Coots

[bogwalker]

Anybody eat them?

[RIPN LIPS]

I have and I would say they are better than duck

[Sorgy]

Back in the day our Brit "Bandit" He retrieved ducks, geese, pheasants, grouse ect and lived for it. If it had feathers he was all buisness.

I was out with my dad and Bandit on a metro lake and I shot a coot back then with the .410. Bandit jumped in swam over to the cattatails and picked up the coot. Almost as fast as he picked it up he spit it out and if dogs could talk-- He looked [PoorWordUsage] off that he had to jump in the cold lake water, swam thru the snot and was expected to retireve this so called duck

He came back to the canoe and I swear he would not look us in the eye

This was back over 30 years ago.

No I don't eat Coots. If the dog won't put it in his mouth but he will clean himself- I wont eat them.

[Gordie]

I have a back in the day story also.

My grandparents grew up in the depression and this recipe was passed along as they made the best or a worse time buy eating from what they could gather from the land and coots,mudhens or what ever you want to call them was apart of they'er diet. Grandmma used to make a cream style soup called BooYa Base that consisted of squirrels rabbits and coots mostly cootsand potato dumplins.

The meat of the coots were cut into small pieces and sautee'd in butter or lard then added to the soup.

I have had it many many times when I was younger and it was better than clam chowder ever was.I never knew until later in my years that coots were apart of this recipe but it didnt matter as they were good in that soup.

They also can be made into some pretty good jerky.

I will have to do some searching for the recipie but I'm not sure that I have it as grandma always cooked from memeory and seldom follow recipes or wrote them down.

[mwal]

We have eaten coots many times. Mixed their breast with ducks marinated them and cooked on grill. I told no one and they were disappointed when the meat ran out. Most people just say they are no good. They are in the chicken family and mainly vegitarians. I also eat spoonies and hoodies cooked the same way marinade grilled to medium rare. The worst tasting waterfowl I have eaten were a couple mallards. They stunk up the whole house when roasting them and tasted fowl. I have no idea why they were so bad.

Mwal

[JimBuck]

I eat whatever I shoot and I do bag a few coots from time to time. I think it comes down to preparation of the meat prior to cooking. I brine them for 2-3 days changing the salt+water out twice a day. I usually throw mine into the next batch of jerky or goose burgers. IMO as long as your decent at cooking and do the necessary prep work, they really aren't bad.

[pikestabber]

The worst tasting waterfowl I have eaten were a couple mallards. They stunk up the whole house when roasting them and tasted fowl. I have no idea why they were so bad.

Low water year is my guess. When the water is low, ducks like Mallards end up scouring the bottom and have a steadier diet of snails and mucky weeds...higher water generally means consuming more rice and greener grasses. "You are what you eat" definitely applies to ducks. Ducks from muck do taste and smell bad. High water Mallards, however, are some of the finest eating things on the planet.

As for coots, my Grandpa shunned them and his best friend and duck hunting partner (and a former DNR officer) much preferred them to ducks... I think it's a matter of perspective, and a matter of preparation, as you said.

[leech~~]

Anybody eat them?

Do a search

above. There was a few Coot Love-Hate threads last year!

[Superduty]

[Meyer8043]

2 weeks straight of eating ducks for every meal in north Dakota every fall makes me never want to eat ducks the rest of the year so no coot shoots for this guy

[Todd Caswell]

2 weeks straight of eating ducks for every meal in north Dakota every fall makes me never want to eat ducks the rest of the year so no coot shoots for this guy

I enjoy eating waterfowl, just like I enjoy chicken, beef, and pork, but don't care to eat the same thing every day, you may want to try switching it up a bit this year.

Yep eaten alot of coots, and yes some do taste better than duck..

[Gordie]

If your not preparing them right you will have a fowl taste for them.

I have passed mine off as roast beef or even pot roast many times and people still can't belive they ate ducks.

Soak in vinegar over night then in a bit of salt water vinegar pulls out every bit of blood and leaves the meat cleaner so to speak.

Another thing is how you cook it.

If you cook it in the oven and over cook it will taste like the bottom of the swamp you got it out of but if you slow cook it with 1 cup apple jucie and 2-3 cups beef broth for like 4-5 hours in the crock pot with 3-4 bay leaves and 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper,pinch of cummin and salt to taste.

You will be surprised because you will be wanting more and it will be all gone.

Thats how I will make them most of the time and if you add a bit of corn startch to some off the liquid you can make a great gravey for it and the spuds.

Switch up recipies like Todd said and duck make some of the best jerky you'll ever have.

[fishersofmen]

Exactly right about how its cooked. Most people I know can't stand eating goose (sky carp) either but everyone in my house loves it. Crock pot with some beef stock and veggies for several hours and it falls apart with a fork. Throw it on top of a couple slices of bread with mashed potatoes and gravy......

[Todd Caswell]

Exactly right about how its cooked. Most people I know can't stand eating goose (sky carp) either but everyone in my house loves it. Crock pot with some beef stock and veggies for several hours and it falls apart with a fork. Throw it on top of a couple slices of bread with mashed potatoes and gravy......

I never cook my ducks or Geese or Venison like that anymore, you wouldn't take a T bone steak and cook it like that would you?? If you treat your wild game like a fine piece of beef youll love it. Rare cooked over a very hot wood fired grill is the way to go in our house..

[fishersofmen]

I never cook my ducks or Geese or Venison like that anymore, you wouldn't take a T bone steak and cook it like that would you?? If you treat your wild game like a fine piece of beef youll love it. Rare cooked over a very hot wood fired grill is the way to go in our house..

I do treat it like a fine peace of beef, we do high quality roasts in the crock pot all the time and the goose turns out just as good? I think that can be the main problem with those who shy away from being able to enjoy some game like goose breasts. If you think it will cook up like a T-bone on the grill you may run into some problems. Leather shoe anyone......

[Gordie]

Todd your are right again except that I do my beef roasts similar to that. I also love duck on the grill.

So many ways to cook them and only six for a daily limit :grin. I don't like to have duck in the freezer that long either even vacuum packed it seems to get old fast. The fresher the better here.

Looking forward to duck on the grill next Saturday night.

Good luck and good eaten

Goose is really good out of the pressure cooker the way I explained it also.

[Todd Caswell]

What I was getting at was the rareer the better, on fresh ducks and geese, we also do a 12 hour cook on goose in a mix of beef broth in the crock for shredeed BBQ sandwiches, very good but it really puts a band ade on the meat. I also do a salt brine for 24 hours on duck strips then dredged in a KFC ( lucky enough to have a close friend who ownes a few KFC's) flour. Flash Deep fry just like you fav. fish and bingo...