COL Jagdog
Member
The hits just keep on coming in the beautiful state of Louisiana where Caj and I and others make our homes ---
Previewing tonight on Spike TV is another new reality show (to rival Cajun Pawn Stars, Cajun Justice and Swamp People)
(imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say)
the new show is called "Rat Bas*****" and stars five nutria bounty hunters with names like "Kridda" and "Skeeter"
(even as creative as I am, I can't make this stuff up) who hunt the elusive nutria for a bounty of $5 a tail (200 tails will allow one to buy a pretty nice new S&W
).
I am informed they use everything from dynamite to Molotov cocktails to M-4's to take their prey (not the normal weaponry used for dispatching nurtia -- a .22 LR works very well, thank you -- obviously some Hollywood artistic license here).
Nutria have in fact been a nuisance ever since they were imported into Louisiana from South America during the last century for their fur-bearing assets -- however, during a hurricane, some escaped and have done quite well in their south Louisiana habitat. Problem is that they destroy plant/marsh grass roots, thus hastening wetlands erosion.
They are sizeable -- I have seen many in the 15-20 lb range
and will tear a hunting dog up who encounters one while retrieving ducks. They are legal to kill all year round in La.
A bounty program was established in 2002 -- in one parish, 83,000 tails were redeemed in one year, with another parish having 50,000 redeemed tails turned in. It is said that since the bounty program began, the wetlands loss attributable to nutria has declined to 4,000 acres a year from 80,000 acres year.
We do have recipes for nutria pie, nutria jambalaya, nutria on a stick (think giant rat on a pole
); nutria gumbo, fried nutria, nutria jerky, nutria Wellington, and other gastronomic delights circulating in Acadiana.
If any of you would like to shoot one (with a .22 LR or 20 ga);
and find yourself traveling on I-10 this fall between mileposts
30 and 48 (between Lake Charles and Lacassine) -- let me know and I can arrange it. I can't promise TV stardom but I can get you a "moneyshot" trophy photo with a nutria on the front of my duck boat. The hunt and boat ride through the beautiful marshes is free but good whiskey for the guide (that would be me, nickname - "Spoonbill") is always appreciated.
Previewing tonight on Spike TV is another new reality show (to rival Cajun Pawn Stars, Cajun Justice and Swamp People)
(imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say)
the new show is called "Rat Bas*****" and stars five nutria bounty hunters with names like "Kridda" and "Skeeter"
(even as creative as I am, I can't make this stuff up) who hunt the elusive nutria for a bounty of $5 a tail (200 tails will allow one to buy a pretty nice new S&W
). I am informed they use everything from dynamite to Molotov cocktails to M-4's to take their prey (not the normal weaponry used for dispatching nurtia -- a .22 LR works very well, thank you -- obviously some Hollywood artistic license here).
Nutria have in fact been a nuisance ever since they were imported into Louisiana from South America during the last century for their fur-bearing assets -- however, during a hurricane, some escaped and have done quite well in their south Louisiana habitat. Problem is that they destroy plant/marsh grass roots, thus hastening wetlands erosion.
They are sizeable -- I have seen many in the 15-20 lb range
and will tear a hunting dog up who encounters one while retrieving ducks. They are legal to kill all year round in La.
A bounty program was established in 2002 -- in one parish, 83,000 tails were redeemed in one year, with another parish having 50,000 redeemed tails turned in. It is said that since the bounty program began, the wetlands loss attributable to nutria has declined to 4,000 acres a year from 80,000 acres year.
We do have recipes for nutria pie, nutria jambalaya, nutria on a stick (think giant rat on a pole
); nutria gumbo, fried nutria, nutria jerky, nutria Wellington, and other gastronomic delights circulating in Acadiana.If any of you would like to shoot one (with a .22 LR or 20 ga);
and find yourself traveling on I-10 this fall between mileposts
30 and 48 (between Lake Charles and Lacassine) -- let me know and I can arrange it. I can't promise TV stardom but I can get you a "moneyshot" trophy photo with a nutria on the front of my duck boat. The hunt and boat ride through the beautiful marshes is free but good whiskey for the guide (that would be me, nickname - "Spoonbill") is always appreciated.
They are vegatation eaters and also taste quite good in "rabbit" stew 
