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| The "eating a muskie" thread got me to thinking... What are some of the stranger things you've eaten in your outdoor adventures? How were they?
If it swims in fresh water, I've eaten it. Perch, bass, walleye, crappies, sunfish, bluegills, pike... Pike is definitely a favorite, along with perch and walleye. But I've also eaten a few stranger things:
- 8# Channel Cat - I threw it out. It was awful.
- Bullheads - not bad actually. Not worth the effort, though.
- Frog legs - they don't really taste like chicken
- Clams - you know the kind you find in the sand? Nasty.
- 12" carp - thought it would be okay since it was small. Tasted like mud. About the same texture as mud too. Never again.
- Rusties - well, okay, just the tails. If people knew how good they are, we wouldn't be overrun with them. You need a lot of them, and it's a lot of work cleaning them. But the meat is tender and has a nice flavor.
What are some of yours? |
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Location: Hudson, WI | Long Lake in Bloomer has a ton of rusties in it. A friend of mine has a cabin up there and we always caught a bunch of them and boiled them up. Dipped in butter...unbelievably good. There are some good recipes for crayfish on the internet that I'd like to try next time we head up there.
I tried Mountain Lion at a game fair once. Surprisingly tasty. |
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| pickled deer heart, love it! |
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Posts: 470
Location: Blaine, MN | Squirrel... A friend of mine shot one while grouse hunting, we adhered to the "you kill it, you eat it" rule. So we all ate a chunk. Some might like it, but its not for me... |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | HA! I just ate a crow this year. I hate admitting this... It was awesome. There I said it. |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Squirrel isn't odd. Neither is rabbit. Or Woodcock, grouse, ducks, etc. wild game is wild game. I've tried almost every freshwater fish there is, some are better than others and some, like carp, are not worth messing with. Venison heart is good, several recipes. I really like feral hog, especially good eating. I wish I lived closer to an area where I could hunt them a couple times a year. The things reproduce like rats. |
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Location: Seymour, WI | Please post a recipe for deer heart, pickled or otherwise in the recipe section.
Thanks,
Grass |
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Posts: 164
| Porcupine was excelent, but bony. |
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Location: Roscoe IL | Grasshopper Tacos and they were fantastic, had a bite of a funky imported squash looking thing the smelled like @ss in Vegas one time. Nasty! Love most wild game, went to the Buckhorn exchange in Denver last summer and had Rattle Snake & rocky mountain oysters for the first time. The elk was outstanding! |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Now Rocky Mountain Oysters are certainly odd. Who ever thought that up, anyway? |
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Location: Minnesota | esoxaddict - 1/24/2012 10:18 AM
- Rusties - well, okay, just the tails. If people knew how good they are, we wouldn't be overrun with them. You need a lot of them, and it's a lot of work cleaning them. But the meat is tender and has a nice flavor.
What are rusties?
As for squirrel, my roommate and I pretty much lived on squirrel in college. Squirrel, tuna, eggs, and ramen.
Oh, and beer.
Edited by lhprop1 1/24/2012 2:36 PM
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Guessing Rusty Crayfish. |
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Posts: 217
Location: ladysmith, wi | where to start, woodchuck, coon, rattlesnake, snapping turtle, beaver tail,deer heart, deer liver and buck nuts or northern wi oysters as i call um, pretty much evey fresh water fish, quite afew odd saltwater species and several different kinds of bugs |
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Location: oswego, il | I have had grape nuts, who knew they had them?
Rusty crayfish are good. If you take your kids to vermilion or someplace full of them, put a gulp maggot on a hook or something to hold it and let you kids fill a bucket, they won't let go of the gulp.
Edited by ToddM 1/24/2012 2:50 PM
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| ToddM - 1/24/2012 2:48 PM
I have had grape nuts, who knew they had them?
Rusty crayfish are good. If you take your kids to vermilion or someplace full of them, put a gulp maggot on a hook or something to hold it and let you kids fill a bucket, they won't let go of the gulp.
Never tried that. We usually just pick them up. How many can you find?
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| ToddM - 1/24/2012 2:48 PM I have had grape nuts, who knew they had them? Rusty crayfish are good. If you take your kids to vermilion or someplace full of them, put a gulp maggot on a hook or something to hold it and let you kids fill a bucket, they won't let go of the gulp. Lol Have you ever smelled moth balls? How did you get their tiny wings apart? Squirrel stew, snapping turtle, and crawfish come to mind. I was involved in a live shiner eating contest at the bar baitshop one day. Before that was the goldfish contest in my college years – laid a golden turd the next day… |
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| Grass - 1/24/2012 12:04 PM
Please post a recipe for deer heart, pickled or otherwise in the recipe section.
