Trad Gang

This one's for all those dack attackers out there who saw me and chuck's little "autopsy" on the porcupine I shot. Let me start out by saying that sucker smelled terrible. Looked pretty nasty, too. But I shot him, and by God, I was gonna eat him.
Now, I can say I have, and I'm actually glad I did. Boiled him over at Mother Mowery's with some (a ton) of pickling salt for quite a while. Just this morning, I threw legs in the slow cooker with some potatoes, carrots, onions, and peas. Little onion soup mix and Woschestier, too.
Not bad at all. Still retains a bit of that piney smell (combated any piney taste by adding in a spoonful of instant coffee granules to the mix). All and all, I like it. I mean, I'm more partial to squirrel or rabbit. But I like it. Almost exactly like a pork roast. Fed it to several people (all non hunters) so far, and have yet to get a bad response.

That said...gonna be a long time before I shoot another. God, did he smell...  :bigsmyl:  


 (http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj92/bowchild_2008/chriskill.jpg)

What did he smell like?  :saywhat:  

Killdeer

Like he'd died in the hot August sun and I was just opening him up for the first time that day...

Oooffff!
I hear flies buzzing...  :p

Nice, is that a Bear Montana I see?
Bakes

Well done, yep, looks like a Montana to me! Congrats!

Congrats and nice photo. Stay safe and shoot straight.

Yeah, it's a Montana...

uuuumm should i post a pick of the white noodles that were allready inside??  :scared:    :bigsmyl:    :eek:

Nah, no reason to put these poor people through that Ken. Had I had more sense, they would have detered me. But alas, I am no sensible fellow...he was still tasty though.

You should have thrown out the stew and ate the pan.

Way to go Chris....now I can't wait to see how you do on the deer!!   :thumbsup:

Great story. I respect that you ate what you killed... I would have to be pretty hungry to eat a porcupine--- LOL.


John III

a not quite so detailed pic. BS being guided by Woodchucker.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v119/adkmountainken/tradgang/cleaning.jpg)

QuoteGreat story. I respect that you ate what you killed...

Ever since I started hunting, I've killed squirrel, snapping turtle, bullfrog, turkey, rabbit, grouse, raccoon, catfish, and now porcupine, with my bow. As a matter of personal belief, they all made there way onto my table ('cept the coon, but he was rabid imho). Some are well-known table fares that I had no doubts about dining upon. Others, like old mr. quills...well, there an adventure, to say the least...

In the pic, you may think that's a beer I'm drinking, but its acually my puke cup.  

hey chris, i did a little google searching today and came up with a couple of "recipies" for porkies. turns out that your not the only person in the world to eat one. and a bunch of people said they liken the taste to a pot roast.
your a brave soul chris, cant say as i would have tried to eat it.
lookin forward to seein you fellas in feb.

In all honesty, I've had porcupine when I was younger. 3 or so, I believe. But I just could not recall the taste. Did remember that I didn't hate it. But good lord, that smell and some of the things I saw sure had me second guessing my past experiances...

I knew an old rancher in montana that would catch them live and feed them corn for a couple of weeks. Claims that alot of people use to do that years ago. He said it was excellent eating so long as you put them on corn for two weeks. I'm not sure about the catching part.

Nate,
From what I heard about your cooking I bet you could of worked up a five star meal with that young sack of stickers. I wish that I could have been around for the great meals that you put together but I had to keep running over to my house to let the dogs out between and after hunting.

Well Done My "little" Brother!!!!!      :thumbsup:    

Chris told me up on the mountain that he was gonna need help skinning his porky. I told Chris....."I'll help ya!!! I'm not gonna do it for ya,but I'll help ya"

We got Chris' porky up on a pallet.Then I handed Chris my Moose Knife,explaned a few things and he jumped right in!!!!! I had to walk him through a few things,and help him out a couple times,but he started it,AND finished it!!!!!

GREAT JOB CHRIS!!!!!!!!!!      :clapper:    

Chris is a fine young man,who is very much like a "Little Brother" and like a son to me all rolled into one.....

I have a feeling we will be very close for a long,long time.

I've learned that I don't have to eat everything I kill.  Somethings are only good to skin, like coyotes and possums, rats (and cats!).  I agree not to waste good game meat but other animals are catagoried as varmints for a reason.
"Hey, Marine, did you just shoot that Talibani?"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"Then don't just stand there, get your skinning knife."
Yep, some varmints just aren't supposed to be et.

And I thought we were rednecks! Way to go. I almost got a skunk last night(by accident) that would have made an interesting meal.

I've heard that Porcupines can actually be quite good if you get them in the fall and they're feeding on apples. Good for you on sticking to your beliefs and eating what you kill.

Too late now but soaking overnight helps clear unpleasant aromas. It was an honor to witness the hunt. I've never seen a dead porcupine climbing a tree before. The first shot sealed his fate second knocked him out of the tree. Way to follow through.    :thumbsup:  
Aram

Aram,
I honestly think the boil in pickling salt seemed to do the same thing. He came out no where near as gamey smelling as he was when he went in.

Chuck,
Thank you again, bro. This was one meal that would not have been accomplished without you. Much obliged...

Thats pretty cool.  the first piece of food to come with its own tooth picks   :goldtooth:

Much respect my friend!

Thats one time I think I would have to go with a salad!

Back in '79, half a dozen of us were camping out on a Maine Bowhunters spring bear hunt (back when we had a spring hunt) and one of the fellas shot a porky.  He cleaned and skinned it, tied it to a spit and had it roasting over the campfire.  A half hour later two other guys rolled in looking for help to find a downed bear, so he took the beast off the fire and leaned it against a tree spit and all, and we all headed out.  Three hours later we get back, toast the successful hunter with a few jars of of the local beer and settle back for the evening.  Eventually someone remembered the porky and when he brought him out, he was absolutely covered in congeled tallow.  Looked like someone dunked him in a vat of parafin or that white syruppy sugar on sticky buns.  We were all kind of put off at that so we never did get a taste.  I've always wondered what I missed.  Now I know, TNX.