Hunting Question From Non-Hunter

[Gunowner99]

To preface, I am not a hunter, I just have questions, I 100% support hunting and question not a single motive. please don't take ANY of this as a snarky attack, that's not my style.

I don't hunt but I have a question for the hunters here. I understand killing a deer you can eat the meat and save the skin and all that. I know a bear you can so whatever (eat, stuff, keep head) Elk I would say you eat. What about fox, squirrel, wild bore, groundhog and all that. I see you can hunt that but I assume you don't eat it and do what, let it for nature to eat?

I am not all all questioning hunting, please don't think that is what I am getting at, I was just wondering if anything is done with such animals or is it just the thrill of the hunt and all that. Again, I 100% support your right to hunt but I know squat about it and have always wondered. Thanks!

Please don't make me regret asking, I am honestly curious.

[ettorment1916]

What about fox, squirrel, wild bore, groundhog and all that. I see you can hunt that but I assume you don't eat it and do what, let it for nature to eat?

Squirrel, boar, and groundhog can all be eaten. I've tried all three:
--Boar = awesome
--Squirrel = so so. not great but not the best
--Groundhog = downright terrible

Fox are mainly used for their pelt and I've never heard of them being consumed.

I personally only hunt what I prefer to eat: deer and turkey.

[Gunowner99]

Okay, so what do you do with an animal that has been shot but you don't intend to skin or stuff or eat? Again, I am not being sarcastic, just understanding something I haven't a clue about. Thanks!

[ettorment1916]

Okay, so what do you do with an animal that has been shot but you don't intend to skin or stuff or eat?

Again, I personally don't kill what I don't eat.

When I was young my dad and I used to give most of our small game to my dad's one friend who would use it. We certainly kept all rabbits and grouse as they are great eating. Other small game were given to my dad's buddy.

Other hunters may chime in with their opinions & experience, but for me I eat what I kill or I give it to someone who will put it to good use.

[Ranger P229]

Okay, so what do you do with an animal that has been shot but you don't intend to skin or stuff or eat? Again, I am not being sarcastic, just understanding something I haven't a clue about. Thanks!

This is a bit of a flawed premise. It seems as though you're assuming hunters, as a group, shoot animals they have no point in utilizing in any way. Most hunters do not just shoot animals they don't intend to use, so there isn't much of answer for this.

[Gunowner99]

I wasn't sure, that was why I asked. I do appreciate all of the responses.

[knight0334]

I wasn't sure, that was why I asked. I do appreciate all of the responses.

There aren't many game critters that don't have a use after you kill them. Some people even eat groundhog, but most hunters only use them for live target practice so that farm equipment, livestock, and crops aren't damaged by them.

One example of a critter that isn't worth anything after shooting it is prairie dogs. Once you hit one of them with a varmint grenade, sometimes you have a hard time finding enough body parts to even closely reassemble it.

Just about everything else has a useful purpose after killing it.. ...it may not be for meat, but for other things like clothing, accessories in life, etc.

[ChuckS]

......I would say you eat. What about fox, squirrel, wild bore, groundhog and all that. I see you can hunt that but I assume you don't eat it and do what, let it for nature to eat?.....

Fox and other furbearers are not eaten. The predators like fox, coyote, racoon, should not be eaten. Others are usually just nasty to eat (skunk, muskrat, oppossum, etc.)

I've never had wild boar but I like squirrel, deer and turkey. I hunt what I can either eat or use to make a pelt but with one exception...groundhogs.

Groundhog holes contribute to the early demise of my haying equipment so I dispatch the whistle pigs with prejudice and toss the carcass aside for the coyotes and turkey vultures. I did see a redtail hawk eating on a groundhog and once about fve years ago had a bald eagle feeding on one. So they don't really go to waste; just get recycled.

[bigandy1966]

Groundhogs taste good when you do them right, soak overnight in brine then treat them like a rabbit. They eat the same things.
Some fur bearers meat can be used to bait traps, or fed to the other wild critters, vultures have to eat too.. The teeth can be used as decorations on primitive gear. I have not tasted Raccoon but I have read that boiling them then BBQ these taste good. Down south there are more people who are traditionally more receptive to eating fur bearers.
There are recipes for most game animals on the internet. But most hunters usually only hunt animals they can use or eat.
Down here in SEPA we have too many coyotes, raccoons, foxes skunks and opposums, we have an under reported rabies epidemic due to little or no hunting or trapping pressure to keep the numbers of these animals down, and rabies spreads rapidly. My dog was attacked by a rabid fox a few years ago, I had to shoot it to get it to let go of her back leg. No I did not eat the fox, nor do I recommend eating any furbearers from this area..

[God's Country]

Everything you listed can be eaten if prepared and cooked properly.
Predators can be eaten. Doesn't mean they taste good.
I bet some of us wouldn't taste half bad.

Americans have a lot of prejudices when it comes to what they will or won't eat.
Lewis and Clark ate wolf and dog.