Anyone eat woodchuck?

[nockhunter]

--------------NOPE----------------

[JC]

Vance the ground hog or wood chuck is Marmota Monax. The Yellow-bellied Marmot is what's typically called the rockchuck where you are....Marmota flaviventris. Two different species but closely related.

I have no idea how rockchucks taste, never had the good fortune    

Clinton, you can easily see them when you skin the critter, kinda like a light colored m&m just on the outside of the body behind the armpit area and at the base of rear legs.

[IB]

Well Well a new twist to "The Hunt"

Operative word there JC would be "YET"...Thanks...

[JC]

"Flaviventris Fricassee"....oh my, we've gone all fancy with our rockchuck stew  

[Ted A. Young]

Sucks when I was a kid, enons ago, we had young whistle pigs like we had chickens.  Dad would give me his ole J. C. Higgens single shot .22 and say get your mom some thing for supper.  Great eaten!

[Charlie Lamb]

I've enjoyed the meat of both rockchuck and groundhog.

The groundhogs have become pretty scarce in the areas of the state I hunt now and I miss it.

Rockchucks are one of my favorite things to hunt and I try to make a special trip west every couple of years just to hunt them.

[BigHink66]

This is the first that I have ever heard of someone eating them things.  I was always told they were greasy and had a bad smell, but I don't think I actually ever knew anyone that ate one.

We used to shoot them cause the farmers would ask us to.

Alot of the ones that I have shot also had mange.

[Tom Leemans]

Not that I know of, but then I've been to MOJam...

[mcgroundstalker]

Hey Uncle Barry!!! When are you gonna write that "Road Kill Cook Book" I hear tell about???

... mike ...  :p  ...

[6 POINT]

I don't understand killing anything and not eating it or using its hide. That said "chuck" is as good as it gets and treating it like you would any other fine piece of meat will reward you with some great eating. Crock pot with favorite vegetables and seasoning works well. If you live in chuck country there may also be some muskrats around and they are really fine eating also. There called Michigan Marsh Hare on the menu of expensive restaurants. Frank

[mikecc]

We hunt alot of rockchucks in the fields around town. The ones around here are so full of fleas I don't dare touch one let alone eat it. Are the chucks back east flea free? The big ones have been out about a 6 weeks around here but the pups are just starting to come out. I have my eyes on one that I thought was a red fox for a second. The old boars can get pretty big around here. I emtied my quiver on him from 40 yards and was real close but he would duck my arrow everytime. When i walked out from cover to get my arrows he came half way out of his hole and watched me until i was about 20 feet away then ducked down. He knew I was out of ammo.

[Stone Knife]

Not any worse than squirrels they have some.

[Otto]

I hope I'm never that hungry.

[Art Oneshot]

I never bothered to hunt them much I usually just snare them.  Like beaver I never  wanted to use up an arrow or bullet or  steel trap on one.

I've ate a lot of woodchucks...cleaner and tastier than chicken. It's an easy way to put 10 to 15 lbs of meat in the freezer.

The fleas are crunchy...lol.

The hide was used for mocosin soles by the frontiersman and indians....its very tough.

The best way is to cook them is to par boil and then strip the meat off the bone and barbeque it. Like jerked pork.

Art

[Brian Krebs]

I used to hunt them all summer with a passion. Even the most ardent antihunters would ask me to come hunt them; as my bow was silent; I could slip in close to the gardens and sit in a chair for 40 minutes or so before they would come out.
  I hunted really hard; and yes they do duck back into dens in a split second.
  I think I would get an average of about 12 a year; and that was with a lot of effort. I loved it though.
 I never did eat any; now in reflection; that was a mistake.
  Now I live in rock chuck country; and I am going to try and take one just to see what they taste like.. the hunt will be just something I will have to put up with    
  One thing is that with woodchucks a miss didn't mean instant arrow loss; where a miss here in the rocks does.
  I used broadheads and get less penetration than  with deer with the same set up.
   They are totally unforgiving of moving; making a noise; and other mistakes. I am glad to hear that they can be eaten.*  
                 

* I have eaten a lot of muskrat and opposum and liked it.

[fireman_3311]

No, but I've had crow once or twice...