Coot

The other day I went Quail hunting. I found no Quail but stumbled upon a pond full of Coots. I knew what they were (and yes, I can legally shoot them) but they are known amongst duck hunters as a trash bird, "mud hen" and other nasty names since they supposedly don't taste good at all. However, I have also heard from other people that they do taste good, so I was a bit confused as to what the truth about these funky birds was.

I decided to shoot some. I bagged two. I only took two despite the high bag limit of 25 since I was unsure of what these things would taste like and didn't want to kill a bunch if they were nasty.

The two Coot I bagged

After shooting the Coots I realized that the rope I'd brought with me was about 10-15 feet too short. Crap. I had to go get them, there was no way I was going to leave something I killed in a pond.  So I took off my jacket, vest and valuables, left them on the side of the bank and waded in.  The water was freezing, probably something like 40 or colder since it was only about 45 at the Wildlife Area.  At one point the water came up to the middle of my chest but that was only for about three feet or so. After that it was only about knee deep.

I retrieved my Coots and went back to my things. I decided right then and there that I needed a gun dog if I were going to ever shoot a water bird again, unless it was plenty warm out and going for a dip actually sounded like a good idea.

I brought the Coots home and dressed them. During which, Conker and Juneau showed a LOT of interest. Conker wanted to eat it and tried to steal one of the coots. Juneau also tried to take them, but only got a mouthful of feathers.
I saved most of the insides for Conker and will freeze them for a while before I give them to him.

Coot legs and breast meat

The Coots weren't the most amazing smelling bird when opened up. But then again, this was the first time I've ever dressed one so I don't know what I would compare it to. However, they smelled fine after the meat had been chilled in the fridge for a while. Speaking of the meat, it's an odd, deep reddish purple color. Doesn't bother me though.
Later on I took them out and hacked them up a bit. I separated the breasts and legs from the rest and saved the frames for Conker.

I cooked up one of the legs and half a breast as a taste test. I tried it. It was good. Quite good, actually. I don't care what duck hunters say, they are wrong about this bird. If I had to describe it, I'd say Coot tastes something like a mixture of chicken and beef, only better.  It's a very strange taste but I like it enough to want to go out and get more Coots even if it ruins any chance of a reputation I could have with duck hunters.

I think I am going to train Juneau to be a gun dog.  I do not know how far I will get, she is terribly noise shy. But I've got a couple good resources on getting a noise shy dog to be habituated to the sound of gunfire and if I can do that, the rest will be cake. Juneau is already an amazing retriever.


Note: Any comments that bash me or hunting in any way whatsoever will be deleted. I will not tolerate that crap on my own blog. If you have a problem with it, write about it on yours, not mine. This is going to be a recurring subject now and if it bugs you that much, don't read it anymore.