# coyotes...for dinner?



## big_al_09

*would you eat a coyote?*​
yes612.24%no4387.76%


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## big_al_09

I'm kinda new to the world of coyote hunting. I have been taught by my family that if you shoot it, you eat it. does anyone do this with coyotes? If so, how do you cook 'em and how does it taste.


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## Brad.T

Never don't even think about it unless you are on the brink of death due to starvation. With furbearers you don't eat what you shoot you skin what you shoot to keep up with your families belief. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO EAT A COYOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## M*F

I would never eat one. Although I cant imagine it could be worse than duck


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## big_al_09

ok, thanks for clearing that up for me.


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## weasle414

Hey Brad, I'm just curious because I never new you shouldn't so, why shouldn't you eat them? Besides the green belly factor...


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## Brad.T

Coyotes eat rotten carcasses for a living the bacteria in them is endless not to mention the number of diseases that they have been known to carry either in their fur or in their blood


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## weasle414

Very valid points... No coyote burgers for me....


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## big_al_09

so they're disease carriers?


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## fingerz42

LOL... oh jeez.. this topic suppresses my appetite..


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## big_al_09

then sorryfor my ignorance fingerz


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## lyonch

well put brad!!!!


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## Fallguy

Well put Brad also consider this:

This about the things humans eat for nutrition. Plants and animals right? Now think about those animals that you consume. How many of them are herbivores (plant eaters)? I would guess most of them.

As you move up the food chain from a plant, to a plant eater, to a meat eater you lose energy. Only about 10% of the total energy is available at the next level. That is why in ecosystems you rarely have more than 4 or 5 levels in the food chain. I would guess that most carnivores' meat has very little energy left in it.

I was thinking about this the other day. As far as what meat eaters people eat on a regular basis I could only think of fish. Any others you can think of? I know people may eat snakes and such but that is more of a delicacy rather than a main staple of the diet. Something to think about.


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## kase

people eat bears. not so much brown bears and grizzlies, but people eat black bears. probably not on a regular basis, but maybe for some it is. i realize that black bears are not strictly meat eaters either, so if that's what you meant fallguy then this doesn't apply. also, i'm pretty sure that a big percentage of a black bears diet does consist of plants, but they will eat meat, should the opportunity present itself.


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## Fallguy

Right bears are omnivores.


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## Bgunit68

hey but if you're brave enough to eat Chinese Food. I'd say go for it. A few friends of mine are local police. We have a nice sit down Chinese restaurant locally. My buddy called in to the public works there was a deer hit by a car and they should pick up the carcass. This was at 11 on a Sat. morning. The next morning at 4 am they caught 2 of the kitchen help dragging the deer across the street to the restaurant. But the funny thing is, I still eat there. Tastes good!


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## lyonch

Brad made the best point with the disease issue!!!! Its as simple as this don't ask about why and try to understand why but rather just dont do it. If they were meant to eat we would have been eating them hundreds of years ago - present time.


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## Fallguy

lyonch said:


> Brad made the best point with the disease issue!!!! Its as simple as this don't ask about why and try to understand why but rather just dont do it. If they were meant to eat we would have been eating them hundreds of years ago - present time.


What's wrong with understanding why?


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## fingerz42

Al, dont feel stupid for asking the question. I never intended to make you feel ignorant. Their was also a time when I wondered if coyotes were edible. (Just wondered, even if they were I would never have eaten one) But its better to be safe than sorry. So your question is fine. Now you know.


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## DOGKILLR

Take one to your local chinese restaurant. They will prepare it for you and other unsuspecting patrons.


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## Jiffy

I think I would rather eat a prairie dog!!! :-?


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## Bore.224

The U.S Army survival manual says you can eat just about anything and even had instructions on eating Buzzard uke: It just said to make sure any meat was boiled for at leat 20 minutes.

So I guess you could in a survival situation eat a coyote, but well done would be how I would order it 

P.S.... it also said feed to Marines first to check the toxicity


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## cranebuster

Contrary to what everyone is saying on here, there is nothing wrong with eating the meat as far as health concerns. I can't imagine it would taste very good, and I'm not about to do it myself, but the fact that coyotes eat rotten food has nothing at all to do with the meat that they have (short of taste).

