sipowicz
Member
Best to just trap them, place your menu order on their feet, and hope they fly to a nearby restaurant.
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Are urban pigeons safe to eat?
- Thread starter mojave30cal
- Start date
GatorFarmer
Member
Now that I think about it, I remember Workman Guy used to trap and eat various birds around his trailer. Of course he would also cook TV dinners by leaving them in the car in the hot sun all day, roast abandoned hot dogs found in a turned off refrigerator over treated lumber scraps and wrap up in sheets of torn down abestos insulation to keep warm at night. He also claimed it was safe to drink antifreeze for a buzz. Or was it window washer fluid...Towards the end of when I knew him, he was plagued by open sores and liquefication of the bowels, so perhaps it is best to take his culinary advice with a grain of salt so to speak.
Guy had his Cousin Carl on the job sometimes. Guy made jest of Cousin Carl at times as the "slow one". Anyway, Cousin Carl was known to scrape dead animals up with a shovel from the road and eat them. I remember asking Guy about rabies, and he responded somewhat along the lines of "you can just cook that out of them". Despite that reassurance, I declined to sample the sloppy joe mix that Cousin Carl brought to work in a stained Country Crock container one day. It was rewarmed in the same manner as Guy did his TV dinners, by leaving it out in the sun for a while.
My friend Dan, Guy's employer at the time, refused to let him use the household toilet for fear of communicable disease, relegating him to an empty bucket. Which was all well and good until the housing inspector stepped into said bucket and got his foot stuck, but I digress...
I do not recall the details of the traps Guy used at this late date. I do remember him setting up a box trap trying to catch a sea gull once though.
Guy maintained that individuals far more...rustic...than himself and Cousin Carl lived in an abandoned semi trailer in the woods. He did not, to my recollection elaborate on their culinary secrets other than to express a degree of disdain at their eating habits.
That makes for some terrible tasting hair of the dog in the morning though.
Guy had his Cousin Carl on the job sometimes. Guy made jest of Cousin Carl at times as the "slow one". Anyway, Cousin Carl was known to scrape dead animals up with a shovel from the road and eat them. I remember asking Guy about rabies, and he responded somewhat along the lines of "you can just cook that out of them". Despite that reassurance, I declined to sample the sloppy joe mix that Cousin Carl brought to work in a stained Country Crock container one day. It was rewarmed in the same manner as Guy did his TV dinners, by leaving it out in the sun for a while.
My friend Dan, Guy's employer at the time, refused to let him use the household toilet for fear of communicable disease, relegating him to an empty bucket. Which was all well and good until the housing inspector stepped into said bucket and got his foot stuck, but I digress...
I do not recall the details of the traps Guy used at this late date. I do remember him setting up a box trap trying to catch a sea gull once though.
Guy maintained that individuals far more...rustic...than himself and Cousin Carl lived in an abandoned semi trailer in the woods. He did not, to my recollection elaborate on their culinary secrets other than to express a degree of disdain at their eating habits.
That makes for some terrible tasting hair of the dog in the morning though.
LoboGunLeather
US Veteran
The OP asked a legitimate question, and I gave him a pretty good recipe.
Nuff said.
Nuff said.
Like I said, eating the occasional urban pigeon probably isn't a problem, it's the mass consumption of them that I'd avoid. Just like eating nothing but sushi is bound to raise your mercury levels. I'd eat grain-fed or country pigeons all day long.
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Hellraiser
Member
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I would only eat one of those flyin' rats if I had to... but not until.
If any of ya'll get a chance to read Jim Carmichael's story (the former Shootin' Editor of Outdoor Life)... "The Great Jonesboro Pigeon Shoot". It is funny.
If any of ya'll get a chance to read Jim Carmichael's story (the former Shootin' Editor of Outdoor Life)... "The Great Jonesboro Pigeon Shoot". It is funny.
smokey04
Member
Well shucks,I oncet killed 4 turkeys with 1 #6 12 gauge shell.It weren't to sporttin" 'cause they was on the ground lookin' over a dead possum[I reckon theys wonderin' what kill't it]Anyways, they was a might tuff and smell't a purt rank but, some o' that good ol' mescal with the worm in washed 'em down right fine! I swan, iffen I'ma lyin' I'ma dyin'.Nick
williamlayton
Member
You would be surprised at what you will eat when hungry enough.
