doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Goose killin season opens in NC Sept 1

We have a Sept 1 to 15th "early Goose" season here in MI, 5ive per day, at least for the past 10 years- mornings, farm ponds are usually the best. I can't speak for "Dixie Honkers" as to edibility, but two suggestions come to mind- (1) filet out the breast meat, slice with the grain to yield four grilling size pieces, then marinate in cold buttermilk covered dish in refrigerator for 48 hours-- then rinse off milk residue, pat dry, dust with pepper and brush on a 50-50 mix of virgin olive oil and A-1 sauce as you grill them-- I use a Weber kettle charcoal grill for all my game cookery, bank the coals to one side with draft open, and place the filets on the rack off side to the coals- baste often, about 7 minutes to each side - (2) filet, soak in brine with vinegar for 48 hours, then soak in clean water 24 hours, then smoke the filet strips as you would in making beef jerky--

Fox, I believe Loon would taste good cooked as you described!...Geo

Definitely plan on combo hunts. My guess, the best thing for cooking up any September bird is figure out how to cool it off quickly instead of letting it stew.

Lagopus,

My wife has a 4 oven AGA at home to cook them in. I use UK cooking sites to get receipes. We do have a British game cookbook that includes a whole chapter on cooking "poorly shot" game.
I guess poorly shot equals blasted to bits over here.

Joe

I dunno, George- old Indian receipe for cooking a loon- dress out the loon, get a good roaring fire going, hang a kettle over same filled with cold water, drop in dressed loon and a rock about the size of a cantelope, cover and simmer for about 12-14 hours- remove rock first with tongs- if you can carve the rock into slices, then your loon is "table ready"-- Bon Apetite!!

[quote=Geo. Newbern]The biggest problem with resident canada goose shooting in the South is what to do with the carcasses after you shoot'em. These are not the same delicious grain fed birds we find on the Saskatchewan prairie! Our resident geese live off dead mole crickets killed with insecticide by the local golf courses. They smell bad when you clean them!

I place goose hunting in the same category as hunting crows, groundhogs, prairie dogs, coyotes & such.......... I hunt them sometimes, but would never think about eating something (after tasting them a couple different times myself) that tastes like spoiled liver with the tecture of an old football!! I just leave them for mother nature's scavengers/predators same as I do with the other above critters, at the back of the farmer's property where I hunt them and the farmer still says "thank you very much".
Go back in a few days and there will be nothing left but feathers.

That's the way we used to cook mud hen, Fox. Pluck, clean up the bird really nice and set it aside. Get some chicken stock slow boiling, add potatoes, carrots, all your favorite veggies. Some folks will add chunks of chicken and make dumplings. Then, throw the coot away and enjoy the soup.

Take the breasts and thighs, place in a lidded bowl and cover with Italian dressing. Before you refrigerate cut up a large sweet onion and a large bell pepper, add to the goose. Refrigerate for a day, then place whole mixture in a slow cooker. Let cook all day and then serve over rice, sometimes subsitute egg noodles. Years ago a Cajun friend told me that it was the only way to eat a snow goose. It does work and it's even tasty.

Ours opens on the 15th of this month. Same 15-bird bag. The birds seem to spend most of their time under the canopy of immature soybeans. I don't know what the birds are foraging for, but these fields get sprayed several times during the growing season for both weeds and insects, usually spider mites and aphids. USDA has been destroying Canada goose eggs for several years in spots where crop damage has been severe.