Fallguy, you're absolutely correct with the 10% rule, you do have a slightly misguided perception of it however. What that means is that 10% of the energy is lost due to the energetics of moving through the food chain, lost through heat. It has nothing to do with the actual meat of a top level animal, that top level animal just has to use a little bit more of a lower level food source than if we were to eat it ourselves. Example: We feed corn to cows which we in-turn eat. It would take 10% less corn to keep us full if we ate the corn directly rather than letting the cow eat it. Thats not to say that 10lbs of cow is 10% less nutritious then 10lbs. of corn as you stated it. I can tell you which one I would rather eat!! Protein is protein, whether it comes from a cow, duck, or coyote. The fat and connective tissue is what makes up the taste, and I can imagine coyote fat is not good!

Bigal09, It's very responsible of you to want to utilize something from everything you kill, I respect that philosophy greatly, and personally justify killing coyotes by the fact that their hides go to use. However, I wouldn't let anyone tell you not to eat the meat if you feel like you should. I will admit that I shoot prairie dogs and black birds, without utilizing them in anyway, but I guess I will have to hide behind the old "pest" defense on that one.


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## Bore.224

cranebuster said:


> I guess I will have to hide behind the old "pest" defense on that one.


Yep and my list of pests is a long one indeed!!!


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## Fallguy

cranebuster said:


> Fallguy, you're absolutely correct with the 10% rule, you do have a slightly misguided perception of it however. What that means is that 10% of the energy is lost due to the energetics of moving through the food chain, lost through heat. It has nothing to do with the actual meat of a top level animal, that top level animal just has to use a little bit more of a lower level food source than if we were to eat it ourselves. Example: We feed corn to cows which we in-turn eat. It would take 10% less corn to keep us full if we ate the corn directly rather than letting the cow eat it. Thats not to say that 10lbs of cow is 10% less nutritious then 10lbs. of corn as you stated it. I can tell you which one I would rather eat!! Protein is protein, whether it comes from a cow, duck, or coyote. The fat and connective tissue is what makes up the taste, and I can imagine coyote fat is not good!


cranebuster

I think I get what your saying. However, I have always understood that 90 % of the energy was used up (body processes, movement, reproduction, etc), only 10 % being carried to the next trophic level.

So you don't think that a top carnivore would have less useable energy to you if you ate that as compared to an animal that eats plant matter? Let's say for example you eat a 1 pound steak from a cow compared to a 1 pound steak from an African lion. What is your opinion on that? It has to be a less I would believe.


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## Brad.T

How can the multiple diseases that coyotes have been KNOWN to carry in thier blood not effect the meat? If we are bitten by a coyote you need to go through all the stuff that rabies entales but you wouldn't have a problem eating the meat off of the same animal?


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## Jiffy

Bore.224 said:


> P.S.... it also said feed to Marines first to check the toxicity


Not this one......lets get a squid to try it. We aren't out anything if one of them keels over dead.

GOHON UP!!!!! :lol: :beer:


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## drjongy

Brad.T said:


> How can the multiple diseases that coyotes have been KNOWN to carry in thier blood not effect the meat? If we are bitten by a coyote you need to go through all the stuff that rabies entales but you wouldn't have a problem eating the meat off of the same animal?


It all depends on how it is cooked. If you cook it long enough you will kill any harmful organisms. Now if you eat it rare that would be another story.


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## MossyMO

*Coyote Fajitas*
(serves 4, unless you are really hungry!)
Ingredients
4 pounds of coyote rump roast cut into 1/2" X 2" meat strips
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons salad oil,
plus 2 tablespoons of oil for cooking
1 tablespoon wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 green pepper, sliced in thin strips
1 onion, sliced in thin strips
Directions
In a bowl add lemon juice, oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, and cayenne pepper and stir until combined. Add strips of coyote meat that have been deboned , green peppers and onion and coat evenly with marinade. Marinate for 1 hour.
In a hot large skillet or cast iron fajita pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil and add coyote, peppers and onions. Cook until the juices of the coyote meat run clear, about 15 minutes. Stir the fajitas often so that they do not stick to the pan and burn.
Serve with warm flour tortillas and your favorite accompaniments. I suggest sour cream, guacamole, shredded cheese, and Pico de Gallo (salsa).
* If you would prefer to grill the coyote, do not cut it into strips. Grill for 15 minutes or until juices run clear.


