been an adventurous eater of wild game. I've eaten some interesting things in my day. North American animals that are not on most people's menus... Beaver, Muskrat, Raccoon, Opossum, Crow, Coot, and Blue Heron. Of those, only the Raccoon (marginally) and the Blue Heron would be considered predators of sorts. All were quite edible, some delicious, however I wouldn't recommend a steady diet of Blue Heron. They are protected, the one I ate was confiscated by a game warden who gave it to me as I was curious how it would taste. Many species of waterfowl are largely predatory, such as scaup, ringneck, redhead, goldeneye and canvasback. Of those, redhead and cans are IMHO some of the best eating duck second only to BW teal. Abroad, I have eaten Rats, Pigeon, Dog, some sort of Eurasian fox, Eurasian Wolf, Eurasian bear, Crocodile and God knows what else in some war torn parts of the world. All I can say, is that with enough fennel, garlic, Hungarian paprika and cumin or curry, anything tastes pretty good in a hearty stew.
 
For the most part....I do not hunt what I will not eat. The exceptions are predators and furbearers. They are not defined as game animals in my state's regs and thus are not subject to "wanton waste" laws. We don't have a season on cougars as they are a protected species.When it comes to game animals tho, iffin I ain't gonna eat it, I don't hunt it, regardless of how much fun it is. This is why I quit hunting geese and for the most part, waterfowl. This is why I don't hunt snowshoe hares, crows or bear anymore and why I don't shoot pine squirrels(reds) while hunting grey and fox squirrels. Now iffin' I was hungry and had nuttin' else, things would probably be different. One common practice around here is folks that like to hunt geese tend to give them away to other folks that are non-hunters. The local game warden warns against this in our Hunter Safety classes, as the person receiving the meat, must have the appropriate licenses and stamps and cannot be in excess of possession limits.
 
I heard from an old electrician on a job

If it looks good, smells good, and tastes alright I'll eat it.
 
I've always been an adventurous eater of wild game. I've eaten some interesting things.

Abroad, I have eaten Rats, Pigeon, Dog, some sort of Eurasian fox, Eurasian Wolf, Eurasian bear, Crocodile and God knows what else in some war torn parts of the world. All I can say, is that with enough fennel, garlic, Hungarian paprika and cumin or curry, anything tastes pretty good in a hearty stew.

That is why some of the places around the world have over powering spices to make certain things edible.
I often tell the old lady that I will not eat at Mexican, India, Chinese and other of these types of resturaunts, expecially if they come from them countries because the stuff they have ate all their life is natural to them. Moving to a new country doesn't change the way they were raised and what they are used to eating.
I have a friend from India and know what gets served over his diner table.
I also have several Mexican friends that bring strange stuff to work for lunch.
When I was working at my friends dairy farm there was a family from Egypt that would buy a cow once a year. They wanted the cows throat cut and the blood saved, they eat pretty much everything.
The entire head brains included, the lungs, intestines, and other psrts most of us would consider garbage.
They can't get over how we can buy processed meat from the store and not think twice about it.

I'm sure anything that is alive and moveing is table fare some where around the world.

If every one ate the same thing it would be boreing after a short time.
 
Lynx, Spring BrownBear and a Berry fed mountainside August Black bear are some FINE eating, especcially the Black Bear.

If your in Alaska, we have "Fur" and we have "Meats", and somethings, like Bears, we can choose; keep the hide and skull and ditch the meats (Fall Brown Bears are rotten fish nasty) or ditch the hide and skull and keep the meats (spring time) but I just keep both in Spring and I dont hunt Brown Bears any other time.

Old timers used to keep the Fox/Wolf/Otter/Wolverine/etc carcasses as back up for a lean long Spring; however, they say if you get hungry enough to eat Wolf or the Weasel family of carcasses, (Otter/Wolverine/Mink, etc.) it must be that your VERY hungry, and you will never be satisfied eating again. And thats from a society that still remembers what lean times are like.
 
I know guys who hunt the clear cuts that are over grown with black berries here in Washington State for fall black bears. Like you said toss the hide and keep the edible meat.
 
Lynx, Spring BrownBear and a Berry fed mountainside August Black bear are some FINE eating, especcially the Black Bear.

If your in Alaska, we have "Fur" and we have "Meats", and somethings, like Bears, we can choose; keep the hide and skull and ditch the meats (Fall Brown Bears are rotten fish nasty) or ditch the hide and skull and keep the meats (spring time) but I just keep both in Spring and I dont hunt Brown Bears any other time.

Old timers used to keep the Fox/Wolf/Otter/Wolverine/etc carcasses as back up for a lean long Spring; however, they say if you get hungry enough to eat Wolf or the Weasel family of carcasses, (Otter/Wolverine/Mink, etc.) it must be that your VERY hungry, and you will never be satisfied eating again. And thats from a society that still remembers what lean times are like.
if the meat being too rank for humans will other animals eat a wolf carcass or pass on it
 
Wolves will eat other Wolves, caught in a snare or just wounded/weak or whatever, andIve heard a few times among Hunters that Wolves dont die in bed, they get killed, either by other Wolves or people....I dont know if its "true" but it makes you think a bit.



I use Fox carcass for Wolverine bait because a Fox will usually stay away, but theres been a couple times Ive caught them with their own as bait.

If you want Rank meat, eat a seagull or shoot a Caribou during Rut...Blgggaaahhhhhhh!! Id rather eat a riverside fall time salmon fed Brown Bear whos rolled on a dead Seal..

.Hmmmmm thinking of predators, Seals are pretty dang tasty! Walrus too and the same for Beluga, a toothed whale.
 
I feed the dog on crows. She turns her nose up unless I cook them in bacon fat. She's spoiled, but I'm not eating crow and it saves in buying dog food.

With regards to Beaver, mentioned above. There's a High School somewhere in the eastern plains in the town of Eaton Colorado whose mascot is, oddly, the Beavers. That's right, they're the Eaton Beavers. Good sense of humor those folks.
 
This topic has been fun. I am now determined to eat some mountain lion based on the replies to this thread. I'm still not interested in coyote and from what I read, nobody else is either. I still don't know about bobcat. It should be about the same as mountain lion as the diets are basically the same. Just smaller animals eaten. So I think I will try my next bobcat.

As far as the law goes in Arizona, Mountain Lion is a game animal and the meat has to be preserved. Bobcat and coyote don't. They can be hunted for the hide and the meat left for scavengers. I'm glad I looked for the actual regulations here in my state instead of just going by what I thought I knew.
 
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