a good day afield

[ASavageFox]

(edited due to my error)

I love this time of year in MO b/c there is a ton of game all in season at the same time. My family farm has numerous ponds throughout that are great for "jumping" ducks and plenty of wet cut corn fields that are great for dove and snipes.

the snipe are something new to me... they are not prevalent in MO and I did some research on them after spooking a few at the farm. Well yesterday I must have seen better than 30 of them... I think the immense amount of rain that we received in MO in Oct has atracted them to the soft muddy soil.

Number 4 bismuth for water fowl and light Federal 7 1/2 in the field...

the good news: 4 doves, 3 snipes, 3 coots, 1 mallard.

the amazing news: I hit two snipe with one shot... pure luck but they just happened to be crossing paths as I was picking one off... got both... I could hardly believe it.

the bad news... lost of chip of wood out of the forearm... pretty upset but the gun was a "restoration" with a big pad and recased, etc... its a hunter for sure but still pretty sad...


A few pics (sorry, just a cheap pocket camera and not much of a potographer to boot, ezpecially after a long day in some muddy fields)





Anyone ever eat coot, again a first for me but darn do those things stink when cleaning... going to look for some recipes but based on the smell sure does not seem like good eats... also a pain to clean... don't think I will be shooting any more of those...

[Bob B.]

"Woodcocks" may still be new to you...................

[ASavageFox]

your right,still fairly new to bird hunting! Sorry, these are snipe... not woodcocks... and I knew that, as after seeing these birds on my farm the last few weeks, I did some googling to decide which it was and just mispoke here. They are very similar in appearnace to the novice eye... I do believe these are a bit smaller than woodcocks...both legal game birds in MO and in season...

[Laxcoach]

Coots?
Depends on what they have been feeding on. Skin them and get EVERY BIT OF FAT OFF THEM ! Cook like ducks--you will be pleasantly surprised.

[ASavageFox]

Thanks for the advice on the coots... I'll give it a try... as bad as they stunk while cleaning I was a little worried.

[lee r moege]

When I was younger we reffered to coots as "mud hens" as they smelled and tasted as such. I think I remember they are a kind of diving critter that eats the weeds off pond bottoms, small crustaceons , and minnows. This probably accounts for the smell! Mergansers are another one that can get kind of ripe. If I remember right a coot is not even considered a duck, and I think thats what the English call a "moat hen or marsh hen". Keep the Pepto-Bismol and Immodium handy and let us know how it tastes. Lee.

[scaupman]

The local cajuns call coots, "poule d'eau" which translates to chicken of the marsh or water hen.

Coot breasts are actually very good in Gumbo. I have a good Gumbo recipe that I could dig out and post here or email to anyone that wants it.

I just use the breast meat, but a real cajun would also include the gizzard, which is huge in these birds because of their preferred veggie diet. The gizzard is a little strong in the Gumbo for my tastes.

Coots prefer to eat all kinds of veggie (I doubt they eat minnows or crustaceans unless floating dead on the water surface) and in some areas coots really prefer musk grass, an algae that grows on the bottom. Redhead ducks prefer musk grass too in northern latitudes (e.g. Long Island Bay on Lake Winnipegosis in MB) and they also have a faint musky taste when roasted after a regualr diet of musk grass.

Good Shooting!

[ASavageFox]

Scaupman

Would love to have the gumbo recipe if you don't mind posting or PMing me.

The gizzards on the coots was HUGE... I actually thought maybe the first one had cancer or something but they were all that big... and hard as a rock... I trashed them.

Lee,

I believe that you are correct in that coot is not considered in the duck family... I believe it is actually in the same family as the heron and other water birds that don't have fully webbed feet.

Cheers

[TOOL MAN]

ASAVAGEFOX,

Great pics. Nice to see tht Fox still gets the game. You are lucky to hunt such a game rich area!! Spent many years coastal gunning down on the CT shore. For what its worth, here's my foolproof recipe for coots and mergansers:

Use 3-4 Coots...serves 4-5 hungry hunters!!!

Place coots ( fully feathered) in 4 qt pan of boiling water. Boil for 12 minutes.

Transfer coots, breast side down into a dutch skillet, seasoned with bacon lard and a few sprinkles of seas salt and thyme
Fry for 10 minutes.

Back to boiling water for another 12 minutes. Then back to skillet for 10 minutes.

Repeat process at least 4 times.

Transfer coots to the closest garbage can, then eat the skillet!!!!

Guranteed to be a duck shack favorite!!!!!------TOOL

[scaupman]

OK, here's my gumbo recipe - coot breast tastes great in this gumbo - see replacement meats at bottom.


SCAUPMAN’S GUMBO

Take 1 whole chicken, cover with water (about 4 quarts) in large gumbo pot and boil until the meat falls off of bone (about 1/2 hour). Remove bones and skin, and leave chicken meat in broth and save.

In a large iron skillet, combine 1 cup oil and 3/4 cup of flour, cook at medium high and stir continually until it browns. This is what Cajuns call a roux and forms the basis of many of their foods.

Once the roux is made, add 2 cups of chopped white onions, 2 cups of chopped green bell pepper, duck meat (cut breast and leg meat from 4 large ducks into bite-sized pieces), 1 lb. of smoked sausage (cut up in bite-sized pieces) and cook it all for 10 min or so, and then add all of this to chicken stock in large gumbo pot.

Season with Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning (green can) (about 3 tablespoons; use this instead of salt), black pepper (about 2 teaspoons), cayenne pepper (2 teaspoons), and Tabasco (1 tablespoon). You will have to experiment with the amounts of seasoning because I like mine spicy, probably more so than most “northerners” like it. After seasoning, bring to a boil while stirring, and then let simmer for couple of hours.

Add 2 cans of Delmonte Cajun style stewed tomatoes, 1 lb. of sliced frozen okra, boil for 15 minutes, add little more water if necessary (I don't like it too thick) and simmer until ready to eat. After it has simmered a bit, taste the liquid to see if more spice is needed. If you do add more spice, simmer a little bit more.

About 5 minutes before eating add a teaspoon of Gumbo file' (finely ground sassafras leaves) and stir well. To serve, place cooked white rice in bowl (cook rice during last simmer) and cover with Gumbo. ENJOY.

Leftover gumbo freezes well. Take a frozen batch to the duck camp if you do not have time to spend cooking. It gets better as it ages (spicier too!).

You can replace the duck meat with breast meat of coots or leg and breast meat (small bite-sized pieces) of sandhill crane or geese. You can also substitute the smoked sausage with 1 lb of shrimp or crawfish tails.

[al]

Old smelly coots?? We are talkin' about birds ..right?