> *(This was posted just for humor, please do not try this at home)*


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## Bgunit68

Nice Mossy....LMFAO!!!!


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## fingerz42

lmao thats so funny.. Except whatever that meat really is in the picture I cant help but think its coyote meat now.. If I had that exact meal in front of me I dont think I could eat it hahahahaha


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## younghunter

ive ate raccoon muskcrat and beaver and lots of others and have been thinking bout a coyote i think if u cut them into small strips and sesoned them up rela good and deep fried them they would be real good im dead serious.


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## big_al_09

thanks everyone!  after reading through all of your replies, I don't think I'll try coyote any time soon (or ever), for fear of.....well.......... uke:


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## cranebuster

Fallguy, I think you are right on that, it is a 90% loss, I had to check back on some college notes to be sure. So if you have a 1000 Kcal of corn, and feed it to a cow, that cow will only be able to make 100 Kcal of meat out of that, which in turn the coyote that eats that will only be able to make 10 Kcal of meat from. That, however is not to say that 5lb. of coyote meat does not have the same energy as 5lb. of beef. They would have the same energy, it just means that through each transition energy was wasted to heat. Therefore the coyote couldn't eat a cow and then you eat the coyote and get the same energy as eating an entire cow becasue the coyote gave off heat in utilizing the cow. 
If you look at developing countries, you will notice that they rarely if ever eat meat, due to this loss, it is much more efficient to just eat the carbs they would normally feed to their cattle. In developed areas such as the good old USA, we can afford to take this loss and feed our cattle and then eat them. You will notice that grocery store prices loosely correlate to this rule also. You can buy potatoes for 50 cents a pound but meat will cost you $5 a pound and so on. Anyone who's ever lived on a college budget can tell you that potatoes and bread are the cheapest way to live.


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## cranebuster

Brad T, coyotes are too often stereotyped as being disease infested, I can't even count how many times i've heard people say "I saw a nasty looking coyote the other day" (usually in the summer by the way). Fact of the matter is, they are no more prone to disease than anyother animal running around our prairies, if they were they wouldn't be as prevalent as they are. 
You run the risk of eating a diseased animal anytime you eat any animal, be it deer, pheasant, coyote or beef. That is why there are recommended cooking times for these animals. If all animals were disease free, you could eat any animal raw (provided you handled it properly). If you want to talk about an animal that has "multiple diseases KNOWN to be carried in their blood", talk about chickens or turkeys, those things are disease bags to the nth degree. That's why you cook them properly. 
The reason you hear about coyotes being so disease ridden is two fold, first off people have developed stereotypes about them over the years that have carried on to even moderators of outdoor forums. :wink: And secondly they last longer when they've contracted a disease then do their prey, simply because there's nothing out there to eat them as soon as they fall ill. Therefore they are more visible when they are sick. One would have to take the same precaution when eating a coyote as you would a deer or chicken.


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## lyonch

Eating a coyote to me would be like eating a fricken cat!!! Theres is nothing that eats them they lay ther until they decompose. The animal eats dead rotten meat that is full of crap.


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## cranebuster

Thanks for the enlightening commentary!


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## pfast

Personaly i have never tried it but i talked to a guy i know. told him I killed a yote couple weeks ago. He told me he likes to eat them, said they are deilcious. He may be full of crap but he sure acted serious. I know i will never know.


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## SHA

That is why the health department is always running around to resteraunts to make sure their freezers are cold and meat (I think has to be served with a 160 degree inner temperature) These are the temperatures to prevent incubation of bacteria in storage and the killing of the bacteria when cooked. I was also raised to not waste an animal, to respect and honor its life that you have taken for your benefit. I am certain I will not knowingly eat a coyote steak. But if I knew somebody who did, i'd gladly skin the animal and give them the meat. I am certain there are few references on how to properly butcher a coyote.

But this topic of diseased animals does raise a good question. For the long range shooters who may shoot a coyote or any animal and upon walking up to it. You find that it is a completely diseased and sick animal. What methods are used to properly dispose of the animal so to keep any diseases it might have from speading into the local carrion eater population. A technique I've been told is a 10+% bleach and water solution. Dig a hole, Turn a bag inside out, grab the animal and pull it into the bag using the invert garbage back, pour in the bleach solution, bury the garbage bag, put stones on top. This will prevent the animals from digging it up and spreading the diseases such as mange.

Any other methods being used?

