What Kind Of Critter Eats Another Critter In This Fashion?

[Ray Ford]

When I was a kid and used to trap I skinned a few possums,and it would be darn hard to even think about eating one.BLAH.

When I was a kid, lots of people hunted or trapped o'possums for the hides--which would sell at times for enough money to make taking them worthwhile.  And some people did eat them.

I was born in 1940, so I missed the Depression of '29.  I heard the old folks talk about it a lot.  My mother once told me this story:

Some of our cousins lived in a small house next to the railroad tracks running north out of my home town.  The house would be considered a shack now.  They hunted 'possums every night with a lantern and a tow sack--burlap bag.  They would go for miles up and down those railroad tracks.  (O'possums seem to frequent railroad right-of-ways.  Possible track kills attract them.)  When they saw a 'possum,
they would run it down, catch it by the tail, and drop it in the sack.  Once at home, they would dress the critter for cooking.  If it had not been for 'possums, my mother said, they would have starved during that collapse of the economy.

Given the state of our present economy, we might all be looking for 'possums soon.

[Cornbelt]

Its been a long time, but when my wife and I were dating, we would go 'possum hunting trying to get a couple good ones for the wedding dinner. We eventually succeeded and with LOTS of candied sweet potatoes, they were edible. No left-overs. But we just never realized how many we would have to catch to get a couple good ones. None of them had what I would call a fresh meat smell, but the bad ones were too nasty to consider, and the meat was actually a greyish color. No telling what they'd been eating. Seems they ain't too picky. Haven't had any since. The novelty just doesn't last that long.

[Ray Ford]

Cornbelt,

Two things:

1. Why 'possum at a wedding?

2. One technique used by old-time 'possum eaters was to catch the critter alive and cage it for a while before killing it.  During the time that the 'possum was caged, it was fed corn to improve the meat.  Hog people do the same thing.  They pen up a killin' hog and feed it corn for a spell before butchering it.  Hogs, as most know, if permitted to, will chow down on anything remotely edible--including such things as snakes and dead animals and/or people.

I have known of wild hog hunters who chased hogs to a bay with trail dogs, set the catch dog on the bayed animals, tied up the young pigs caught by the dogs, and took them home to feed out. Catch dogs are usually Pits or part Pits.  They'll lock onto the pig and hold it so it can be tied.

[Cornbelt]

Why 'possum at a wedding?  I didn't want left-overs.  We've had several since then, but only for pets. They always wander off about the time they get half grown. That idea of feeding them what a guy wouldn't mind eating himself would be worth keeping in mind.

[SHOOTALL]

I have heard of people feeding them milk and bread for 2 weeks to " clean them out " then eating them . Think i would try ground hog first

[Cornbelt]

Don't know what to feed groundhog to clean them out, but I'd rate them even lower on the scale than 'possum.

[SHOOTALL]

why they eat plants not trash and rotton meat ?

[Ray Ford]

Speaking of stuff to eat, I have heard that two meats considered top delicacies by old mountain men were Buffalo hump and Cougar.  Any truth to that?

I've laid off for some time to try Beaver?

[Graybeard]

Jim Hack our Hunting in Alaska Moderator has comment on mountain lion meat before and seems to consider it excellent table fair. I doubt I'd ever try it but then I am a rather picky eater.

[Mikey]

Cougar is cat.  Cats taste like chicken.

[clum sum]

 Way to fix Possum. First you clean the critter real good, salt & pepper to tast then You nail it to a fresh cut pine board. Preheat your oven to 375 and bake for 37 min. a pound, remove and let cool for 10 min. remove from pine board then eat the pine board. I did eat some Musk Ox and it tast like they look UGLY.

[Cornbelt]

I've had cat in wild meat stew. Everytime I'd get a bite of it I could tell. Tastes like an old cat smells, but it was just alley cat, not mountaun lion. Maybe there is a way to clean out a cat?  -As to groundhogs, the meat looks clean and healthy (so does cat), but they have such a musky scent that it has an effect on the meat, even when you remove the glands, lymph nodes, etc. though some folks don't seem to mind it.  Muskrat, on the other hand, is good eating.

[BoomLover]

About 20-25 years ago in Anza, California, a pack of dogs made up of town dogs, about 10 or 12 of them, used to roam at night, and congregate in the outskirts of town. They would go hunting in various fields, chasing cows, horses, and sheep. Sheep especially. Friend of mine warned the town that he had lost 7 sheep to these dogs over the course of about a week, with several so wounded he had to put them down. Warned them by letter to the editor of a local paper, I believe. Anyway, the dogs formed a pack one night, and he was ready. Shot and killed 3, wounded a couple more, then did the same as above, called the owners and told them where they could find their dogs. Not another word, and they got the message. No problem for him, and his sheep were safe after that. 

[Travis Morgan]

I've heard from several cat hunters that mountain lion is excellent meat; I've eaten bobcat jerky, and it was really flaky, like salmon.