Game prep/recipes

Phil Nowack

Phil Nowack

Well-known member
What is the best way to prepare woodchuck? Damn thing was digging up our potatoes and herbs... but... thanks to the Savage .17HMR... and Nikon optic... I was able to choose which two hairs to split... then Kodi piled on to it... like the dog from Hell... (the only thing he likes about woodchucks... is giving them a death grip, or death shake)
 
I've never cooked or eaten a woodchuck but have heard the young ones are pretty good. I would probably treat it the way we used to cook tough old fox squirrels - parboil until tender and then dip in egg wash and cracker crumbs and pan fry. Or stew it. I'd stay away from dry roasting unless it appears real fatty.
 
Well, my wife is not what I expected... she disposed of it rather than cooking it... (we will be discussing this in the very near future)... so....
 
I shot many, back in the day and eaten many (as my uncle taught me - "You kill it you eat it"). The biggest squirrel is cooked just like the rest of the family of squirrels. How YOU like em. Old ones are tougher, and ya hear folks talk about glands and such. Young ones make good BBQ, older ones Cacciatore, etc.

In fact July 4 was when we would start to hunt them in western PA, with a 257 Roberts, or 243. This was my uncles rule, as he said by then the young were weaned. We hunted 6 evenings a week. It was how my cousin and I were taught proper safety and rifle use, by WWII Vets. One of whom shot for many years at Camp Perry.

Those were the days... On long shots you can see the grass part from the bullet. Then the TWACK before ya hear the BOOM. We had to step off every shot, hit or miss. A bad hit brought questions that needed answers, and ya sat out the next several opportunities at a shot, to think about it.
 
I was in Mongolia a few years ago, in the countryside they cooked marmot, which is very close to a ground hog, marmots also carries the flea that spreads the plague. Really interesting to see it done, here is a link to the recipe and methodology.

http://www.mongolfood.info/en/recipes/boodog.html
 
The Encyclopedia Of WILD GAME & FISH CLEANING AND COOKING by Pat Billmeyer, copywrite 1979, Yesnarby Publsihers - Danville, PA.

Contains two recipes for Woodchuck/Groundhog/Whistlepig.


Woodchuck/Groundhog Pie

Braised Groundhog/Woodchuck


All info you need is in this little book. The price was $3.95 when new.

It is a good place to start, then create your own recipes. If you like the flavor & texture of Wild Game, you will not be disappointed.
 
Thanks guys!!! :) have to keep this in mind for the next one!!!!!

Pete, what do you think of corned groundhog?
 
Phil

there are a couple young ones out back - they're yours - come and get them

after eliminating three aggressive raccoons and a couple nosy skunks in the past couple weeks

i am giving the trash man a rest
 
Phil

there are a couple young ones out back - they're yours - come and get them

after eliminating three aggressive raccoons and a couple nosy skunks in the past couple weeks

i am giving the trash man a rest
Click to expand...

I'm with you Rick, though I agree in principle with Vince, I do draw the line at vermin. I'll shoot or trap a woodchuck and not feel bad if said creature is digging around foundations or even just rutting up a field. Out in the wild, I leave them to do their thing. Given the choice, I'd eat a woodchuck over a coon, I know what they both eat, woodchuck for sure.

I don't mind skunks, aside from the obvious smell. Of the three, I'll let them prowl around the neighborhood unmolested. A few years ago, we had one root out a ground nest of wasps in the neighbor's yard. My wife discovered it by running the lawn mower over top of it, we were going back with hoses and shovels a couple days later to drowned it out, and discovered it dug out and gone. Quite sure the little skunk we saw ambling about got it.

Chuck
 
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