On a lighter note, it is all relative. we've all seen the stuff they make contestants eat on fear factor and survivor. And who thought up Rocky Mountain Oysters.


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## big_al_09

SHA said:


> On a lighter note, it is all relative. we've all seen the stuff they make contestants eat on fear factor and survivor. And who thought up Rocky Mountain Oysters.


valid point


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## Brad.T

Cranebuster
Tell me how a coyote is not more suseptible to disease? A deer is only exposed to a certain amount because it's for the most part only around other deer. A coyote on the other hand investigates any carcass in it's territory that means that every raccoon, Coyote, Bird, Deer, Squirrel ect ect that dies of disease the coyote is going to have a REAL good chance of coming into contact with and most likely ingesting a part of the animal making it a lot more susesptible to disease.

Don't get me wrong i don't think of coyotes as just flea ridden bags of crap in fact respect them more than any other animal but the fact is that they carry more diseases than MOST animals.

As far as the chickens and turkeys thing i agree but they are also watched and monitored in a very closed system. Wild coyotes are NOT

The moral of the story is don't eat coyotes


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## Fallguy

Cranebuster

You are right. I see how my thinking of the steaks was skewed. You seem to know your stuff pretty well!

It is true however that due to the solar energy loss at each level you will see less TOTAL top predators and carnivores compared to herbivores. Hence the reason there are so many deer, rabbits, etc. and so few coyotes, cougars, etc.


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## LAtrapper

yea fallguy, that you are right about. as the food chain progresses the number or animals at each higher level decreases due to their need for food and lots of it.

Also, i eat nutrie, muskrat, beaver, and ****. all very good but also all herbivore or pretty close to it (except ****). I would eat a coyote given the oppurtunity. Here's my reasoning: what is a coyote? a canine. what's a dog? a canine. what did many vietnam vets eat when they were in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand? Dog. Idk but i think it would be okay. but even i draw the line somewhere... I've yet to eat an otter and dont think i ever will, that would be worse than a merganser.


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## Fallguy

When my cousin and I were in elementary school we were camping in my Grandpa's pasture and were hungry so we shot a coot with the .22. We had to swim out into the slough to get it, then cooked it on a stick over the fire and ate it. It was pretty crappy.


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## huntin1

As far as the herbivore, carnivore thing. You can starve on rabbit meat (herbivore) and the old mountain men considered cougar meat the sweetest best tasting meat available (carnivore).

I've eaten cougar and it is good. Have never eaten yote, but in a survival situation there ain't much I wouldn't eat.

Areas near Chinese resturants seem to have a very low instance of stray cats and dogs. I wonder why that is? Anyone for kitty on a stick? :wink: 

huntin1


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## Jiffy

When I was in Thailand one night after about 13-14 beers I ate some "meat" on a stick I bought from a street vendor out in front of the bar. At the time I wasn't too concerned with what it was I was eating. Come to find out that it was more than likely dog. It was actually pretty good at the time. Definitely not the "nastiest" thing I have eaten. Of course we won't talk about that here. We have to keep it somewhat PG-13.  :wink: :beer:


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## fingerz42

LMAO..


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## Fallguy

I went to college with a kid from Wolf Point Montana. He said quite a few people from that area eat dog on a regular basis. He said he had tried it, and it wasn't too bad. To me eating a dog would almost be like eating a member of your family.


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## LAtrapper

ha, well i guess it's a matter of preference because down here we shoot coots (we call em puldoo) all the time. not as good as a mallard or teal but i say it's about equivalent to a scaup or any other diver.


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## jedit456

If coyote are too diseased for you then don't eat caribou from the tundra. The insect populations they put up with insures none die of old age. But they are still edible, cook them enough and all the cysts and worms die. The same applies to any other meat, unless it is naturally toxic (polar bear liver).


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## carp_killer

there is nothing rong with eating coyote meat i eat it alot actually and think it tastes good


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## big_al_09

trapper_2 said:


> there is nothing rong with eating coyote meat i eat it alot actually and think it tastes good


how do you prepare it?


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## carp_killer

not sure my wife makes it i no she has grilled it and fried it


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## big_al_09

what does it taste like?


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## carp_killer

its kind of got a taste of its own doesnt taste like anything ive ever ate before


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## big_al_09

but if you HAD to compare it to something, what would you compare it to?


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