question about raccoons

[quilbilly]

A lady up the hill asked me to take down a troublesome treed raccoon. Of course, I will with a 32-20 and a cast boolit but my question is - are raccoons edible? I have no interest but she might ask.

[Bullshop]

Some people think so but that is only opinion. When someone would stop and ask if jack rabbits were any good to eat my friend would say that durring the depression they thought they were pretty good. Point of view I guess. Some folks eat possum but does that make them good?

[bosterr]

If a raccoon out and about during daylight hours, I would be cautious about rabies.

[Bored1]

I haven't had the chance at a healthy one yet, but will try it when I stumble across one. I would also be worried about any coon out during the day. from my little experience they sleep all day even if they get themselves caught in a trap they still sleep during the day.

One of the later episodes of No Reservations shows Anthony Bourdain eating one in Tenn. or somewhere like that and he says its great. He's traveled around the globe too many times to count and knows what he's talking about. Although he was being treated to dinner by a group of guys who have been cooking coon for DECADES, so that leads me to think its all about how you cook it. Like headchesse or chitlins.

[Jim]

I've been huntin' and eatin' 'coons for many years. However, as was mentioned, I'd not take any chances with a 'coon that doesn't seem to mind being seen in broad daylight. If you do get a shot at him, make sure you kill him outright. And don't handle the carcass without disposable gloves.

[quilbilly]

The shot was a quick and humane head shot. The raccoon was small and looked healthy. The lady said she treed it with a stick early this morning near her chicken coop. I did tell her to use plastic gloves to bury it and get rid of the gloves just in case. Summer before last was much more interesting when she called for help.. She had me trap a bear in her backyard when she said the bear kept beating the trap the wildlife agent was using. The agent left the trap for me so I used different bait and reset the trip wires. Had it in 12 hours. I told the state agent that the bear was smarter than the average Democrat so It took a conservative to catch. Strangely, he didn't laugh.

[IIJSavoy]

Should have trapped it, if you could. Parboiled in crab boil, then baked with sweet potatoes and dirty rice...Southern Louisiana flavor.

My father-in-law makes it whenever they catch one at the high school nearby.

Really, good eats!

[L Ross]

Just like lots of edible critters there is a small bean like gland in each hind quarter you'll want to remove. Also the stringy fatty looking stuff under each "arm pit" are glands and you'll want to remove that also. Trims as much fat as possible, chill the carcass and peel off more fat. Parboil and skim the remaining fat, then either roast it or make barbecoon.

Duke

[Uncle Grinch]

When I was young my father and a friend of his hunted coons at night with dogs. Sometimes I got to go along on weekends. (Great memories)...
My dad's friend would often cook a coon and invite our family for a meal. I remember eating it, but cannot tell you what it tastes like. Since a coon is a relative to the bear, it may be similar in taste.

[quilbilly]

I think they are a distant relative of bears and there is nothing finer than a bear roast (spiced with fennel seeds) from a bear that has been feasting all summer on berries.

[ironhead7544]

Raccoons carry a number if diseases. A really bad roundworm is one of them. You can get it from feces too. So be careful and make sure the meat is well cooked.

[jlchucker]

I've never hunted them myself, but a good friend of mine (deceased now) was an avid coon hunter. He even raised dogs for that purpose. As I recall, I think he told me that there were some rules about only using 22's or shotguns. I never looked it up in the Vt game laws, but mostly you can use any caliber on anything here. He used a 22 Ruger semi auto.

[deep creek]

The eggs from the round worm float in the air and can be inhaled when they hatch they travel to the brain at that point your in trouble.So if cleaning up a **** pile wear a respirator. Not much worry in the field.Most of this stuff gets all blown out of shape Hell id worry more about catching something from your dog,cat or neighbor.

[farmerjim]

They taste like Turkey dark meat to me.

[dragonrider]

Especialy good in a stew much like a beef stew.

[lovedogs]

Guess it would depend on your point of view and on what basis you make such decisions. You could make a decision on what I would call a palatability point of view. Some would say, "Yuk, no way". Others might say, "Yeah, if I can make it taste good I'll eat anything". No consideration of science or any other way to measure fitness for food, just whether it's considered good tasting. Or whether it would make one squeamish. Then you could use science. Could there be a disease risk? High in cholesterol? Is there any scientific reason to not eat one? Then for a Christian who follows biblical standards, or a person of Jewish persuasion, or a Muslim (there may be other faiths included that I'm not aware of) that follow God's advice in the 11th chapter of the book of Leviticus, eating a raccoon would be considered unclean and inedible. Strangely enough, if we study this question from a biological point, the book of Leviticus was way ahead of it's time. All of the animals that were deemed unclean by God in His Word have scientifically provable reasons why they aren't good for food.

Just some examples, ask any butcher how many bulletins they have on the dangers of eating pork. Look at the frequent instances of polluted oysters and clams. How about the instances of tularemia in all rodents? How about fish? When the U. S. Navy was trying to figure out which fish would be safe for sailors to eat if they were marooned on an island or in a raft someone mentioned the advice in Leviticus, fish that have fins and scales and swim are safe to eat. After doing their research the Navy came to the same conclusion.

Though it's not so popular nowadays if we really take a serious look at it, God knows best and has known it all along. I used to fall in the first category, I ate anything I could make taste good. Then I got health conscious and had some serious talks with honest people who did this kind of research, wildlife biologists, marine biologists, butchers, etc. It's also true that we've added enough chemicals that some of the "clean" animals that they are now not healthy to eat, like beef that is laced with chemicals, hormones, etc. We all have choices to make about our health and the freedom to choose how we will decide what's edible and what's not.

[Gliden07]

I've eaten it but didn't care for it? I would try it again though, like most things it all depends on who's cooking it??

[TheGrimReaper]

My great uncle likes to Bar-B-Que them. Like pork.

[mold maker]

I tasted it once. It could be the way it was prepared, but I found it greasy, and foul tasting.
I won't do it again.

[gareth96]

Did it once.. skinned it, removed the arm glands and as much fat as I could.. parboiled it.. then baked it with sweet potatoes. It ended up a bit greasy.. tasted ok I guess, but there was something funky I couldn't put my finger on. Then I tried adding bbq sauce and made some bbq out of some of it.. again, ok, I'd eat it if I had to, but it wouldn't be my first choice.

And I read once somewhere that if you catch it (or a possum) and feed it milk and peaches for a week they turn out much better.. I guess that cleans them out.

Edit.. here it is (for a possum).. http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=1163,1347780