Thanks,
Grass
I too would like to know a recipe for pickled deer heart if someone doesnt mind sharing. I guess I would also like to know where the recipe section is. |
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Location: madison wisconsin | Was talking to a freind the other day and this subject came up, he said oddest thing he ate was eelpout. Also said that it was some good s**t! Weird looking, don't know if I could do it or not,lol.. |
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Location: ladysmith, wi | eelpout the freshwater cod yummmmmmm!!!! as for the pickled heart just googgle it there are many recipies on the web and all are about the same though i recomend any that use garlic
Edited by semper esox 1/24/2012 6:09 PM
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Location: The desert | Tie a chicken drumsticks on a string and catch more crayfish than you know what to do with. I prefer snorkling for them though.
Eaten pretty much everything in this thread and like the vast majority of it. Add to the list sandhill crane, harper, ducks foot, snails, lake trout liver and eggs, bone marrow....I'm sure there is a ton I'm forgetting.
I would trade it all for more sandhill crane. |
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Posts: 2015
| Fresh caught tuna! Clean it on the boat - wash the blood off, squeeze a little lime juice on, cant beat fresh sashimi!
Edited by IAJustin 1/24/2012 8:08 PM
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| I am really surprised that the poster didn't like channel cat. My brother in law catches them out of the Wolf and that is some of the nicest, mildest fish I have ever eaten. One cat he caught on a set line, not sure what kind of cat but it weighed over 40lbs, he cut into 2" sqaure chunks, lightly breaded and fried and it was so mild fried up that without the breading, there would have been almost no taste. I know he bleeds them and is very careful to avoid the fat but they are some very tasty fare.
Edited by North of 8 1/24/2012 8:41 PM
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Location: The desert | IAJustin - 1/24/2012 7:07 PM
Fresh caught tuna! Clean it on the boat - wash the blood off, squeeze a little lime juice on, cant beat fresh sashimi!
Sashimi is good.
It isn't really odd but I also love raw beef and onions on rye bread. |
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Location: Hudson, WI | This isn't really wild game, but in my first job out of college I worked in Burnsville Mall. There was a pet shop there, and we used to fight Beta fish just to kill time and we'd bet on the results. Well, I got this huge one and dared anyone to find a fish that could fight this guy. I ended up betting a co-worker that I'd eat the Beta alive if his fish could beat it.
My Beta lost...it was like the Rex Ryan of Beta's. All puffed up and then wussed out when the action came. So I swallowed it down with a glass of water. The minute it hit stomach acid the thing went ballistic. I could still feel it flopping in my belly a full 3 minutes after I ate it. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. Plus, I had the #*#*s so bad from the chemicals in the tank the next day you would have thought I spent a week in Tijuana. |
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Location: Oregon, WI | Kids like 'em too!
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| Moltisanti - 1/25/2012 1:43 AM
This isn't really wild game, but in my first job out of college I worked in Burnsville Mall. There was a pet shop there, and we used to fight Beta fish just to kill time and we'd bet on the results. Well, I got this huge one and dared anyone to find a fish that could fight this guy. I ended up betting a co-worker that I'd eat the Beta alive if his fish could beat it.
My Beta lost...it was like the Rex Ryan of Beta's. All puffed up and then wussed out when the action came. So I swallowed it down with a glass of water. The minute it hit stomach acid the thing went ballistic. I could still feel it flopping in my belly a full 3 minutes after I ate it. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. Plus, I had the #*#*s so bad from the chemicals in the tank the next day you would have thought I spent a week in Tijuana.
Ha. That's funny. I'm organizing a bachelor party this summer.....I see beta fighting in the future for that group. |
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Location: Not far enough north! | I have eaten many things wild game wise and will try almost anything once... Rocky mountain oysters is one that will never happen for me. It still gets me every spring when we castrate the little bulls and the vet asks every time " Are you keeping these?" We get a chuckle and when its all said and done the ol hound dog makes sure there are none laying around... Then he takes a long nap with a full belly of bull nuts.
I spent a season in alaska working for the forest service and there are a few things that I have never eaten anywhere else. Black bear which was ok, Moose which I really liked, and Salmon cheeks. We baked the heads whole in the oven and scooped the cheeks out with a spoon from behind the gill plate. They were very tasty! |
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Posts: 3147
| in a northern wisc 'pump and munch' I bought a package labled 'meat jerky' so I dont know what I ate,,scary from a state that had Ed gein and Jeffry Dahmner
Edited by happy hooker 1/25/2012 1:22 PM
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Location: Des Moines IA | Grandma used to make the best fried turtle. When I was I kid I didn't know it wasn't chicken. her fried squirrel was pretty good as well. |
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Location: The desert | Farmer Rick - 1/25/2012 11:34 AM
I have eaten many things wild game wise and will try almost anything once... Rocky mountain oysters is one that will never happen for me. It still gets me every spring when we castrate the little bulls and the vet asks every time " Are you keeping these?" We get a chuckle and when its all said and done the ol hound dog makes sure there are none laying around... Then he takes a long nap with a full belly of bull nuts.
