Anyone ever eat woodchuck?

I've not eaten woodchuck.

In my younger days, before I quit hunting after deciding I just didn't want to kill anything (yeah, I know, I still like a rare steak and fried chicken), I'd eat racoon, armadillo and just about anything.

My dad was a bit of a stickler on squirrels and rabbits. If I didn't hit the critter in the head, he'd be pretty mad at me.

So, of course, if I missed a squirrel's head and hit the body, it sure didn't come home with me.


We quit eating armadillo (very tasty) after the word got around about them carrying leprosy. Didn't matter that, later, we understood (rightly or wrongly) that the particular form of leprosy could not be passed to humans.

Still eat venison, given to me by a friend at my Church. I just don't harvest them myself. ;) Don't get cold, wet, tired, bloody, guts on my boots, etc., but still get the full flavor. :D

Bob
 
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I have eaten groundhogs on a few occasions. The family of a young lady I dated for a while seemed to have them fairly regularly. They roasted them in one of those roasting pans with the slotted bottoms designed to catch the grease. First time she pulled the roaster out of the oven I thought they were suckling pigs surrounded by potatoes and carrots.

I guess they taste like beef only in the sense they do NOT taste like chicken. If you think about it they are clean animals and vegetarians as far as I know. But saying they taste like beef is like saying venison tastes like beef.
 
Many years have passed since I have eaten groundhog, as I recall I was of the thought they were similar in taste to cotton tailed rabbit. I do know that they were prepared in the same method as rabbit, floured and fried then covered and steamed in a cast iron skillet.
And yes there are slimy glands in the front "armpits" that had to be removed.

terry
 
29aholic said:
I've eaten groundhog, about the same.
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It's literally the same. Just differet names for the same animal.

Jeff Cooper wrote about eating marmot that he shot with a .38 Super. Said it was pretty good, and his dad was president of the San Francisco wine and food society. I suspect he knew food pretty well.

South Americans eat agoutis and capybaras, which are also rodents.
 
Yup, I really like woodchuck.

Slow cooked in a crock pot with either Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup or Tomato Sauce. Simmer until the meat falls off the bone.

The most important part of preparation of a woodchuck begins in the field. Not only the musk glands, but all of the entrails should be removed immediately. If the digestive system is opened by the bullet, the meat will taint very quickly.

The young ones are usually the best eating... (no snickering there CAJ).... :)
 
December seems to bring out the funny threads like this one, of course the OP did ask a serious question. On the rodent menu topic, I've never had woodchuck but my prairie dog hunting partner did make some jerky out of his victims. Prairie dog strips. They were acutally pretty good, must have been the spices.
Steve
 
David LaPell said:
I think I had some at a Chinese Restaurant once. Not kidding the state shut it down for serving cats not longer after I ate there.
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Look like this?
no-see-your-cat-300x300.jpg

Mike
 
Texas Star said:
It's literally the same. Just differet names for the same animal.

Jeff Cooper wrote about eating marmot that he shot with a .38 Super. Said it was pretty good, and his dad was president of the San Francisco wine and food society. I suspect he knew food pretty well.

South Americans eat agoutis and capybaras, which are also rodents.
Click to expand...

I read somewhere that in some South American cities (don't recall which) urban apartment dwellers keep Guinea Pigs or some similar rodent(s) as, well, edible pets. The article included a priceless line --- "In ___________, the pitter patter of little feet may be the sound of dinner."

I've eaten mountain lion, the really "other" white meat, and while it's mild and pale, it almost assuredly carries the trichinae parasite, so by the time you've cooked the daylights out of it to be safe, it makes an indifferent repast, in my limited experience. As mycologists say of some species of fungi, "edible" vs. "choice".

My father spent some time with living-off-the-land trappers in the woods and lakes of northern Ontario, and reported that they regarded "young" beaver as "choice." (Cajun Lawyer is requested to refrain from comment...)
 
My grandfather used to get a few groundhogs each spring and summer and I've eaten them quite often. The key is to trim off all the fat and cook them on a rack so the rest of the fat will drain away from the meat. The younger ones, 2 to 4 years old or so, are the best eating ones. The old ones get to be big and pretty tough no matter how you cook them. My grandmother would cook them well done then make up a thick brown gravy to use over the meat, very good!!!!!!!
 
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Sebago Son said:
Yup, I really like woodchuck.

Slow cooked in a crock pot with either Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup or Tomato Sauce. Simmer until the meat falls off the bone.

The most important part of preparation of a woodchuck begins in the field. Not only the musk glands, but all of the entrails should be removed immediately. If the digestive system is opened by the bullet, the meat will taint very quickly.

The young ones are usually the best eating... (no snickering there CAJ).... :)
Click to expand...

The old ones are way to tough to mess with.

snubbycollector said:
I have eaten it and it tasted like beef to me.
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More like fresh fish-very light-delicate taste but you really have to clean them well and they should be young. Again-stay away from the old ones-basically shoot those and leave them for the coyotes.

Now if y'all will excuse me-I'll be over in the MP15-22 forum looking for fake suppressor threads :D
 
David LaPell said:
I think I had some at a Chinese Restaurant once. Not kidding the state shut it down for serving cats not longer after I ate there.
Click to expand...

My wife and I were going into a local Chinese restaurant the other day. A county animal control truck pulled into the parking lot as we were walking in.

I looked at my wife and said "Must be making a delivery." I thought she was going to hit me with her cane. :D

I've never eaten groundhog, but a lot of older folks down home did. It always seemed to me they should be about like a rabbit. They pretty much eat the same things.
 
If it's a young one they cook up to be pretty good if you slow cook them with some good spices. If it's an old one --- the best way to cook it is to take a pine board & lay the carcass spread out on the board. Rub a lot of salt over the carcass with plenty of strong spices. Put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Take it out & remove carcass from the pine board. Get a really sharp knife & cut across the grain approx. 1/2" thick slices all of the pine board. Throw the carcass out to the dogs & serve the slices of pine with butter spread over them & plenty of red wine to wash it down with. Enjoy!
 
I eaten something we used to call "sumbitch stew" We used to cook it up while in deer camp. Over the year everybody would collect a "special" meat then during the time we spent together in deer camp every year we would get it all together and make our special "sumbitch stew" I'll preface the story a little by saying that after drawing straws to see who had the honors of cleaning up after the meal the next guy that got hisself "elected" was the first guy to complain about anything...I mean anything, first complaint got you KP...no ifs ands or butts.
So everybody contributes to the pot and keeps it to themselves. I was involved in the cooking that year and we had a big old dutch oven with about a cup a bacon grease up to heat and started dropping the floured chunks of meat in. There must have been 5 or 6 lbs of different meats cooking and it was an amazing aroma. Most of us know the differences in meats, which ones turn dark as opposed to those that turn lighter. I remember there was a particular cut of dark brown meat that tended to be a little thinner than most and picked a few out to taste as was my perogative as cook, it was very good. We made a rou out of beer and flour, through in some onions to cook in the browning process, then chunks of tater and carrot, some whole garlic cloves a few peppers and some finely chopped turnip...cooked it for hours. Everybody lined up with their prerequisite bowl and got their first ladle full, after which they went back to help themselves until it was gone. I went back to see if I could snag a few more pieces of the dark brown meat and it seemed to be a favorite, someone had donated some old pine squirrel and you could taste it, one of the younger nephews piped up with "This stew tastes like someone put a pine cone in it", everybody looked over at him real quick and he added "Its good though."
 
I have never eaten woodchuck. But I have eaten muskrat, beaver, raccoon amost other things. They are all good if you know how to prepare them.

John
 
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