Blessings
Blessings
Your comment made me think of these guys:
Also, true story: The last time my wife and I visited Manhattan, we were waiting for our train and saw these two pigeons walking around together in Grand Central Terminal without a care in the world. NYC pigeons, indeed.
Arik
Member
A few years ago I was in Manhattan visiting friends who flew in from Sweden to see NYC. We were up on the top of the Empire state building looking over the city. Out on the ledge sat these pigeons. You should have seen them. Missing toes, Missing a foot, half a foot, Missing an eye, all scruffy and mean looking. Looked like they were from a 3rd world prisonYour comment made me think of these guys:
Also, true story: The last time my wife and I visited Manhattan, we were waiting for our train and saw these two pigeons walking around together in Grand Central Terminal without a care in the world. NYC pigeons, indeed.
I've eaten pigeon more than once, cooked exactly to Lobo's recipe. It taste somewhat in between spotted owl and sea gull.
R. G. Amos
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I have eaten roasted pigeon in Cairo. I have no idea where they came from, but they were probably the most greasy meat I have ever eaten.
gregintenn
Member
Though I've never eaten a pigeon, when we shoot doves, the occasional pigeon gets shot as well. My father takes them, and clans and cooks them interchangeably with the doves. Says there's very little difference. They do look a lot alike.
I've no idea what difference there'd be between a city pigeon and a country pigeon. Diet perhaps?
I expect they'd be less dangerous than starvation were one to find himself faced with these two choices.
A dove breast reminds me of chicken liver. I like it. Some don't.
I've no idea what difference there'd be between a city pigeon and a country pigeon. Diet perhaps?
I expect they'd be less dangerous than starvation were one to find himself faced with these two choices.
A dove breast reminds me of chicken liver. I like it. Some don't.
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joeintexas
US Veteran
I don't care for dove either, I imagine I'd eat it if I was starving though. Can't be that much worse than McDonald's!
urban pigeons ......excellent gourmet cuisine.......sautéed in a white wine sauce with shallots and wild mushrooms over a bed of risotto....accompanied by a decanter of Mr. Pibb....mmmmm my mouth waters....
Few people these days know why there are pigeons in all our big cities...They are actually Rock Doves imported from England and Europe around the turn of the last century. They were brought here by the thousands for "trap" shooting which was very popular in America back then.
It was said that 5500 pigeons were shot every weekend in Baltimore in the early 1900's. It is also the reason why most major cities have parks...that is where the trap shoots took place. Eventually it came to be realized that supply could not keep up with demand and they turned to blown glass balls for trap targets...eventually leading to the clay skeet target we know today.
So, all the pigeons in our cities today...are the progeny of those that were missed and got away 115 or so years ago. As far as edible...I cant tell them from a Mourning Dove and there is no difference in the ones in cities and those out on the farm.
It was said that 5500 pigeons were shot every weekend in Baltimore in the early 1900's. It is also the reason why most major cities have parks...that is where the trap shoots took place. Eventually it came to be realized that supply could not keep up with demand and they turned to blown glass balls for trap targets...eventually leading to the clay skeet target we know today.
So, all the pigeons in our cities today...are the progeny of those that were missed and got away 115 or so years ago. As far as edible...I cant tell them from a Mourning Dove and there is no difference in the ones in cities and those out on the farm.
Current survival skill teaching has that water from an unsure source left between the dash and windshield in a clear plastic bottle will have purified itself with 5-6 hours of sun. Best filled to no more than 80%. It does get hot.
mike from st pete
Member
Chinese folks around the corner from me have a huge pigeon coup. I've been wondering what code enforcement thinks about that?
Bill Bates
Member
I'm not sure about those urban cityfyde rock doves but their country cousin the Eurasian Collared dove are sure fun to shoot and are darn good to eat.
I had a good day off on Tuesday.
I had a good day off on Tuesday.
Mickey D
Member
When I was younger we used to shoot the neighbors racing pigeons. They had a very predictable flight pattern, as they always turned left.
