miggles
FNG
Hey guys,
I'm relatively new to hunting and to Rokslide (but I was one of the ladies who participated in the push up contest, yay!). I've got a question that I want the wisdom and input of this crowd on.
I mostly hunt in desert areas, which leaves me a few options... mulies, jackrabbits, and coyotes are the main ones on the list. I've been hunting jackrabbits, and, counter to a lot of the wives tales I read about eating them, when properly cooked in the slow/pressure cooker, they actually taste fantastic. It's a flavor very close to beef, though more lean.
Anyway, for a while now I've been considering starting coyote hunting. I really love their pelts and would be really excited to learn how to tan the hide and make myself a hat or a vest. But, I really only want to kill an animal if I plan on eating it... I like to make the most out of what I kill. And I am a pretty adventurous eater and love cooking new things. However, I had ultimately decided to write off hunting coyotes, because I read on other forums that either they taste bad or 'you shouldn't' for various vague health reasons. I heard both statements about jackrabbits, too, but was at least able to find more evidence that people do eat them and that tularemia isn't going to kill every person that looks at a rabbit wrong (as long as proper meat care safety is taken). For coyotes, I couldn't really find many people saying that they tasted ok until recently, when I came across this MeatEater clip:
[video=youtube;zaHxYlcjICA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaHxYlcjICA[/video]
I think Steve does a questionable preparation in this one (cooking with hair still on!? I would've tossed that in the slow cooker with some BBQ spices...), and still reports it to be ok.
So that video got me thinking again, and I dug a bit deeper into the internet... it seems that some people have and do eat coyote and they basically fall into 3 camps: a) unpalatable b) tolerable or c) quite good. I'm guessing that preparation and meat care probably play a role in determining whether someone reports a, b, or c, but I can't know for sure as few people actually describe what they've done in detail.
So, I have a few questions for you guys:
1) Have you ever eaten coyote? If so, how did it taste? How was it prepared and cared for?
2) If you haven't eaten coyote, but have killed them, what keeps you from eating the meat? Obviously there are personal reasons (the animal looks like man's best friend, personally find it gross, etc.). I'm interested in any objective reasons why one would choose not to eat it (health concerns?).
3) If you haven't killed a coyote, and haven't eaten one... would you? Why or why not?
I definitely trust what you guys have to say... so let's hear it!
Thanks
I'm relatively new to hunting and to Rokslide (but I was one of the ladies who participated in the push up contest, yay!). I've got a question that I want the wisdom and input of this crowd on.
I mostly hunt in desert areas, which leaves me a few options... mulies, jackrabbits, and coyotes are the main ones on the list. I've been hunting jackrabbits, and, counter to a lot of the wives tales I read about eating them, when properly cooked in the slow/pressure cooker, they actually taste fantastic. It's a flavor very close to beef, though more lean.
Anyway, for a while now I've been considering starting coyote hunting. I really love their pelts and would be really excited to learn how to tan the hide and make myself a hat or a vest. But, I really only want to kill an animal if I plan on eating it... I like to make the most out of what I kill. And I am a pretty adventurous eater and love cooking new things. However, I had ultimately decided to write off hunting coyotes, because I read on other forums that either they taste bad or 'you shouldn't' for various vague health reasons. I heard both statements about jackrabbits, too, but was at least able to find more evidence that people do eat them and that tularemia isn't going to kill every person that looks at a rabbit wrong (as long as proper meat care safety is taken). For coyotes, I couldn't really find many people saying that they tasted ok until recently, when I came across this MeatEater clip:
[video=youtube;zaHxYlcjICA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaHxYlcjICA[/video]
I think Steve does a questionable preparation in this one (cooking with hair still on!? I would've tossed that in the slow cooker with some BBQ spices...), and still reports it to be ok.
So that video got me thinking again, and I dug a bit deeper into the internet... it seems that some people have and do eat coyote and they basically fall into 3 camps: a) unpalatable b) tolerable or c) quite good. I'm guessing that preparation and meat care probably play a role in determining whether someone reports a, b, or c, but I can't know for sure as few people actually describe what they've done in detail.
So, I have a few questions for you guys:
1) Have you ever eaten coyote? If so, how did it taste? How was it prepared and cared for?
2) If you haven't eaten coyote, but have killed them, what keeps you from eating the meat? Obviously there are personal reasons (the animal looks like man's best friend, personally find it gross, etc.). I'm interested in any objective reasons why one would choose not to eat it (health concerns?).
3) If you haven't killed a coyote, and haven't eaten one... would you? Why or why not?
I definitely trust what you guys have to say... so let's hear it!
Thanks