Around these parts some folks have eaten, and continue to eat some things that are pretty funky in my notion. At some point I've eaten a some of these funky things and a few are quite palatable. A lot of them aren't; I don't care how much seasoned salt, Italian dressing, Butt Rub, or whatever is trying to cover that funk, doesn't make those things a delicacy. Chicken salad does not result....

Like you said, the idea of eating IT, whatever that may be, can be hard to get past even if it's really OK. I think my Granddaddy making me clean and cook a sparrow I killed with my pellet gun(when I was a young kid -to prove his point about eating what you kill) maybe still haunts my mind and palate.

sgaredneck:

Wow, a sparrow?? I don't agree with his thinking in that case, but I respect his belief in his policy. As a farm boy I was shooting sparrows in my "spare"time, they were mice with wings to a farmer. But I wouldn't care to eat one, or a crow either;I'll stick to ducks and pheasants and such, thank you

Phil-
This article is "cool" on so many levels! First, I am a pro-adviser of shorter bbl lighter gun school of thinking; for any type of hunting!
Second, I was blessed to have "southern" friends growing up in the old neighborhood and ate everything from Armadillo to Muskrat! Opossum is a bit greasy, but cooked/seasoned properly isn't bad at all!...but then again they say shoe leather with Garlic butter isn't bad either!!

Kudos on your hunting ethics in not wasting game. Try Dale's Sauce next time you find yourself in simular situation. My favorite duck gun is a Browning Citori Hunter w/26" BBL. It is quick to point which works well with woodies in timber. Also, I don't have to keep up with magazine plugs.

I think it depends a lot on what you are shooting and where. Obviously, the semi-autos reduce recoil so weight is not as much a factor. But, some examples - a few years ago I was shooting big Canadians in Sask with some friends. One of them was shooting 3-1/2" loads in a 870. He got beat to hell. I shot a 1100 with 3" hevi shot and never flinched. Last year another friend shot an 870/12ga on DOVES in Argentina and his shoulder was black and blue. I shot a 20 auto Benelli. In September I went to Iceland to shoot their geese which are plentiful and relatively unhunted. I took my vintage L. S. Smith out of retirement. It has 32"bbs full choked on both sides and weights 8-9#. But with Briley choke tubes installed
to offer a choice of chokes it was delightful to shoot it again. Yes, it took a few rounds to get accustomed to those long barrels. In none of the above cases were we packing loads to and from our blinds so weight was not a factor. I think it is fun to shoot a lot of different guns and I am no longer bothered by killing everything I shoot at nor how many I wind up with. Re: crow - how bout seagull next?

My father was a young man during the great depression and lived on a sharecroppers farm in GA. He said they had to eat just about everything the hunting dogs would tree and most was pretty tasty. Dad once took a pot shot at small blackbirds when I was a kid. He killed about 50 with 2 shots and it became my job (10 yrs old) to clean them. My grandmother fixed blackbirds in gravy and to the best of my memory they were very good. He never brought home a coon or possum for us to eat and that did not hurt my feelings one bit.

All the talk reminds me of the wild camp we had as kids, very interesting and exciting. Really miss them now.
Toy Store

I started using my 870 Super Mag 3 1/2" 12 gauge turkey gun with a 25 1/2" barrel (yeah, I know Remington says it's 26", but measure one) for waterfowl and it works just fine with a Patternmaster and Briley extended choke tubes. I suppose it is a bit on the light side but not as light as a Beretta or Benelli. With a Limbsaver R3 recoil pad, it works for me.

Quahog:

Sounds very familiar to my family's recipe for "Pine Board Carp."

Good article on duck hunting though, I use a Rem 1100 or 870.

i ate a meadow lark when i was a kid. very tasty! good to see you branching out phil.

So far this duck season,Iv'e really enjoyed my 20ga,1100.hardly even notice it with a bag of decoys shoulderd.Nice article!

There is a Crow hunting season.With it you can sharpen your skills and help save the eggs of your preferred main dish.Came across a October 1952 article in Outdoor Life on hunting Crow.But after all that work,you would still have to eat crow, unless I pickle the breast and give them away instead of the fruitcake from the previous year.

And BTW, I have tried Crow myself, never thought of marinating it, just floured and fried it, a little tough, and tastes like chicken/turkey gizzard. Which I happen to like! If the marinade softened it up some it would be great, I'll have to try it next time I actually hit one of them, 50-60 yds straight up is a hard shot to make!

Ever since i saw that you could hunt crows legaly i've wondered what the meat tasted like and how you cook it cause i personaly have never met anyone who hunts crows much less eats them thank you for the report i might consider it next year.

Phil
I was at F & F today for some shells, they where pulling crow decoys for storage until next season.Started thinking back to this blog and how light shotgun would be a good fit for crow hunting.Aside from them being difficult to draw in, what to do with them when you prepare them.Now if anyone could send some crow off to "Hell's Kitchen" or "Iron Chef" one of their "sioux" chefs can come up more contemporary recipe.Since mother nature knocked down their numbers with west nile , maybe we can keep them in check. They do go after the eggs of waterfowl,upland birds and birds of prey.
By the way I did pick up a few decoys,if you come across any more recipes please post them.