A few of us have been carrying on about varmindt and small game. Initially my inquery was about handling and protocol but most recently wondering whether or not any of em are good eats. Some ore and some aren't but the oneword that keeps coming up is CHEWY and tough. Maany offenders are coyote and ground hogs. I believe someone mentioned armadillos. I wouldn't know how to approach cutting one of them up.(what are they like without the armor? Like a wet cat i bet, all nimble and thin?)

What causes meat to be tough? Are carnivores gamier? Is body fat a factor in flavor or tenderness. Any butchers out there?

Opinions on meat processors? I can imagine ab elk being a big job and freezer packing probably needs good equipment...When are their services valuable?

A few of us have been carrying on about varmindt and small game. Initially my inquery was about handling and protocol but most recently wondering whether or not any of em are good eats. Some ore and some aren't but the oneword that keeps coming up is CHEWY and tough. Maany offenders are coyote and ground hogs. I believe someone mentioned armadillos. I wouldn't know how to approach cutting one of them up.(what are they like without the armor? Like a wet cat i bet, all nimble and thin?)

What causes meat to be tough? Are carnivores gamier? Is body fat a factor in flavor or tenderness. Any butchers out there?

Opinions on meat processors? I can imagine ab elk being a big job and freezer packing probably needs good equipment...When are their services valuable?


Is mostly not understanding how to cook them...given a long slow cook, something like what you'd do for a tought old stewing hen, and they aren't tough.

Lets take squirrels for an example. Wife will like them one of to ways. Either a long slow cooking (a stewing) until tender and nearly falling from the bone (beer-squirrel...yep, cook them with beer) or if i cut them up the night before, soak the pieces in butter milk over night Z(shich seems to drw out some of the game taste), then fry the pieces up in bacon grease for a squirrel breakfast.

Yes, body fat does make a difference...seems to consentrate the flavors many find offending. As for tenderness, that's mostly a matter of age...older critters are just tougher

If you are going to eat carnivores, get a crock pot. Well, no matter what you are going to eat, get a crock pot! For big bears, a few hours in the crock can make some wonderful dishes. The slow cooking is the key for old or otherwise tough animals.

If you are going to eat carnivores, get a crock pot. Well, no matter what you are going to eat, get a crock pot! For big bears, a few hours in the crock can make some wonderful dishes. The slow cooking is the key for old or otherwise tough animals.


If in a hurry, then get and learn how to use a pressure cooker...fast way to cook and it tenderizes meat. NOT the way to cook young, tender, non-chewy game.

Rattle snake is good this way, assuming you get big one. For whatever reasons, soaking the meat in orange juice over night, then cooking it in a crock-pot/slow cooker with the vgetables of your choice (something that takes a slow cook...I happen to like turnips, carrots, celery, onion, seasoning, and some whole red potatos). When it it can easily be pulled off the bone is't ready to eat.

I cannot attribute this to the original poster as when it was copied I failed to save the name, but it works.

WILD MEAT SOAK and TENDORIZER
I use this technique for all the wild game animals I take and I highly and frequently recommend this for all wild game.# - Skin and Debone or Quarter the animals out and place the meat in a large ice chest with the following mixture.
# - ICE WATER!! Along with 1/2 - 1 cup of vinegar and a medium or large (18 - 20 oz) size container or real lemon juice.
# - Soak large portions of meat for 2 0r even 3 days changing the water as needed and keeping the water ICE COLD and all meat covered with the ice water. Soak the meat till it turns white and all blood is leached out.
**NOTE, if the meat begins to darken or turn blue then you got too much vinegar! The meat is not spoiled!! Change the ice water and reduce or eliminate the vinegar.

How could you possibly keep it ice cold 24/7? I guess a weekend project would suffice. Thats a lot of ice!

Nothing beats frog legs on a stick over the camp fire, BBQ sauce and Doritos...sorry childhood flashback. Anything you'd catch and eat on the spot? Camp food.

My wife cooks her squirrel the exact same way as ribbonstones wife.The biggest challenge on game meat in my
opinion is raccoon.If you dont get out all the glands,your meat is no good.(racoons have 8glands) :eek:

My wife cooks her squirrel the exact same way as ribbonstones wife.The biggest challenge on game meat in my
opinion is raccoon.If you dont get out all the glands,your meat is no good.(racoons have 8glands) :eek:

Wife isn't the cook.....tends to read directions and other sillyness. She does have a taste for small game, but that are food lines she won't (knowlingly) cross. Armadillos are on the other side of the line; too ugly and stupid to eat (besides the leprocy...and, besides Hawaii, Louisiana had the last functioning assylum).

