All right, who on here cooks and eats groundhogs? They look like they ought to be tasty little critters to me. Googling for the words "recipe* woodchuck OR groundhog" turns up some decent sounding recipes (and some pretty funny stuff!) How about it?

I have frequently saved them for eating. make sure to get the fat off. cook like rabbit or squirrel. hide recipe from col. saunders. there ain't enough of em to go around. omnivorous ned

I've eaten them but they're certainly not a favorite. And that's not because they can't cook up good but because, more often than not, that gut absolutely reeks. I, who have stood next to a honey wagon in 100 degree heat, while it was pumping and eaten hot dogs, I think they reek. However, with all fat off, stir fried, over rice, they are good.

You guys are either using solid bullets or not pushing the bullets fast enough. A properly hit Woodchuck should fly into very little pieces and a fine red mist!

We get big chucks in Upstate New York but there is as much meat there as one might expect, for the live weight. The key is 100% fat removal. Par boil, your favorite marinate and roast with the potatoes. Good, but not great. I've read that only a small % of the indigenous tribes ate them, as a matter of choice. One would think "Today's" chucks might taste better, considering all the clover, timothy and alfalfa fields around. Only met a few fellows who relished them as table fare.

All that's usually left is hind legs, asshole and lots of goo.

Hairtrigger: Head shots?

point well taken on the headshots

Had some that was bar-b-qued one time. It must has been the orginal groundhog that was on the Ark, 'cause he was tough. Tasted like toe jam. Did I mention he was tough? Even the bar-b-que sauce was tough.

Yep, the young ones are better, in the eating department. But what they eat and how they digest it, well, when you open them up you tend to lose your appetite. At least I do.

And I'm not jokin' about standing next to an operating honey wagon in high summer and chowing down on hot dogs. Done it several times. In comparison, for me, the groundhog gut is worse by far.

However, you know that rat and squirrel (and rabbit to a degree) must pretty much function the same way, their gut is just small enough that the smell must not reach the gag threshold. Deer and other large animal guts don't smell that bad... I'm not talking gut shot but when you eviscerate them in processing. Maybe it is just me.

Groundhog leather does make a passable string.

[ 10-03-2003, 06:02: Message edited by: Hobie ]

I've shot woodchuck out of the lower branches of leaning trees. I've never seen them higher than about 6 ft. up. You'll also see them on fence posts occasionally. I met an old gal once on an ice fishing trip. We chatted as the Bombardier snowmobile took us to our shacks. She said she was a young girl during the depression years. Her family didn't have much money and they would hunt and eat groundhog. She seemed quite impressed with their taste. As times got better they discontinued the practice. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Yes they do climb. I've known them to climb up and sleep on low treelimbs along fence rows.

I've eaten many squirrels and rabbits, and one raccoon. All were tastey but I couldn't bring myself to mess with a groundhog splattered on the inside by a hollow point. As a kid we always took them to an old man who ate them. I figured even if I hit one in the head I'd have to stop the hunt, gut and carry it to a cooler at once. The experiment never seemed worth the trouble.

Groundhogs do climb trees. highest i've seen em' was 6-8 feet high. by the way gutshot anything stinks, not just groundhogs. the meat is different from other kinds of game and domestic animal, just as pork differs from veal. if cleanly taken, properly butchered and prepared its as good as any other kind of meat. remember chicken didn't always come from the col. as many of us loose our connections with the past and with life close to the earth opportunities for these kinds of questions arise. i've eaten venison medalions in 5-star restaurants that were sublime. i have huntin' buddies whose game dishes i wouldn't give to a dog. enjoy. regards ned

NotRicochet: Yes I have eaten barbequed Rock Chuck! It is a bit of trouble for the reults but it was pretty tastie! I recommend the 2 year old Chucks early in the summer before they add a lot of fat. The 2 year olds are the 4-5 pounders. The big 10+ pounders are enveloped in fat and less pleasing (more trouble). I have also eaten campfire coal cooked Porcupine and that was not bad either. Lots of prep in these two dishes and Grouse are time better spent for delectableness in my opinion! I also have had oven roasted Mt. Lion in a barbeque sauce and it was pleasant tasting also.
Yes head shots are proper for Chucks meant for the table!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

They do climb trees, and a German Shepherd will encourage them to climb way up. My shepherd once sat at the base of a tall persimmon tree with a young groundhog hanging onto the trunk about 35-40 feet up for several hours. I felt sorry for the chuck, took the dog for a walk, and the chuck was gone when we returned.

I've been wondering what would make a herbivorous animal's fat taste so "gamey?" Shouldn't be the food they eat. I'm thinking it's one of two things, either the problem already mentioned of rapid recovery, dressing and refrigeration in hot weather, and possibly one of promptly finding and removing all the scent glands in field dressing.

Skin, remove fat and grind (hind 1/4s only). Makes ok burger. A plus is you may truthfully tell your dinner guests that "ground chuck" was used.

That's one thing I do miss about living here - - no chucks.

WY

[ 10-03-2003, 00:49: Message edited by: WY ]

All I can say is EEEWWWWWW!!!!!
I wouldn't eat one unless I was starving.

"Ground chuck." I love it, WY!

i never imagined that's where ground chuck came from

I guess you could spice it up and make sausage. "Ground hog."

