It won't be long and the little chucks will be coming out, i want to hunt them with a bow and my son Joe is bound and determined that we are going to eat one. Any tips on handling and preparing will be appreciated. I have heard that if there not prepped right they aren't good eating don't want to go thru the trouble for nothing.
There are little glands under the arms that must be removed or they can impart a funny taste. Other than that you don't need to do anything special to them.
I particulary like them with some seasoned breading a fried like chicken. Tasty!!!
My grandmother cooked one for me. She said to sprinkle it w/ coffee grounds to take out the gamy taste. She cooked it in a roaster. (I popped him w/ a soybean leaf in his mouth.) Good hunting! Larry
Well that's an easy question to answer: YES! And they are good eatin too, not just OK, I mean really good if you take care of em.
What Jaeger said: remove the glands most definately. Get them on ice as quick as you can and it makes a big difference to. Don't leave em out in the field while you are trying to get another...the heat with the hide left on em really buggers up the meat. Cut em up, soak them overnight in the fridge, in a pan of water with about a tablespoon of salt mixed in. There's a couple of recipes over in the recipe forum that work well. We usually crock pot em or if they are young ones, grill em.
ditto, on the glands, and letting them soak in salt water in the fridge over night.
A friend also made jerky out of one, wasn't too bad.
Young ones are the best. :bigsmyl:
I used work with a fellow who would par boil the ground hog and then coat it with Shake & Bake. He would then bake it just like chicken. He brought some to work one evening for us to try, but I was two minutes late getting to supper break and the other buzzards had already eaten it all. They all said it was good.
Brian
I stir fry em in mid air with a 7mm mag-110gr TNT hollow point!!! We do bow hunt them as well, got a nice one with the recurve last week. Never been hungry enough to try eaten them. But if JC says there good then they're good.
If you get a young one just cut it up and bar-b- q it. Tasts just like chicken.
If'n you get a big ol' boar or sow pare boil it fur a couple hours. then grill it. They are some fine eatin'.
They're just like a big squirrel, I've eaten lots of them. Young ones can be fried like chicken, the older tougher chucks can be cooked in a crock pot.
They're not easy to take with a bow but fun to hunt. If you can stalk and kill a woodchuck with a bow you've really accomplished something.
Quotemy son Joe is bound and determined that we are going to eat one.
Sounds like you're raising a real outdoorsman. :thumbsup:
I hunted them alot in Ohio when I was young, used to keep the young ones for my great uncle, he loved them. I can't give you any better advise on cooking them than you've already gotten though. I agree with Ron that your boy is coming along just fine, I like his spunk. Good huntin! Dan.
Hmmm, never thought about eating them, always have stalked in close and counted coupe. They are all over the place in the mountains around here. Called the Yellow Bellied Marmot here. Gonna have to try for one. Might just make good deer camp meat. :campfire:
I will have to try eating them. I should have asked this question along time ago having shot alot of them with my bow. To me they are one of my favorite things to spot and stalk, they are great practice.
So are they what us boys out here would be callin a "Rock Chuck"
can some one explain finding and removing the glands.
Woodchuck livers rolled in flour and seasoning and fried in butter are excellent. A very mild taste more like chicken livers than beef or deer. bw
I always wondered what the first guy to eat a chicken say it tasted like. Anyway, I know my granddad used to eat them. They were so poor they would sometimes have to go fishing for supper.
Yup, I like'em!! My Grandma used to cook them several different ways. I like them in crock pot and add all the fixin's like a yankee pot roast. Ya lety me know when we are going. I am dying to hunt with you and lil' Joe!! Shawn
Pennsylvania Pot Roast :biglaugh: . I live trapped one in my yard a few years ago and threw it in the truck to relocate. It stunk awful bad. The ones I have shot with the .22 crawled under my shed and died so I never got to them. I often count coup with em in the summer when out in the woods with the bow. They have been pretty easy to happen upon in the terrain around here mostly because of the mixed habitat and their absolute fixation on gorging themselves. Stalking one in a field would be very difficult.
