Roadkill, pidgeons,squirl, seagulls, rats, alley cat, etc.

[Blue]

Hi all,

I once read a great essay written by a guy who had worked in homless shelters, he interviewed a homeless man who had lived and survived on the streets for 35 years. It was pretty amazing, practical knowledge on how to kill pidgeons with a throwing stick in the park, and use the meat to set traps for alley cats (bigger dinners) etc. (i've scoured google but cant find the link again!)

I was wondering...

Anybody here ever eat road kill, pidgeons, squirl, or other mostly urban animals? any recipies?

I ate baked seagulls once on a hunting trip, tasted pretty much like chicken but with huge ropey black/blue veins (looked kinda gross but tasted ok) the guy who cooked it said you had to brine it like fish or there was a terrible taste to em (I guess I wouldent know if that was true)

side note do you think its wrong to eat such things?

Brooklyn Park officers busted a band of pigeon eating poachers in Prospect Park last week. According to The Brooklyn Paper, a tribe of vagrants had been catching park animals only to grill them over an open fire – sometimes in front of park goers.

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/newshound/2011/08/pigeon-poachers-busted-brooklyns-prospect-park

a good guide on how to select and cook roadkill...
http://www.wikihow.com/Eat-Roadkill

Guy eats nothing but roadkill for 30+ years (considers it the most ethical diet possible) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/jonathan-mcgowan-roadkill_n_1016108.html

This basil rat-jerky sounds delicious...
http://io9.com/5931901/recipes-for-the-post-apocalypse-how-and-why-to-eat-rat-meat

 

[GotSmart]

You have GOT to be kidding.

While a couple of those items may be acceptable to eat in America, most are not. Being caught eating a cat would get you locked up in a special place.

Gulls are a protected species.

The only ones I know that you possibly get away with here are the Squirrels and Possums. In some areas the squirrels are protected. My ex wife grew up in N.CA walnut orchard, and frequently had "tree chicken." No way I would take a chance on eating pigeon. It is hard to tell one from a Rock Dove which also has federal protection.

 

[Blue]

Cat predation and huge numbers of ferral cats in the U.S. Is a big issue, huge pigeon and seagull populations can be big health problems in some bigger cities, rats... Nuff said. It might be illegal but this is one of those things where I'm starting to wonder why.

I did read an article about a street sweeper who reported a homeless guy eating pigeons. Street sweeper got paid 2,500.oo by an animal rights group as a reward, homeless guy got arrested, tax payers got to pay 50k a year for his imprisonment, pigeons in that area continued to breed at record pace crapping on everything. Don't see how this is a win for anybody but the pigeons and the street sweeper.

 

[GotSmart]

The answer is to take the cats where the rats and pigeons are.

Just remember, PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals.

 

[mockturtle]

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Roadkill....no thank you.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

I like my beer, but if The Beast (Milwaukee's Best) is all I can afford I'll do without.

If I'm hungry enough I know how to find food in the wild.
I certainly am not going to pick up rotting meat off the road.

 

[GotSmart]

Last winter I saw two Good Old Boys stuff an entire fresh roadkill deer in the back of a Civic. This was at a major intersection on I44. The driver of the truck that hit it was still checking out his damage, and the deer was gone in 60 seconds. Heave Ho, and a bungee cord away!

 

[Zil]

I have a friend whose husband sends her out every am to collect road kill. I just shake my head. I have no problem eating a rodent or seed eating bird, I would have to be starving to eat a seagull, or very hungry to eat a cat. There was a man in my piney youth that brought skinned cats into town to sell as dressed rabbit. If any one wants, about in the middle of the novel "Gravities Rainbow" is a very good fireplace recipe for cat. The book "4 hour Chef" by Timothy Ferriss has directions for capturing pigeons, in the park, by stealth. By all reports from Stalingrad and post war Europe, cat does not taste too bad.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