I forgot to add that I have seen western Rock Chucks up trees many times! Usually they climb knarled trees with grainy twisted bark or trees tilted in the wind. They usually do not get to high - 6 to 8 feet for viewing and sun bathing I guess. I have shot many Chucks off of buildings that were tilting over and allow climbing other than straight up. I shot two off of a broken down barn in eastern Montana this summer in fact.
Long live the Rock Chuck!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Yeah ate a couple of rockchucks too once, and now that i've got a Philippino fiancee', i'll no doubt eat 'em again. Gettin' them's the hard part at 10-12000 ft. in rockslides, but any time i can use an animal i will. We're going antelope hunting this weekend, and i'll be bringing the gutted carcass back to take the bones/rib cages to the local zoo. They'll take them there.

I've eaten a lot of em as a kid. We have rock chucks out here and the trick is to get this years pups right before they den. Skin em remove all fat and glands soak in salt water with a touch of vinegar for several hours to over night. Roll em in flour fry em like squirrel or rabbit, they are really quite good. Do the same treatment to a 2 year old or older and you better have teeth like a great white to tear the meat of the bone. Young ones older than 1 year and under about 3 can be stewed with green chile, onions, garlic,a couple cans of chicken broth and make great burrito stuffings.Add pintos and rice it's good! Anything that walks, slithers, crawls or flys tastes ok if you add enough chiles and onions. In the late 60's myself and 4 or 5 other young guys just home from the Asian Vacation lived in an old (shoulda been abandend)house way out of town while we went to college on the GI Bill. We got $230.00 a month each, we ate everything that didn't eat us first. After survival training what we ate was a feast. After your stomach explains to your head it's time to get over it you' be surprised at some of the things that actually taste good if prepared right. One exception is little red pine squirrels, cooked a mess of em in a crock-pot with a bunch of vegies once, my two Airedales wouldn't eat em ---taste just like pine bark--only nastier!!What a waste of good vegies. " Try It You'll Like It!!!!"---Shoot Safe---montdoug

I've also seen a groundhog way up in an apple tree. Didn't have the gun at the time. Lucky for him.
Ate groundhog once...never again! It was horrible to say the least.
Racoon wasn't bad. Tasted like dark meat chicken.
I suppose it's all in the way it's prepared.

Hey, I was just over donating in the Blood Bank and brought this subject up. (It was kinda roundabout from a general discussion about cooking stuff and recipes.) One of the ladies there said she ate 'em all the time growing up. Her daddy'd kill 'em and her mama'd cook 'em. Said she cooked 'em just like a beef roast, with potatoes, carrots and onions. Said they were really good. One of the other ladies was making faces and asked, "Would you eat 'em now?" "Oh, yes!", she said. In fact, she said she'd had some groundhog not too long ago and fed some to her little granddaughter, who came back a few days later and asked if she could have some more "possum." Got it a little mixed up, but obviously she liked 'chuck, too.

As a young kid in WVA,during the depression groundhog was called Hoover pork,ran them to hole and dug them out.Shells were 6 for 25 cents for shotgun and 22s were 25 cents a box.

Everyone here would eat a "tree rat"(squirrel) or a rabbit and love it!!! Why wouldn't you eat a groundhog? Fix him the same way as the rabbit, only you have a lot more meat on them hindlegs!!!!
The 17HMR is a fine gaming piece to save meat!!! Head shot or neck shot and no edible peices messed up!! As far as that goes, a 25-06 sideon to the head just makes them easier to skin!!! One tip....don't shoot him in the a.. or guts!!!! a.. shots mess up meat and gut shots do cause a bit of nasal discomfort!!! Ya'll got my appetite up! Think I'll go waylay one tomorrow and cook him up for Sunday dinner and invite the preacher!! GHD

I work with a man who is from way out in the mountains of West Virginia.He and his father have about 450 acres between em. I go out to his place to hunt year round.I've seen this fella dig up a blue crawdad out of a hay field,twist it's tail off and eat it on the spot.Damndest thing I ever saw until I went with him over to his dad's place.The ole man was cookin' something that smelled wonderful.He presented me with a plate of meat morsels that were really good.Knowing these two,I didn't ask(didn't want to know)what it was.The father took me out back and showed me the remains of what he had cooked up.On the bloody table ,piled about 6 high were Terrapin shells. Yep, box turtles.I knew you could eat the water living snappin' turtles, but I never thought about a box turtle.These guy's also eat brains of everything on earth,hogs ,sheep,squirrel,you name it.And yes, they eat groundhog,slow cooked,grilled,boiled, even put in a turkey fryer.The younger one was over to my place(I'm trying to talk em into handloading.)and he spied a plant my better half had growing in a pot on the back porch.He loves peppers. Jalepeno,Haberneros ,you name it. This plant was a Ornamental Pepper plant. Some folks call em Christmas Peppers. On the tag it says DO NOT EAT.Before I could stop him, he plucked a small pepper off the plant and commence to chewing.Never in my life(50 years)had I witnessed anything that could compare to the scene unfolding before my eyes.He looked like he was turning into a Werewolf.His eyes were protruding,he was gagging,his whole head was red as a ripe tomatoe.I thought he was having a stroke.He leaned forward and drool reached from his lips to the ground.After he pulled outta this fit,I handed him a beer.He looked at me through red glassy eyes and wanted to know where I got such 'good' peppers.I gave him the plant. Can't wait to hear from his ole man.

Poltax,What you describe being a West Virginian is a fact.My aunt in Tyler county will not cook squrells unless we bring in the heads,brakes them open like a walnut.She is the mother of 11 all my cousins the salt of the earth but dont cross one.Hunting season is their desire for meat.

Habaneros aren't nearly as hot as those little ornamental Christmas peppers.

The yotes eat the scraps i leave, LOL!