Racoons

jwal10 · #1 09/25/10, 08:00 AM

Anyone eat them? I have 2 in the springhouse aging and 2 in the hot smoker right now. I make hams, bacon and jerky. Good eatin'. I wait until it cools off in the fall and they are fattening for winter off of apples and pears. I wait until there is some rain but before they are too fat. Just like if I butchered hogs, usually wait until Nov though. I butcher a pig every year but I like mine long lean and about 150 lbs live weight. I keep my smoked meats in the springhouse all winter....James

TedH71 · #2 09/25/10, 09:39 AM

I've been wanting to try coon meat. Was told there were some coon eating festivals in Arkansas and Missouri. I would travel for that!

sdnapier · #3 09/25/10, 10:58 AM

I would gladly send you all that I trap!! They invade my house by going through the cat door and get into the cat food and water dish. I have been trapping this week and have relocated 6 coons and 3 possums and I suspect I have more. Too bad I'm vegan or I could be canning coon meat!!

Danaus29 · #4 09/25/10, 11:51 AM

That's one meat I haven't got the nerve to try, yet. I would be more than happy to allow someone to come here and trap coon for meat. They could even have the groundhogs too. I would even check the traps daily for a meat hunter.

texican · #5 09/25/10, 12:58 PM

Depends...

If they were night coons, no problem... haven't eaten any, but that's because I have five freezer full of meat and cheese. If there were no freezers with most excellent vittles, and meat was scarce, they'd be in the pot before they cooled off.

Day coons? Naw, I'd dig a hole, throw em in, burn em with some gas and pine knots, and cover up. Day coons usually mean rabies.

jwal10 · #6 09/25/10, 01:16 PM

I hunt them at night in the apple and pear trees in my fruit tree line along the creek. I am very selective, young healthy ones....James

Bearfootfarm · #7 09/25/10, 01:49 PM

Quote:

have relocated 6 coons and 3 possums

That's illegal.
Maybe you shouldn't be announcing it LOL

Patt · #8 09/25/10, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm

That's illegal.
Maybe you shouldn't be announcing it LOL

Guess the law varies from state to state, I was curious and looked it up. It is illegal in VA but not here in AR.

We shoot ours because it isn't fair to dump a nuisance on someone else. Once they get a taste for chickens or eggs or feed they will always be a problem.

We put one in the freezer to try but then we lost the freezer with the house and never got to try it. I have never heard of raccoon eating festivals here in AR but we have relatives who are big into coon hunting and it is popular around here.

ronbre · #9 09/25/10, 03:50 PM

my grandpa was a trapper so i ate most everything..however..i can't get my husband to do the gutting and stuff..anymore..he has a closed head injury..so we usually use them for garden fertilizer.

Toads tool · #10 09/25/10, 07:26 PM

Ate it, liked it, would eat it again if I had to. Had it at a wild game feed they had in town.
Trapped hundreds as a kid and skinned them all.
Used to get pretty good money.
My three LGD's keep them away from the yard so I stopped having to kill any.
Wife raised 2 from babies named Itchy and Scratchy. They got big and then took off over the winter, returning in the spring. First year they both came back then Itchy got ran off by Scratchy. Scratchy had three litter in a tree out back before she disappeared on the 4th winter.
That coon would come up into my wifes arms like a cat and my wife would just pet and love her up till the end..
Don't see myself killing any coons in the future.

RedneckPete · #11 09/25/10, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texican

Day coons usually mean rabies.

Rabies is a virus, viruses are killed by cooking.

Fact is, you could take a rabid, rotten, maggot infested coon, boil the everliving daylights out of it and it would be safe to eat.

I'm not sure I would want to eat it, but the fact is you could.

Pete

JuliaAnn · #12 09/25/10, 10:42 PM

So Pete, you going to boil an entire, intact coon in a pot? Because if you go to skin or dress a rabid coon, you're going to expose yourself to the virus via it's blood. If you have a cut, scrape, hangnail, splash a drop of blood in your eyes, you'll need rabies shots.

RedneckPete · #13 09/26/10, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JuliaAnn

So Pete, you going to boil an entire, intact coon in a pot? Because if you go to skin or dress a rabid coon, you're going to expose yourself to the virus via it's blood. If you have a cut, scrape, hangnail, splash a drop of blood in your eyes, you'll need rabies shots.

I'll concede that point. I hadn't considered cleaning the rabid coon. I wouldn't want to do it, even with gloves and a mask. You win.

Pete

Patt · #14 09/26/10, 08:57 PM

Shot at 2 last night. Stupid things were trying to crawl into the dog kennel for the dog food with 2 dogs in it. Needless to say the dogs were going completely bats.

Sorry to say the one we killed did not look like something we wanted to eat. It was a very large male. Second one managed to escape in all the craziness.

So what age and size are good for eating? And do males have a strong taste?

jwal10 · #15 09/26/10, 09:11 PM

Two yr olds are real good, this yrs are small yet. No strong taste, I don't like them real fat....James