I think it is a little hypocritical and I see absolutely no difference in eating rats, cats, dogs, skunks, pigeons, horses, squirrels, racoons, porcupines or pigeons, probably a lot better for you then hormone pumped chicken, lamb or beef and more ethical. If the roadkill is fresh, I see no difference between being hit by a bullet or by a car. Personally I wouldn't eat any of them, I find carrots easier to catch and not as messy to clean, besides vegetarians live an average 15 years longer, don't cost as much to feed, have a smaller footprint, are not as aggressive, consume less pills, suffer from fewer diseases, are sexier, smell better and are better looking.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Oh boy, now FK is trying to convince us he's sexy and good looking

The web really does allow us to be whoever we wanna be

(pokin' a little fun )

 

[Blue]

yeah but subsonic recordings of vegitables being cooked records them screaming... at least the dead thing on the road had a mostly full life before being ripped away from it (likely from its own stupidity and natural selection) in a mostly quick death (rather than being steamed or juiced, eek!)

but I agree with ya kurb, eating something slightly rotted in the road cant be worse for you than those only able to survive due to massive amounts of steroids and antibiotics Mc Donalds beef... maybe we should get the "supersize me" guy to do a roadkill expirement...

 

[flying kurbmaster]

Blue this food thing is getting to me, feeling a bit squeamish thinking about peeling the skin off my cabbages, I wonder if it is just a hoax created by farmers, maybe all we need is the minerals and proteins from spring water. Yesterday I noticed a 12 year old walking to school with her coffee mug in one hand, cell in the other, I am sure in a few more years we will see cup holders on strollers, coffee added to the food groups, with the industry advocating brain stimulation. I have already noticed the improvement in dexterity, some people can drive with a cup in one hand and text with the other, how do smokers manage

 

[highdesertranger]

wow!!!! highdesertranger

 

[GotSmart]

Blue this food thing is getting to me, feeling a bit squeamish thinking about peeling the skin off my cabbages, I wonder if it is just a hoax created by farmers, maybe all we need is the minerals and proteins from spring water. Yesterday I noticed a 12 year old walking to school with her coffee mug in one hand, cell in the other, I am sure in a few more years we will see cup holders on strollers, coffee added to the food groups, with the industry advocating brain stimulation. I have already noticed the improvement in dexterity, some people can drive with a cup in one hand and text with the other, how do smokers manage

The fancy phones have a talk and text option, so an earpiece works just fine, so they have a hand free for the smoke, and coffee, and wheel, and phone, and to flip me off as they cut me off on their way to the job at the local ER. (It happens every day to me.) I live on the shortcut.

 

[Zil]

I have been able to steer with my knees for a long time. A skill I developed to read the news paper.

 

[Salida Scarlett]

You've all heard the story about impoverished little ol ladies eating cans of cat food. I would go with beans, and/or rice, and cornbread, as a complete protein rather than try to gag down something so disgusting and unhealthy as that...or the aforementioned roadkill, cats, dogs or scavenger birds. Good Lord, I hope we're not getting that desperate in this country.

 

[mockturtle]

Scarlett, I wholeheartedly agree. There are far better [and easier] ways to get protein sources.

 

[sl1966]

Topics like this crack me up ... the adverse reactions are simply based on how limited/restricted the average American palette has become over the last century. Desperation has nothing to do with it. Cost, availability, and cost have everything to do with what people eat around the world.

Just a few examples ...

My mother is Peruvian. Before the European's came along, Guinea pigs were a staple food source. They still are in the Andes.

My father is Chinese. My experience is that they will always find a way to cook anything, moving or not, in a delicious sauce. Most likely with noodles of some sort. I've eaten more than my fair share of animals in this cuisine.

Food is food. You don't have to be starving to eat something. Just hungry. If it tastes good, what's the problem? I mean as long as it's not an endangered species. Get over it and experience what the world has to offer!

 

[sl1966]

Correction. Geography, availability, and cost.