There was a big article in the local newspaper this morning about how nutria are moving into the Sacramento River delta, and will ruin our wetlands and dikes if we don't do something about it. There was a brief mention that they are hunted in the south, and a quick check of the internet indicates that they are edible.
Has anyone here ever hunted and/or eaten one? Would you recommend it?
I'm sure a Louisiana boy on here can tell you how to eat swamp rats. I've shot them with air rifles but never ate one. They are fun to hunt.
QuoteOriginally posted by BHall:
I'm sure a Louisiana boy on here can tell you how to eat swamp rats. I've shot them with air rifles but never ate one. They are fun to hunt.
Yes sir! I can attest to them being good eat'n lol
I chicken fried some and it was delicious!
Basinboy, have you hunted them with a bow? I'm wondering if that's something I ought to think about. The Sacramento River delta is something like the Everglades or bayous, where the river has slowed way down as it makes its way around hundreds of islands, where the nutria and other animals dig into the banks. Of course, whether the law would permit me to bowhunt nutria from a kayak is another question, which I would have to figure out for myself. But they should let me, if the nutria is a big a threat to the delta as the article indicated.
I saw an article two weeks ago and mentioned it on another site. Heck a 20 pound target would be great. Sounds like a night spotlight activity
McDave-
A quick internet search referencing nutria will show how much time, effort and money that was expended trying to get rid of them in the Chesapeake Bay region. They are a scourge to wetlands and marsh habitats for sure! I have included a link to the USF&WS website with information.
https://www.fws.gov/chesapeakenutriaproject/
They are non-native and an invasive species. Hopefully you are free to take them at will.
OkKeith
As I see it, anything with orange teeth like that probably NEEDS to be shot, Dave..... :archer2:
Jimmie
Shot one a few years ago, but unfortunately it looks like the Photobucket pics are lost. Tasted pretty good as cacciatore. Recipe I used is in this link. I think it might be better cooked on the grill, because it has a very soft texture.
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=101741#000000
The govment thought it was a good idea to bring them here.
I think they were supposed to hydrila.
Dave, if California Wildlife officials handle nuisance animal problems like they do here in Mississippi you won't be able to hunt them with a Broadhead outside of deer season and those are tough critters.
The Maryland Traditional Bowhunters used to have an annual nutria hunt. I worked on the Chesapeake bay project so I never made a sport of it, but it sure would have been fun when there were numbers.
Grew up hunting them. Along with muskrats and beaver. My job was to keep the burrows from causing earthen dam failures. Or the tractors from getting stuck in the tunnels. I like the taste of nutrias better than the other two. Even tho some folks rave about beaver tail. I think ground hog is better than all three.
MAP
California may see them as a problem, especially since damage to dikes in the Central Valley would cost millions, they would opt to make them subject to special tags/fees. Ranchers/farms would also demand a take. Just like hogs
Get a hold of "Tony Sanders" he hunts them and eat them. Read a couple stories in the past of Tony's exploits with those critters.
Good eating. I never hunted them with a bow back home in Louisiana, only rifle. In the swamps and marshes we hunted I was worried about recovery since they hit the water fast if not killed instantly.
QuoteOriginally posted by wislnwings:
Good eating. I never hunted them with a bow back home in Louisiana, only rifle. In the swamps and marshes we hunted I was worried about recovery since they hit the water fast if not killed instantly.
Ditto on what Craig says here. They will hit the water quick and most likely not recovered. But there is now a $ bounty on them here in Louisiana. I know some guys that kill $1,000 worth in a weekend on their leases. Louisiana tried to promote them as good table fare but the thought of eating a big rat to some folks didn catch on. They eat only vegetation, basically a big rabbit with a long tail that swims lol
Corey,
Bob that tail off and give it some longer ears and just maybe we can think rabbit
Thanks for all your responses. I would prefer to hunt things I can eat, but there are exceptions. The duck clubs around Sacramento kill all the beaver in their clubs, as they screw up the duck hunting habitat, and of course all the carp die in the spring as the duck ponds dry up. I assume from the article that efforts to kill nutria would be even more aggressive, as they seem to be more worried about the nutria than they are about the beaver and carp. The carp and beaver come back the next year, as I suppose they survive in other places. So if the opportunity arises, I will probably go bow hunting for nutria, even though I might not be able to recover any, since they are marked for extermination anyway.
