Anybody ever eat wild Pigeon/Squab?

[Claire]

When Daddy was a survival instructor in Nevada, we ate jackrabbit once. Oh, deary me. Not an experience any of us want to repeat!

 

[taxlady]

When Daddy was a survival instructor in Nevada, we ate jackrabbit once. Oh, deary me. Not an experience any of us want to repeat!

Really? Why?

I have eaten a lot of snowshoe hare. It was good, but very lean. I got kind of tired of it.

 

[Claire]

Now, I like a "gamy" flavor to my meat, I really do miss it in the venison I've eaten in recent years. But the bunny I ate, well, you could floss your teeth with the meat, it was so stringy, and, well, it was terrible. I was only in about 2nd grade, and I have no idea who cooked it or how. My husband says he ate one as an adult, and agrees. No jackrabbits from the desert.

You have to understand, we aren't talking bunnies that have some fat on them to live in the great northeast. We're talking big old jackrabbits who live in the desert and live off things like sagebrush.

 

[Timothy]

When Daddy was a survival instructor in Nevada, we ate jackrabbit once. Oh, deary me. Not an experience any of us want to repeat!

I clocked one of them in nevada once as it ran, full speed, next to my car. I got to 40 mph before I started pulling ahead. Damn! Those things can run!

Dessert Jacks are only good for making broth. They're all muscle and not worth the time of cooking them for meat.

They do make a wonderful broth however.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I clocked one of them in nevada once as it ran, full speed, next to my car. I got to 40 mph before I started pulling ahead. Damn! Those things can run!

Dessert Jacks are only good for making broth. They're all muscle and not worth the time of cooking them for meat.

They do make a wonderful broth however.

Wonder what they'd be like ground, and with a bit of chicken or pork fat added. Also, maybe soaking in milk bight remove some of the gamey flavor. I like the gamey flavor in venison, but depending on where you get them, ruffed grouse can be so gamey, especially at the wing joints, that they are almost inedible, though most of the breast is very tasty, drumsticks too.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Timothy]

When I was in Berlin, Germany, (1974-1977), I saw some Jack Rabbits there. They were twice the height of American Jacks and had rear legs that looked like turkey drumsticks about a foot long. Never had a chance to eat one.

 

[Addie]

I concur Tom, on my first tour that included France I thought Coq Au Vin was an invitation to have nooky in the tour eqiup van.

Thank you for starting my day of with a belly laugh!!!

 

[Addie]

Pigeons wouldn't stand a chance in my neighborhood. There are lots of Hawks and Owls around my house. I love em. They eat snakes, mice and any critter dumb enough to come out in the open within their sight.

I was walking my teacup chihuahua, Meko one evening and a hawk made a run for it. I scared it off by waving my arms.

Little Meko peed herself, but she did that for anything that happened near her.

My son's Maltese is all white and I am sure from the air he looks like a rabbit. And he is very small. We have several pairs of nesting hawks. My son has to keep the dog on a short leash near him. Several times they have made a dive for him.

 

[Claire]

When my JR terrier decided to head out for the Mississippi river and was on her own for over a week, she came home with claw marks on her back. So, yeah, watch out for your small animals if you have a lot of hawks, vultures, eagles, falcons. There actually is a generic word for those types of birds, can't remember what it is.

 

[taxlady]

When my JR terrier decided to head out for the Mississippi river and was on her own for over a week, she came home with claw marks on her back. So, yeah, watch out for your small animals if you have a lot of hawks, vultures, eagles, falcons. There actually is a generic word for those types of birds, can't remember what it is.

Birds of prey.

 

[buckytom]

or raptors.

 

[Timothy]

or raptors.

Ok, now you're just scaring me.....

 

[Addie]

Birds of prey.

That is one. The other one that comes to mind is 'raptore' birds. These birds are also very dangerous for people. Just walking and getting too close to their territory and they will attack. We have had a pair of nesting red tail hawks destroyed because they attacked several people and drew blood with their talons. The nest then had to be destroyed. They had built their nest right next to a sidewalk that was used by people coming and going as well as children. You have remember, those talons are used to rip open flesh of possible rabid animals.

 

[CWS4322]

I was watching pigeons inside of Penn Station last week when I was in NYC waiting for my next train. I was struck by how much like chickens they are in behaviour. Having said that, I don't know how easy they would be to catch. It is easier to catch a chicken when it is roosting (not laying an egg--you'll get quite a peck). I often wished I had a butterfly net when the chickens were "feral." No idea what pigeons taste like--pigeons are not on of the game birds I've eaten. I'm quite fond of partridge/grouse, but haven't had that since leaving MN.

 

[Salvy]

When I was 16 yrs old I worked on a truck farm. Every day about 12 noon, the boss came out with the shotgun loaded with bird shot and would nail about 12-15 pigeons over the corn field. This was supper for the PUerto Rican hands. Sal.

 

[apinchofflavor]

Yuck. Maybe city pigeons wouldn't be so gross but those things look nasty.

 

[CraigC]

That is one. The other one that comes to mind is 'raptore' birds. These birds are also very dangerous for people. Just walking and getting too close to their territory and they will attack. We have had a pair of nesting red tail hawks destroyed because they attacked several people and drew blood with their talons. The nest then had to be destroyed. They had built their nest right next to a sidewalk that was used by people coming and going as well as children. You have remember, those talons are used to rip open flesh of possible rabid animals.

Yeah, destroy them! They should know better than to attack humans for encroaching on their nesting area! I always thought you had to get bitten to contract rabies, as it is transferred via saliva and I'm pretty sure rodents aren't carriers. Rodents being one of their primary food sources.

Craig

 

[Addie]

Yeah, destroy them! They should know better than to attack humans for encroaching on their nesting area! I always thought you had to get bitten to contract rabies, as it is transferred via saliva and I'm pretty sure rodents aren't carriers. Rodents being one of their primary food sources.
Craig

The city caught a lot of flack over that one. The hawks could have been relocated. They would have built a new nest and laid new eggs. They have been seen with possums and raccoons in their talons. And they both can be rabid. Even though we are considered 'urban', there is a protected salt water marsh area nearby and filled with not only raptor birds, but lots of ground critters that love to fish in the shallow waters. Raccoons being one of them.

 

[CraigC]

It seems to be very rare that rodents or marsupials (possums are included) carry rabies in the USA.

Craig

 

[Fabiabi]

We had a pair of birds make the ashtray outside our office their nest, what on earth possessed them I wonder. We had to put a note over the ashtray to make sure it wasn't used for a few months.
I've had pigeon a few times and quite enjoy it. I quite like gamey rich meats.