I always see marmot's in rocky area's above timberline when I'm elk hunting. I had never thought of eating one so I had no desire to hunt them. After this post, I can hardly wait to give them a try this fall. If I can get one it will be a nice bonus to the pot along with the grouse, ptarmigan and rabbit.
--------------NOPE----------------
Vance the ground hog or wood chuck is Marmota Monax. The Yellow-bellied Marmot is what's typically called the rockchuck where you are....Marmota flaviventris. Two different species but closely related.
I have no idea how rockchucks taste, never had the good fortune :bigsmyl:
Clinton, you can easily see them when you skin the critter, kinda like a light colored m&m just on the outside of the body behind the armpit area and at the base of rear legs.
Well Well a new twist to "The Hunt"
Operative word there JC would be "YET"...Thanks...
"Flaviventris Fricassee"....oh my, we've gone all fancy with our rockchuck stew ;)
Sucks when I was a kid, enons ago, we had young whistle pigs like we had chickens. Dad would give me his ole J. C. Higgens single shot .22 and say get your mom some thing for supper. Great eaten!
I've enjoyed the meat of both rockchuck and groundhog.
The groundhogs have become pretty scarce in the areas of the state I hunt now and I miss it.
Rockchucks are one of my favorite things to hunt and I try to make a special trip west every couple of years just to hunt them.
This is the first that I have ever heard of someone eating them things. I was always told they were greasy and had a bad smell, but I don't think I actually ever knew anyone that ate one.
We used to shoot them cause the farmers would ask us to.
Alot of the ones that I have shot also had mange.
Not that I know of, but then I've been to MOJam...
Hey Uncle Barry!!! When are you gonna write that "Road Kill Cook Book" I hear tell about???
... mike ... :p ...
I don't understand killing anything and not eating it or using its hide. That said "chuck" is as good as it gets and treating it like you would any other fine piece of meat will reward you with some great eating. Crock pot with favorite vegetables and seasoning works well. If you live in chuck country there may also be some muskrats around and they are really fine eating also. There called Michigan Marsh Hare on the menu of expensive restaurants. Frank
We hunt alot of rockchucks in the fields around town. The ones around here are so full of fleas I don't dare touch one let alone eat it. Are the chucks back east flea free? The big ones have been out about a 6 weeks around here but the pups are just starting to come out. I have my eyes on one that I thought was a red fox for a second. The old boars can get pretty big around here. I emtied my quiver on him from 40 yards and was real close but he would duck my arrow everytime. When i walked out from cover to get my arrows he came half way out of his hole and watched me until i was about 20 feet away then ducked down. He knew I was out of ammo.
Not any worse than squirrels they have some.
I hope I'm never that hungry.
I never bothered to hunt them much I usually just snare them. Like beaver I never wanted to use up an arrow or bullet or steel trap on one.
I've ate a lot of woodchucks...cleaner and tastier than chicken. It's an easy way to put 10 to 15 lbs of meat in the freezer.
The fleas are crunchy...lol.
The hide was used for mocosin soles by the frontiersman and indians....its very tough.
The best way is to cook them is to par boil and then strip the meat off the bone and barbeque it. Like jerked pork.
Art
I used to hunt them all summer with a passion. Even the most ardent antihunters would ask me to come hunt them; as my bow was silent; I could slip in close to the gardens and sit in a chair for 40 minutes or so before they would come out.
I hunted really hard; and yes they do duck back into dens in a split second.
I think I would get an average of about 12 a year; and that was with a lot of effort. I loved it though.
I never did eat any; now in reflection; that was a mistake.
Now I live in rock chuck country; and I am going to try and take one just to see what they taste like.. the hunt will be just something I will have to put up with ;)
One thing is that with woodchucks a miss didn't mean instant arrow loss; where a miss here in the rocks does.
I used broadheads and get less penetration than with deer with the same set up.
They are totally unforgiving of moving; making a noise; and other mistakes. I am glad to hear that they can be eaten.*
:campfire: :archer:
* I have eaten a lot of muskrat and opposum and liked it.
No, but I've had crow once or twice...