The marshes of Dorchester Co., MD were infested with them 25 years ago. They will kill a marsh dead in a few years because they not only eat the marsh plants but the roots too. The marshes will look like denuded mud flats. We could hear them calling in the marsh when we Sika deer hunted. They sounded like a sheep bahhhhing.
They have been eradicated and I believe the state put a bounty on them and trappers did the rest.
QuoteOriginally posted by McDave:
Basinboy, have you hunted them with a bow? I'm wondering if that's something I ought to think about. The Sacramento River delta is something like the Everglades or bayous, where the river has slowed way down as it makes its way around hundreds of islands, where the nutria and other animals dig into the banks. Of course, whether the law would permit me to bowhunt nutria from a kayak is another question, which I would have to figure out for myself. But they should let me, if the nutria is a big a threat to the delta as the article indicated.
No Sir I have not but man that would be a blast!
Years ago I would see and mostly hear the nutria making their gurgling calls( I think water in their mouths) at last light while hunting Sika deer. Now I never see or hear them anymore. They did a fantastic job of eliminating them. Here's a video explaining how they did it and why.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuAlrh4yjPw
Why not hunt them with a fish arrow? You could retrieve them and club them in the water. Combination of bowhunting and baseball. New sport designation./
God bless, Steve
Hi McDave, Years ago back during the 90's, I use to be the hunt coordinator for the Traditional Bowhunters of Maryland annual Nutria hunt. And yes we bowhunted and harvested them with our recurve and longbows. Man we really had a great time going after them on the marshes at Blackwater here in Maryland. And as ugly as they are, I certainly ate them and I believe some others ate them as well. Those hind quarters of them nutria are quite good barbecued. Matter fact Dr Don Thomas and his wife Lori came and hunted them with us back around 1999. I don't wish them back because of the damage they do, but I sure would like to go after them somewhere again. We really had a ball doing it.
Tony
(https://i.imgur.com/AZxdwxC.jpg)
The only one I ever saw had some pretty remarkable fur.
Enjoyed your post and pix, Tony. So it is possible to hunt nutria with a bow and recover them so they can be cooked and eaten. That's what I wanted to hear. Now if the great state of California just won't throw up too many roadblocks....
Hunted them in LA at night with a spotlight out of a canoe. Lots of fun.
If you shoot them along the bank and they run up the recovery is pretty easy. You will lose some if they dive after being hit. I'm not brave enough to try a fishing arrow, that would be like grabbing a running Cusinart on a stick!
Cleaning can be quick and easy if you just focus on the hindquarters up to midback. ( Thats where all the meat is anyways) Skip the front half and you can avoid the guts pretty much all together.
Soaked in buttermilk for 24hrs and fry. Very tasty.
Great pic, Tony
Great pic, Tony
There Tony!
I was hoping he'd respond. I remember reading about your hunt with Dr. Thomas and his wife Lori, a very good read!
I've trapped them but never hunted them. I have eaten them also. I liked it. I've only eaten them in a gravy. The meat reminds me of domestic pen raised rabbit. Pink meat.if I remember the meat didn't brown too well. If I ever get the chance to cook some again I will put them on the pit. Or fry some up.
As was said before, I've killed a bunch with a pellet gun, and boatloads with a .22 from fairly long range. They are relatively easy to kill
I have killed hundreds with a recurve and longbow,I was fortunate to work at a facility where they were abundant.A four blade muzzy,and sometimes a judo point makes short work of them.They are absolutely good to eat,the younger the better,they fry up just like a rabbit.I can cook you some in a gravy and you would not know it isn't rabbit :)
I paid my way through college trapping them here in Oregon in the late 70's. Being a poor college student, I ate just about everything from my trap line. I've probably killed more (by hunting) with a stick rather than any other weapon. We would spot them feeding in fields and sneak up and get between them and the water. They would flat out charge you trying to get back to the water. I knocked several out of the air as they were leaping for my midsection. Lots of fun!
QuoteOriginally posted by newhouse114:
They would flat out charge you trying to get back to the water. I knocked several out of the air as they were leaping for my midsection. Lots of fun!
Maybe I should have posted this in the dangerous game forum rather than PowWow :eek: