Conference vmsnet::hunting$note:hunting

    So I'll start off.  I don't have much experience hunting.  I've
    only gotten 1 deer.  Big problem is that I didn't particularly like
    the meat that came from it.  So now I bought a book called "Dress
    'em out" in which the author says that the most important thing
    in cooking game happens within the first half hour after it's shot.
    Properly dressed out a deer loses much of the gamey taste.  What
    do you guys and gals who hunt alot do in way of dressing out your
    game within the first hour or so after you've shot it?  The author
    in the book says to butcher the thing as soon as possible to cool
    it off.  He states that just gutting the thing will not allow the
    meat to cool fast enough.  What are your feelings about this?
    
    Rich

      With deer, we try to get it hung up as soon as possible.
    With the animal off the ground, I imagine that it cools alot faster
    with the air circulating better.  We also split the hind quarters
    all the way through once we have it hanging and keep the body cavity
    spread open with the help of a stick.  I think the most important
    thing is to get ALL the guts out.  I've seen some deer that looked
    like the guy who shot it gave up half way through gutting it.  They
    looked awful.
    Jeff

    
         The most important thing is to get the meat cooled off as fast
    as possible. Many hunters will take a killed deer to water just
    to take advantage of the rapid cooling capability. Once gutted,
    keep flushing the cavity with water(buckets of it) to get it cooled
    off. The longer the temperature of the meat is allowed to stay warm,
    the more deterioration.
    
         it is important to know what the deer has been feeding on.
    Examine the stomach to see. You are what you eat and acorn fed deer
    will taste different than corn fed or leaf fed (different foods
    at different times of year).
    
          There are different recipe's for cooking the meat depending
    on what their main feed has been for the last month or so before
    they met their match. I will try and get some of them together and
    put them in.
    
                                       regards
    
                                        Mike
    

    All the answers are good ones.  I've hunted for over 30 years and
    have had my share of luck.  The thing I've found that effects the
    taste is the speed of getting it to cool down.  Not only gutting
    it, but they should be skinned as soon as possible.  Then all bruised
    meat should be cut away.  This should be followed with cold water
    to wash away blood that has got on the meat during gutting.  Finally
    a deer bag (one that will allow air to flow but keep the blow flys
    off) is a must.  
    
    This all sounds well and good if you're close enough to camp and
    water to do all these things.  Also, if your animal is around
    sagebrush, as we have in Oregon, that will effect the taste.  
    
    If the taste is too wild, make jerky out of it.
    

    As far is cooking is concerned...I prefer to light a match in the
    next room.
    
    Mark.

    A good buddy of mine was nice enough to by me the LL Bean Cook Book.
    It has a lot of fancy recipies, wich I dont follow to the letter,
    and have found it to be very good if you are looking for somthing
    differant. Like I said the recipies are fancy, and may seem to be
    to involved, so dont be afraid to improvise. 
    
    Rich

    I have the same book and it has come in handy for many variations
    of game.  It even has recipes for bluefish, which aren't that common.
    
    Mark.

                It depends on who you talk to, as to how long you should
    wait to butcher your deer. I've killed six and depending on the temp.
    outside mine have hung (with the hide on) for at least 2 days. Head
    up, head down, it made no difference. Keep the chest cavity open wide
    and make sure the exposed parts are cleaned well and dried. I do sug-
    gest keeping it covered with some sort of netting. I should have also
    mentioned that the deer should be properly field dressed. Remove all
    entrails and clean the cavity well (don't forget to save the heart and
    liver). I also suggest you have it butchered by a pro especially if you
    don't have the tools or the know-how. This can save you alot of aggri-
    vation. I have a number for a good one should anyone need it. For $40
    he'll cut it, wrap it and label all cuts. He wastes nothing and will
    even grind up small scraps for venison-burger.
               Some may dissagree with this method of curing. But again, it
    depends who you talk to. It's always worked for me and the meat is al-
    ways fine.
               As far as cooking goes, the slower the better. At least
    that's my opinion. Enjoy!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    Kenny,
    
    Can you put that Jerky recipe in here.  I always wanted to take
    a crack at meking jerky, but never knew exactly how.
    
    Brett.

    Here is one recipe for venison that my wife and I enjoy, and it's
    very simple:
    
    Take round steaks (steaks cut from the hind quarter) about 1/2 an
    inch thick.  Dust them with flour and a little pepper and brown
    them in bacon fat.  Place them in a crock pot then cover them with
    a mixture of 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, 1/2 cup
    or so of milk, some chopped onions (optional), and a teaspoon of
    Gravy Master (or something similiar).  Cook on low about 6-8
    hours.  Serve over rice.  It's always tender and always good.
    
    Happy eating,
    Mark
    

    I usually use the temperature as a guideline for how long I allow
    a deer to hang.  Usually 2 days if the high stays below 60 degrees.
    As far as meat spoilage it is essential to clean and cool the body
    cavity ASAP.  Don't be too agressive with the knife (most guys do
    a number on the tenderloin which I feel is the best cut of meat),
    use a little more muscle than knife for removing the entrails and
    you shouldn't ruin anything.  A point I'd like to stress on gamey
    taste is that it comes from fat/grissle.  Like one reply states:
    the feed of the animal gives it a certain flavor. Well at this time
    of year everything in the woods is packing in the feed to develop
    winter fat.  Unfortunately us hunters are our own worst enemy when
    it comes to gamey tasting venison... few of us trust the butcher
    and those guys know that. So rather than cut off all the fat and
    grissle they leave it on so us customers are happy that we got all
    the meat from our game.  I've found that it is the butcher that
    makes the difference.  Last year I lucked two deer out of the woods.
    One was with an arrow and I didn't retrieve the animal 'til the
    next morning.  The body cavity was luke warm when I "held my nose"
    and dressed it out.  My butcher cut it up that night and it was
    fine.  My wife nor I could tell the diference between the meats
    from one deer to the other as we didn't segregate the meat from
    both animals.
    
    Re: .10  sounds like a great recipe.  We cook it either w/bacon or
    in the mushroom soup but I've never heard of doing both.  Sounds
    great.... we'll give it a try.   Thanks.
    
    Dave

    
    Though I have yet to get a deer, where I hunt provides me with a
    couple of ideas for cooling the deer.  I would appreciate any advice
    as to whether they are good ideas.
    
    1) There are several springs and rivers that run all throughout
    the area.  Would it be ok to put some of this water into the carcass,
    or even to put the deer in there for a few minutes??  The water
    is very  VERY cold and I believe would freeze if it were not moving.
    
    2) If there is snow on the ground could I just pack the gutted area
    with snow??
    
    These ideas would also serve a way to clean out the excess blood.
    Would they ruin anything??
    
    Hope to try these theory's for real (unless advised otherwise) in
    November.
    
    --Bob

    RE:.11   "a little more muscle than knife" 
    
    your not kidding buddy, i've seen you in action, remember :-)...
    
    I've been fortunate enough to shoot a few deer myself and have gutted
    more than my share of friends/relatives, most importantly is to
    tryand be very careful when removing the bladder/spleen.  This should
    be done immediatly after removing the genitals. another trick that
    helps is to tie off the anus after cutting it out, before pulling
    it through the pelvis, this will keep any feces from spilling into
    the cavity. I, too have had to locate dead deer the following morning
    during some rather hot weather, and have tasted no difference between
    this one and one gutted immediatly.  
    
    I have a hard time with the gamey taste, and it seems that the only
    way i can eat the stuff is if its been ground into hamburger.  I
    know your saying "hamburger over steak?!?!?!?" but at least it gets
    eaten, besides your looking at a guy who hates veins in chicken.  
    My wife on the other hand loves the steaks/chops etc...
    so we usually go 50/50 on the cuts. 50% hamburg/50% regular cuts,
    works out nicely.  On the hamburger, we usually have the butcher
    put in some pork, because venison is so dry, 80/20 mixture.
    
    One piece of meat which i do love is the strip of tenderloin down
    the top of the spine...... sliced thinly... great stuff.
    
    one thing to remember isthat its not like other meats where you
    can just defrost it and throw it in the grill... with venison
    you really have to prepare it, let it soak in wine overnight type
    of deal...   soaked in terriaki sauce is really good also.
    
    anyways good luck... Fra
    

    Hoping that GAME in the title refers to more than deer, I'd be
    interested in how you folks take care of your waterfowl and
    upland birds after shooting them.  I tend to just throw them 
    in the game bag and end up cleaning them 3 or 4 hours later.
    I'm sure this is not good practice.  However, it is against
    regulations in VT to clean them in the field (completely).
    Is there a quick and easy way of field dressing a bird?
    
    I'd be interested in any waterfowl recipes also.
    
    Thanks
    
    Dave

    My method is fairly quick and definitely easy.  The problem with
    my method is that you cannot do it afield.  
    
    First, I boil a large pot of water (3-4 gallons for pheasant, 2-3
    for duck).
    
    I submerge each bird in the boiling water for no more than thirty
    seconds, which opens the birds pores, allowing for easy removal of 
    feathers and down.
    
    For ducks (especially small fowl like teal or woodies) I remove
    the breast from the breast-bone as the rest of the bird provides
    little, if any meat.  For pheasant, I clean out the entrails as
    I would a fish.  This involves cutting a slit from the anus up to
    the base of rib cage and pulling out the innards.  Of course, I
    also cut off the head and feet.  After rinsing out the chest cavity
    and the skin surface with cold water I either freeze or refrigerate
    the bird(s) depending on when I plan on eating.

    Hope this helps.
    
    Mark.

    RE: 14
    
     I gut out my ducks in the field.  After I get home then I just
     skin the bird.  That also takes off the layer of fat under the
     skin.  I then soak the bird in the fridge in salt water for about
     two days.  I change the water twice a day.  This draws out the
     blood.  I then rinse off the birds and freeze them.
    
    ENJOY,
    
    PAT

     What I usually do on game birds is to fillet out the breast.  Most
    of the rest is slim pickings.  We even do this with geese in order
    to save room in the freezer.  It's also a lot easier and less time
    consuming.
    Jeff

    re: .15
    
    I've always heard that any land birds should be dipped in boiling
    water but this actually made it more difficult to pluck waterfowl.
    What's the scoop?  Should I or should I not dip the ducks?
    
    Rich (who's never gotten anything but keeps on sporadically trying)

    
    You should dip any bird in boiling or VERY hot water for a couple
    of seconds, it loosens up the muscles around the base of the feather
    and down, thus making it easier to pull out.  This goes for ducks!!
    
    Another reason I like to do it this way is dry feathers will tend
    to drift away with any breeze, the wet ones will stay were you put
    them.
    
    --Bob
    

I've cooked a lot of wild game and I've found duck to be the most
difficult.  It is either wonderful or terrible.  Never anything in
between.  Here is one recipe that I've had very good results with:

Soak ducks in pan of cold water with salt and soda over night.  Pat
each duck inside and out with 2 teaspoons dry mustard, 1 teaspoon
salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Put 1/2 onion, 1/4 raw potatoe,
1 clove garlic, 1/2 stalk celery, 1/4 apple, and 1/4 orange
inside cavity of each duck.

Soak hickory chips in water for 15 minutes.  Wrap them in aluminum
foil and punch holes in the foil.  (this keeps the chips from
burning as quickly).

Place chips on gas grill on Medium heat (charcoal should also work,
but it's more difficult to control the heat).  Place ducks on 
double thick piece of aluminum foil.  Do not cover.  Baste duck
every 15 minutes with sauce made of:

    1/2 stick of margarine
    1 cup wine vinegar
    a dash of worchestershire sauce
    a pinch of salt
    a pinch of pepper
    
    
It takes about 45 minutes to cook, but check often to make sure it
doesn't over cook.


Happy eating,
Mark

    Gamey taste in deer.
    
    If you soak the meat in a little white vinegar before cooking, this
    seems to remove most of the gamey taste.  The vinegar taste justs
    burns off during cooking.
    

	I definitely agree with skinning the bigger ducks (mallards and
    blacks) and breasting the smaller ones (woodies and teal). I also
    soak all ducks/breast meat overnight in Kosher salt and water.
    	For the whole ducks I usually put them in a brown and serve
    bag (after seasoning with garlic salt and pepper) with onions, 
    potatoes, carrots, and butter and then throw it in the oven. Makes for 
    a real tasty and juicy bird. For breasts I saute them in butter with 
    lots of onions and a couple dashes of soy sauce.
    	This works well for completely eliminating ANY gamey taste on any 
    duck I've eaten so far. If you like the gamey taste (as I've heard
    some people claim) simply eliminate the soaking overnight step.

    Bon Appetite
    
    RAYJ

    	If you are in need of a butcher one of the best that I knowof
    that regularly cuts up and processes deer meat in the Nashua
    area is Bob Rouleau  603-889-4316.
    
    He does a good job and in 1986 he processed in excess of 2,000 deer.
    
    At least thats what I think he told me. Even though that seems to
    a little high to me right now. Purhaps my memory failing. Again.

    another good butcher to look up if you should bag a deer and live
    in the Leominster Ma area is Bob Friske  (617)534-3107
    does a great job, at a good price.
    
    Fra

    re .14
    
      The quickest/easiest/absolutely-no-mess way of cleaning a grouse
    is the "stand-up" method. Take the grouse, and put it on the ground
    on it's back with it's head pointing forward. Then put the wings
    under your feet and stand on them as close to the body as possible.
    Now grab ahold of the feet and "stand-up". You'll end up with a
    perfect (or 99% perfect) skinned, gutted grouse that's ready for
    the chef... Of course, in some states they require a whole bird
    while you're in the field, so do a simple gutting first and then
    do the stand-up method at camp. If you've never seen it done you'll
    be totally amazed at how quick and easy it is...
    
      There's not much that I can add for gutting a deer, just a couple
    of pointers that work real well for me. Make sure that you don't
    nick that paunch unless you're into puking. No matter if it's a
    buck or doe, tie the front legs in "back" of the head. This helps
    the carcass from flopping from one side to the next. Dress the deer
    on a slight incline with the deer's head uphill. After making the
    initial gut cut and anus inscission (remembering to tie it off as
    previously mentioned) flop the deer over on one side. Open the body
    cavity with one hand by grabbing the hide at the cut. Looking in
    you'll see that the guts are connected to the body by a lot of conn-
    ective tissue. *Carefully* run your knife between the body cavity
    and the guts and you should be able to free up the guts on "that
    side". Roll it over and do the same on the other side going to aprox-
    imatly the spine. Then clear away the diaphram. The fun part is
    next. Roll your sleeves up and go up as far as you can into the
    chest cavity. Locate the windpipe/esophagus with your left hand,
    and cut both with the knife in you right hand. Remember to pinch
    off the food pipe *before you cut it*, and don't worry, you'll
    know which "pipe" it is! (The windpipe feels like a vacuum hose!)
    After this you should be able to haul everything out onto the ground.
    Retrieve the heart and liver. Some carry a plastic bag into the
    woods for the heart and liver. The best way I've seen to haul these
    beauties out is to make a knife hole in both in a good tough area.
    Then go into the body cavity and make a slit on both sides of *one*
    rib. Poke your finger through this *under the rib*. Take the heart
    and liver and feed a piece of string or rope through the holes that
    you've made. Now feed the string through the hole under the rib
    in the carcass and tie it up tight. Works like a charm!
    
      There's a good video out called "Dressing, Skinning, and butchering
    your deer". It's worth it to rent it if you've never dressed/butchered
    a deer. This guy advises against flushing the cavity with water.
    Just use wet handwipes or papertowels to clean off the inside of
    the carcass...
    
      I butcher my own deer also. It's not difficult at all... I'll
    save that for another note....
    
    
    Joe

    Joe, that string method for the heart and liver sounds like an
    excellent idea, thik i'll try it this weekend ;v)...;v)
    
    really though that is a great way to packout them out... beats stuffing
    them in the pockets of your favorite hunting coat....
    
    Fra
    

    re .26
                          
    Fra:
     
      I did the Heart/Liver trick the last two years. It really does
    work great. I'm surprised that it's never been in "Tap's Tips" or
    something like that...

        
    Joe

    On butchering & meatcutting...
    
      I butchered my first deer without any prior knowledge or experience.
    I did have my grandfather show me where the cuts were though.
    
      Start by skinning out the deer. Make a cut on the middle inside
    of each hind leg to a point almost to the first leg joint. I should
    also mention that the deer should be hanging upside down with the
    hindquarters separated about 2 feet from each other. Then make a
    cut all the way around the hind legs just above the first leg joint.
    From here, start peeling the hide away from each hindquarter. Have
    a good skinning blade that's real sharp and the job will be 100%
    easier. I've found that until you get to the front legs it's just
    a matter of cutting and pulling on the hide. Do this until the deer
    has been skinned to the front legs almost to about a foot above
    the hooves. Also, skin the deer until you get to the top of the neck
    near where the head connects. Then, cut off the head and cut the
    hide off from around the front legs. You should end up with a whole
    deer hide with the head attached. Cut the front hooves off and you're
    ready to start the butchering process.
    
      What you should have before you now is a completely skinned car-
    cass with "just" the hind feet remaining and with the chest cavity
    cut all the way to the base of the neck. First thing to do is cut
    off the neck at the base of the front shoulder. Save this for mince
    meat. It'll take a lot of knife work and cutting to get any substantial
    amount of meat from here. Next, take a meat saw (or a coarse bladed
    hack saw) and cut the carcass in two starting from the tail of the
    backbone, right straight down the backbone till the carcass has
    been cut into "sides". Now, the object of the game is to cut the
    "sides" up into what I call "butchers pieces". Cut off the front
    shoulder. Basically, follow the lines of meat to get to the ball
    & socket joint of the front shoulder. When that's off, take your
    saw and cut off the "lower ribs". There isn't much meat to these.
    Now the backstrap or chops are ready to be taken off. Cut this away
    from the hindquarter (there's another ball & socket joint to cut
    around here). When that's been done, cut the hindquarter off just
    above the leg joint. All that's left up there now is the rear hoof!
    
      You can make roasts out of the shoulder by cutting it up appro-
    priately. You'll be amazed at how quick you catch on to how the
    meatcutters in the markets do it. I bone most everything out during
    the meatcutting phase. The backstrap, if you cut it up like the
    meatcutter in the supermarket does, will look like a bunch of pork
    chops. what I do is separate this whole line of meat (the "strap")
    from the "chop bones". Then, with this line of meat I make "butter-
    fly steaks". Determine your steak thickness, then make the first
    cut "almost" all the way through. Go over the same thickness and
    this time cut all the way through. You'll end up with  beautiful
    steaks if you do it this way! I should have mentioned that the tender-
    loin would have been cut out before the carcass was split. Heck,
    these can even be cooked up the night of the kill with the heart
    and liver. You just have to get in there and wittle 'em out of there.
    After this, do up the hindquarters. It's from here that you'll get
    all the round steaks. I separate the bone from the meat before I
    start on this piece. Take the hindquarter and cut to the bone starting
    from what used to be the "inside" of the leg. You'll want to basically
    unwrap that meat from the leg bone. When this is done, I cut the
    whole thing in two and make 1" thick steaks. The bottom part toward
    where the hoof was is pretty tough and is best used as burger. That's
    another rule of thumb. Anything that isn't a nice roast or steak
    or is real tough is great for hamburger...
    
      Sorry I've been so long winded. Try doing it yourself on the next
    deer you get. You'll save the butchers fees, and it really is a
    great experience. I consider it the finishing touches on a success-
    ful hunting season!
    
    
    Joe

    Watch out for the fell!! That insidious stuff that can give a really
    bitter taste to the meat you work so hard to bag is called fell
    and is a mucous membrane that covers the meat and seperates it from
    the skin. It can be confused with tendon but is not. It is VERY
    important to get it off and your butcher should do so. Have you
    ever seen those skinlike little white flecks in ground up venison?
    It's probably fell. Getting it off will improve the taste 100%.

    
    	Here's a trick you might try when dressing a deer.  I have always
    found that the pelvic area is the trickiest part of a deer to
    deal with.  This tip might make it easier.  I should say first that
    I alway dress a deer from the front back.  So when I get to the
    back end, the cavity is already open.
    
    	Carefully slice between the back quarters until you reach the
    pelvic bone.  If you slowly run your thumb nail along the front of the
    pelvic bone, you will detect a small notch.  Put you knife blade
    in this notch and press.  Sometimes, you can cut right through the
    bone like this.  If you can't, lightly tap the back of the blade
    with a rock or similar object.  You can drive your knife blade
    cleanly through the bone in this manner.  I've done this a bunch
    of times on deer and haven't damaged a knife yet.
    
    	Once you've cut through the bone, you still need to split the
    rear end open.  To do this, stand up and put one foot on each back
    leg (this will spread the legs and expose the entire pelvic region).
    Now, reach down and grab the deer's tail.  A sharp pull upward
    will really open up the animal.  This will make it much easier
    to finish dressing the animal.  Also, if you hang the animal from
    the head, you can wedge a rock or stick where you split the bone
    and help in cooling it.
    
    	Hope this helps.  I've been using this method for over 20
    years now and swear by it.

    2 lb round steak (about 1 inch thick)
    2-10 oz bottles of soy sauce
    1 cup `real lemon' juice
    2 Tbl of lemon pepper
    1 Tbl of garlic salt
    
    Cut steak into strips about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.  Put in roaster
    pan and cover with soy sauce.  Add rest of ingredients and marinate
    overnight in refrigerator.  Put on cookie sheet and bake at 250
    for 30 minutes.  Then smoke for 2 to 4 hours.
    
    This is some of the best jerky I have ever had.  One of the nicest
    features is that, besides tasting so good, it is not so tough that
    you need your real teeth and two hands to take a bite.  It also
    works great for either venison or beef.

    
      Here's a recipe for rabbit that went over big on Superbowl Sunday.
    
      Cut the rabbit up into approx. 1" pieces. Use Shake and Bake coating
    mix for chicken, plain or barbecued, then wrap a piece of bacon around
    each piece of meat. Bake in the over for about 30-40 minutes or until
    the bacon looks to be good and crisp. Stick a toothpick in each one
    and there you have it...Rabbit hors d'oeurve's.
    
      My sons ate them up like candy.
    
    Valerie

    	Question for western hunters, does anyone eat jackrabbits, or use
    the hides? My farrier has an oversupply of jacks that he'd like me to
    help get rid of, and the question came up because I hate to waste
    any game.
    
    	George

    .33 I guess you could, but I don't/won't. Good target pratice though.
    Good to pratice those high speed running shots with :-).

    I once ate a jackrabbit and found that it wasn't bad.  We boiled
    it for about 30 minutes and then chicken-fried it.  It tasted a
    lot like chicken, only stringier.  One thing that I have read
    about jackrabbits (actually, hares in general) is that they have
    absolutely no nutritional value.  In fact, the claim is that you
    can starve to death eating jackrabbits.  The only other consideration
    concerns eating rabbits (of any kind) which are killed in the summer
    months.  Supposedly, they carry a parasite which can be passed on
    to the consumer, and it's only active during warm weather.  I will
    admit that I have no idea if these last two tidbits are true, but
    I've heard them all of my life.
    
    Jerry

    	Interesting, around here coyotes eat jackrabbits primarily, although
    they'll readily eat anything they can get their mouths around. That
    leads me to believe that jackrabbits must have some sort of nutritional
    value, but I sure don't know.
    	As far as rabbits are concerned, there's the possibility of
    Tuleremia, which can be identified by the livers being streaked.
    I've heard differing stories about whether you can eat them or not.
    All wild animals have the potential for parasites, i.e fleas, deer
    ticks et. al. It's always wise to wear rubber or plastice gloves when
    handling them. Out here, the flea that carries Bubonic plague is
    often found on prairie dogs and rabbits/hares.
    
    	George

	RE: Eatting Jacks

	I recall an article in one of my old Field and Streams that had
	to do with eatting jackrabbits.  It suggested eating only the
	young ones, as the older ones would be too tough.  It recommended
	soaking the meat in milk to help tinderize it and cooking in a
	crockpot if it were an older one, otherwise cook young ones as
	one would a bunny.  I have yet to try it myself.  

	RE: Transportation part of this note

	Along with the game pictures I am sending to Fra, I am including
	a picture of the game cart I built to haul game on.  We use it
	to bring deer and elk out of the mountains and antelope out of
	fields that the ranchers don't want us driving across.  If anyone
	is interested in more details after seeing it, contact me and I'll
	be glad to explain.  It has been a real game and time saver.

	Gordon

    
    
    	As I heard it, rabbit is so lean that if you try and eat it ALL the
    time, you will suffer from a LACK of fat.(something that hasn't happened
    to me!
    
    		CP
    

    In a book called Never Cry Wolf, Farley Mowatt tried eating lemmings
    that were gutted and skun out. He stated that he felt that his diet
    was missing something so he started eating them the way the wolf does.
    I can't remember but I still think that he skinned them first then
    cooked and ate them guts and all. He said his craving for fat went
    away.

    	In the movie, he ate everything, it didn't even show him skinning
    them. In fact he popped one into his mouth,took a bite, then took
    the tail out of his mouth and threw it over his shoulder ( or on
    the table, I don't remember). It might have even been a mouse in the
    movie. In any case, the nutritional value was there.
    	Anyone want to include them in your next game dinner?? :^)
    
    		George
    P.S. Do you like yours with, or without tails, Mrs, Pumphrey???