Home Forums Birds & Dogs Waterfowl Anybody eat Coots ?

I only shoot a very few, mostly to give my dog some retrieves. They are OK as an ingredient in gumbo.

When I lived in Louisiana had some in gumbo.

I braised a few once in wine and stock. Not bad.

Like most game meat, they have a worse reputation than they deserve.

Growing up in Florida and being poor and hungry at times, I thought Coots were pretty good eating, especially compared to nothing else that day on the table.. We even ate the gizzards fried up. I do remember the only way we cooked them was in a pressure cooker, seasoned well, the same way we ate Muscovy Ducks and dumplings when we went after them. Some bread and a cast net = dinner back then. We didn't eat them all the time, but sure didn't waste them. I remember eating Gopher Tortoise, Salt water catfish, lot's of Soft Shell turtles, mullet and mullet roe, and gizzards, swamp cabbage, and I reckon lot's of other stuff some folks might call unpalatable, that we were used to.

In high School back in the 70's my buddies and I used to ice skate on the frozen estuary near my home with our shotguns and shoot coots out of the cattail swamps. It was like pheasant practice. we'd skate 2-3 miles along the unfrozen tidal areas and blast away. Hate to say we never even thought of picking them up. I think the limit at the time was 25 each.

merganser, did I hear merganser. Come on they aren’t that bad. 😂😳

its like eating a jackrabbit its ok but i wouldn't do it again

Back in the 60s, my brothers and I convinced mom to grind and fry jack rabbit burgers. Disgusting.

^^This

Yep. Pretty dang good. But gumbo done right makes everything great.

Nope. too much like a Merganser, bottom feeders, fish duck, neighbor duck..

Jed Clampett must have liked them cause he was always bragging on granny’s coot cobbler

He is very right about sandhills...

Shot coots in rice paddies and they were really good...

One you lick the other you chew. Does that count?

Coots, mergansers, etc.... Why is it that none of these fish eaters taste like crappie or blue gill?

Coots don't eat fish. You must have never cleaned one. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/overview
Their breast meat is very dark but had a nice flavor from the area my college roommate hunted ducks in.

Once got a couple extremely mixed limits on the Snake River when out with a buddy, and we kept all sorted and labeled all the way to the plates for a big evening meal. The bag included a back ground coot that we gathered up as well. The only bird that universally got negative comments was a green winged teal. The coot fit in with the rest of the bunch. Only about robin size when one knocks the feathers off, so it would take a good number to fill a pot.

They can be great.

Pressure cook them with red wine, sour cream, mushrooms, shallots or scallions, chopped carrots, a little tarragon, and salt & pepper. Pull the meat off the bones and eat it over rice with the sour cream, wine, and mushroom sauce poured over the top.

Some water chestnuts in the mix can be added. I like them in it. This is even better on wild rice.

Heard that my grandma would make coot pie during the depression...Assuming it musta tasted great, if you’re ass is starving.

🦫😬

I'd eat that anytime.