I spent a season in alaska working for the forest service and there are a few things that I have never eaten anywhere else. Black bear which was ok, Moose which I really liked, and Salmon cheeks. We baked the heads whole in the oven and scooped the cheeks out with a spoon from behind the gill plate. They were very tasty!
Walleye cheeks are some of the best meat on the walleye. |
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Location: Nordeast Minneapolis | I'm not a fan of squirrel or woodcock. Growing up we'd eat squirrel once in awhile, and it was just tough as heck. And woodcock tastes like worms.
But I feel like less of a hillbilly knowing there are others out there that have eaten squirrel and woodcock and don't find it strange...
I have also eaten roadkill. If my dad found it, and it was edible and still warm, it generally went into his game vest. 
Crawfish, though.... The lake we'd spend a week at in the summers growing up has/had a pretty good crawfish population. When I was little, my cousins and I bought an old minnow trap from a guy that lived near by for a couple dollars. Then we would take some of the guts/carcasses from the fish cleaning shack, and put it in the trap. In a day or so we'd row out to where we'd leave the trap, and voila! Crawfish boil. Delicious little buggers!
Edited by gus_webb 1/25/2012 3:08 PM
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Location: SE Wisconsin | sixdeucers - 1/24/2012 5:31 PM Grass - 1/24/2012 12:04 PM Please post a recipe for deer heart, pickled or otherwise in the recipe section. Thanks, Grass I too would like to know a recipe for pickled deer heart if someone doesnt mind sharing. I guess I would also like to know where the recipe section is. Check it out - a lot of good wild game recipes: http://whitetail.outdoorsfirst.com/board/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=7 |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | Pointerpride102 - 1/24/2012 6:24 PM Tie a chicken drumsticks on a string and catch more crayfish than you know what to do with. I prefer snorkling for them though. Eaten pretty much everything in this thread and like the vast majority of it. Add to the list sandhill crane, harper, ducks foot, snails, lake trout liver and eggs, bone marrow....I'm sure there is a ton I'm forgetting. I would trade it all for more sandhill crane. I hear Sandhill breasts are like steaks and cook the same way. Any truth to that? Real red meat that grills up like a steak? |
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Posts: 43
| Last year my brother was carp shooting on Petenwell. The guy with him gutted a carp, took out the eggs, washed them in the river, and ate them raw on the spot. My brother could barely hold down his own dinner while watching him. The guy who ate them is also a direct descendant of the Hatfields of the Hatfields vs McCoys feud. |
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Posts: 3868
| Bright green midges. It happened when we waited too long to setting up camp floating Ozark rivers. Occassionally at dusk the river would explode with a hatch of these tiny bright green moths. Worst time and spot is when we're running late cooking and eating dinner. So, sometimes the whole plates of food were totally covered with bright green bugs. No one said anything, though; no reason to complain or point out the obvious. We just ate'em right along with the food. No choice. |
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Location: Minnetonka | Technically, the strangest thing I've ever eaten in an outdoor adventure would be a Johnsonville. I mean, what's IN those things anyway?
+1 on the Rusties. Delicious. If every Chicagoan that's ever fished Vermilion trapped rusty crayfish during their stay, there would be cabbage growing on Moose Island. 
Edited by Hammskie 1/26/2012 10:44 AM
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Location: The desert | Sam Ubl - 1/25/2012 2:24 PM
Pointerpride102 - 1/24/2012 6:24 PM Tie a chicken drumsticks on a string and catch more crayfish than you know what to do with. I prefer snorkling for them though. Eaten pretty much everything in this thread and like the vast majority of it. Add to the list sandhill crane, harper, ducks foot, snails, lake trout liver and eggs, bone marrow....I'm sure there is a ton I'm forgetting. I would trade it all for more sandhill crane. I hear Sandhill breasts are like steaks and cook the same way. Any truth to that? Real red meat that grills up like a steak?
Yep. Imagine the best steak you have ever eaten, in your whole life. Now imagine one better. That is sandhill crane. It is outstanding. |
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| Moltisanti - 1/25/2012 1:43 AM
This isn't really wild game, but in my first job out of college I worked in Burnsville Mall. There was a pet shop there, and we used to fight Beta fish just to kill time and we'd bet on the results. Well, I got this huge one and dared anyone to find a fish that could fight this guy. I ended up betting a co-worker that I'd eat the Beta alive if his fish could beat it.
My Beta lost...it was like the Rex Ryan of Beta's. All puffed up and then wussed out when the action came. So I swallowed it down with a glass of water. The minute it hit stomach acid the thing went ballistic. I could still feel it flopping in my belly a full 3 minutes after I ate it. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. Plus, I had the #*#*s so bad from the chemicals in the tank the next day you would have thought I spent a week in Tijuana.
I wonder if that's legal? Like Dog and Cock fighting ... |
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Location: Elgin, IL | SPAM
Only The Lord knows what's really in there.
Sandhill crane is truly the best....and you can hunt them like geese in Sasketchawan. |
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