Will say this froma Texas chilli cook-off: once you cook it for hours and hours in those spices, could be any type of meat.

Just out of curiosity... anyone tried to eat a possum? I don't think I could (soo... ugly...) but if anyone has I am interested in how it went.

Just out of curiosity... anyone tried to eat a possum? I don't think I could (soo... ugly...) but if anyone has I am interested in how it went.


Ok,get ready for one of the ugliest meals i've ever (attempted) to eat.

"Uncles" (actaully my fahter's hunting buddies) decided to cook a 'possum the "old Indian way"....as you might guess, the firearms were all put away and drinking was envolved. So they take an UNSKINNED possum, slit it and take out some of the insides, stuff it with onion and simple seasnings, and cover it in a thick layer of clean clay.

(That's a cheat I later learned...the natives didn't clean the critter at all but might have seasoned it with wild onions)

Built up a bit open fire, burned down to a thick layer of embers, tossed in the big ugly clay ball-possum, and covered it with green branches and then a thin layer of dirt.

Walk (stagger) away for several hours.

Open up the pit and rake out the clay ball. Let it cool a little bit, crack it open like a coconut. Idealy the skin and fur stick in the clay.


Now seeing as i couldn't manage more than a mouthful or two, and that I had the benifit of most of a case of beer to get taht far, have often wondered why the native Americans didn't die out from hunger.
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Now the best fish I ever ate was cooked simple.

Grandfather started a fire on a large flat rock (stay away for a good long while...if there is a crack and it's full of water, can shatter the rock) and kept it going for most of the day while we fished.

Gut fish (lets assume you caought one), but leaves scales and all on.

Rake the fire to one side of the flat rock. Drop fish on hot rock. Once it seems to be mostly cooked (can poke it now and again to tell), roll the fish over. Skin and scales will stick to the rock, so as you roll it, leaves the neat bare....sprinkle it with salt and pepper...butter and lemon if you have it. Once the other side is done, roll it off onto something clean to eat it on.

Now the best fish I ever ate was cooked simple.

Grandfather started a fire on a large flat rock (stay away for a good long while...if there is a crack and it's full of water, can shatter the rock) and kept it going for most of the day while we fished.

Gut fish (lets assume you caought one), but leaves scales and all on.

Rake the fire to one side of the flat rock. Drop fish on hot rock. Once it seems to be mostly cooked (can poke it now and again to tell), roll the fish over. Skin and scales will stick to the rock, so as you roll it, leaves the neat bare....sprinkle it with salt and pepper...butter and lemon if you have it. Once the other side is done, roll it off onto something clean to eat it on.

Bringing back memories now, ribbonstone. A variation to that is that you build a normal fire until you have a bed of coals. Take the gutted fish, put them in the coals back down, and put a bit of butter and some sliced garlic in the gut. When this is boiling, it's done. Never had better fish, and you can't duplicate it at home; only works on a campout far from anywhere when you're starving.

I had a great aunt that INSISTED that anything shot and brought home was to be cooked and eaten- squirrel, rabbit, possum, groundhog, coon, muskrat, duck, goose, etc. Usually involved her slow cooker on low all day. It was amazing what that woman could do with wild game.
Actually the coon and possum was THE BEST. She cooked them in BBQ sauce. They were then served on bread/buns or eaten as the main meat. (sorry got to go get a towel- I just drooled all over the keyboard!)

I don't think you want to eat Armadillos.

Seems to me I heard sometime back that 'dillas carry the virus for leprosy, so I wouldn't even handle the little critters.

How could you possibly keep it ice cold 24/7? I guess a weekend project would suffice. Thats a lot of ice!

Nothing beats frog legs on a stick over the camp fire, BBQ sauce and Doritos...sorry childhood flashback. Anything you'd catch and eat on the spot? Camp food.

Bru a fridge works best. Merinate a few days in the fridge. Personnely blue grouse go well at hunting camp. Lots of good recipies. In Alaska there were usually rabbits and ptarmigan. I always took a wrist rocket along just for that along with the big game rifle. The folding one fit in a coat pocket and was very quiet.

Coon tastes just like bear to me. I have never eaten possum, most of the old timers around here recommended catching them alive and feeding them "sweet pertaters and buttermilk" for a few weeks first.

One good way to cook small chewy animals like squirrels is to 1. soak them overnight in salty water, in the refrigerator 2. boil them until tender but not quite falling off the bone 3. let cool, dredge in flour and pan fry.

I just finished eating a rabbit that I fried up and it was great. Thawed it from the freezer and let it sit overnight in salt water then cut it up and boiled it for a bit, then I lightly breaded it and fried it. Simple and tasty. I'll use some of the recipes above next time.