Old shark head? Possibly. Preserved jaw that's been lacquered*? Definitely. If you leave it in your truck for a few hours with the windows up, it'll smell TERRIBLE. It's almost impossible to wash the smell out of your clothes or the seat, so keep the jaw in a cool, dry area for limiting nasal assault. I've been around dead sharks for most of my life, so I'm used to the smell, but the preserved jaws smell truly heinous on hot days. I'll try and get a picture of a preserved jaw for you guys. Maybe a Raggedtooth jaw, they're always impressive... *At least, I'm sure that's how they preserve jaws is to lacquer it. I also know they have a shelf life of about 10 years before they start to fall apart. Cartilage is pretty much impossible to preserve for the very long term (think: human body decomp. What disappears first? Ears and nose - cartilage).
Went over to Catalina Island this weekend to mess around, decided we wanted to eat uni for lunch so rented a few tanks and took a dive. The water is a little chilly at 56 degrees but we found about 25 of the ones we were looking for, they had spotted a few great whites in the area a few weeks ago but there were a lot of sea lions in the water so we went for it.
Uhmmmm.... nope, Muskies. World record, at least in the North West Territories, is way bigger than 70 lbs. <a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskellunge" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskellunge</a> Friend of my dad's used to feed his dogs with the Muskies he'd catch. EDIT: And, I'm wrong. Did some investigating, and yeah, I don't know what I was thinking/smoking when I said a couple hundred pounds. I remember dad showing us slides (35mm) of some of the fish being reeled in on the winches (they'd leave the line out overnight), and said they were a couple of hundred pounds. Seems he lied, the fucker. Still, they were huge. Not sure if they were pure muskies or not, either. Here's an example of the size of them that I remember seeing in the slides:
I don't know where the Wiki got the stats of 7' and 100 lbs because that's complete nonsense. As an avid muskie angler and member of muskiesinc (the world's leading muskie conservation organization), I've spent thousands of dollars and hours pursuing the elusive Esox masquinogy. There are actually two world records. The Louis Spray muskie which weighed in at 69 lbs, 11oz. It was 5' 3 1/2" long and it was caught in 1949 and is recognized by the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame as the current world record. The other fish vying for the title is Cal Johnson's 60"/67 lb-8oz fish that was also caught in 1949. It is the fish recognized by the International Game Fish Association as the current world record. The reason for the discrepancy is that Spray's fish is believed to have been altered. Based on analysis done on both the photo of his fish and professional analysis of the mounted specimen, it was believed that Spray lied about the measurements. It is also agreed by most taxidermists that the mount of the fish is obviously (and poorly) altered. It is believed that an additional 8-10 inches was added to the fish. I have personally seen Johnson's fish where it is displayed at the Mocassin Bar in Hayward, WI. It is absolutely monstrous and I believe it to be the true world record.
Got my antelope back from the taxidermist, I really like the look of european mounts. If you are into scoring it is about 82-83.
Just watched the latest episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, and it's him in the Ozarks. They feature all sorts of hunting; squirrel, coon, sucker (fishing), duck, etc. It's actually pretty funny, especially the duck hunting where the locals are all tech'd out in Cabela's latest gear but can't shoot worth shit. Not really a hunting show, but still pretty entertaining nonetheless.
That was a good show, did you see when he hit the writer guy when they were sucker fishing and dude took a header in the boat and they had to take him to the hospital. It was also pretty funny to see Bourdain cook that duck for the guy who said he had eaten it 100 ways and did not like any of them and both of the hunters liked it. In other better news, I got drawn for an Arizona Bull Elk rifle tag. Possibly the best news I have gotten this year.
No shit... that was actually pretty scary. The writer, for those who haven't seen it, was Daniel Woodrow, the author of Winter's Bone. They touch a bit on the movie and how it related to his home, where the movie was set. They were in the boat, at night, with generator-powered flood lights. He got hit somehow (not quite clear), but hit the deck of the boat hard, and didn't move. At all. Lights went out in that boat, everyone freaked out, and the boat hit the shore. It got a more than a little chaotic for a few minutes. They raced to the hospital where it turned out he'd dislocated or broken his shoulder. All Bourdain could think was "oh my God I've killed one of my favourite authors". And yeah, cooking that duck for the hunters was hilarious. It all started in the duck blind where the one guy says "can't stand eating duck", and Bourdain says it's one of his favourite foods. Seeing as they weren't bagging any ducks, he said the goal of the hunt now became teaching those guys how to cook duck so that they'd enjoy it. Cut to one of their kitchens where Bourdain shares the advice of not cooking duck in the nude (for the same reasons you don't cook bacon in the nude), and slowly pan fries the duck in its own fat. Slices it up, and they go nuts for it; "shoe leather don't taste like this", referring to their previous attempts at cooking their own duck. Then there was the scene with the coon hunters that had never eaten raccoon before... Again, fun episode, rather close to home.
Honestly, I've shot a whole lot of vermin and I've never thought of eating them. I've skinned any furbearer and made sure the pelt went to use, but I've never considered them worthy of eating (or even sane, at that). Would you? I'm sure Bourdain could fix up a raccoon and get me drunk enough to enjoy it, but I have yet to find a reason to venture into eating raccoons and coyotes and woodchucks and stuff like that. Have you?
They actually cooked a variety of "vermin", paying homage to the food that they ate because that's all there was for them to eat. They did a squirrel pot pie (after teaching Bourdain how to field dress a squirrel), and they said the coon was actually reminiscent of goose or duck leg. I've eaten squirrel before (joys of survival training), but never raccoon. Never coon hunted, though. Really, the only thing I've ever hunted that I didn't eat was a mangy wolf, and some ground hogs that were on a relatives cattle farm. Anyone eaten any game that isn't really considered "normal"?
I used the word vermin half-jokingly, as I understand how eating anything you can get your hands on is still a total necessity in some parts of the world. I see a big difference between eating carnivores and vegetarians, with the carnivores being much less appetizing.
I've had both raccoon and squirrel. The raccoon was different, but not in a bad way. Oily, reminiscent of gamey waterfowl. It's really got to be prepared the right way, like most things, otherwise I've heard it's just godawful. I think the "proper" way is to wash it, soak it, brine it, parboil it, then roast/baste it. A lot of effort for something that honestly isn't that much better than a decent pot roast, but hey...it's different. Squirrel is just bad. I hated it. Tasted like rancid jerky, because that's probably what it was. The joys of being around a German hunting lodge while growing up.
Really? My roommate in college and I used to eat squirrel all the time and they were pretty good. We'd go out and get a bunch of rabbits and squirrels, boil them down to strip the meat, dredge them in melted butter, and then throw them in a pot of noodles, cream of mushroom, and fresh picked pig-snout mushrooms that we found while we were out hunting. For a little under $2, we could whip up a hot dish that would feed us for 2 or 3 days.
Technically, salmon and tuna are carnivores (unless you're one of those people who think fish isn't meat), and they're fucking delicious. Have you had carnivorous land animals before?
I guess "unnormal" game would be considered: armadillo, frog legs, and squirrel. Armadillo was actually really good. I didn't know what it was until after I ate. I am thankful for that fact. I don't like frog legs fried. I like them on the grill with heavy seasonings. I have eaten grilled squirrel. Not bad flavoring, just kinda chewy.
And I was technically referring to land animals, and I've had alligator (awhile ago) and frog legs (always good).
Considering Germans let cabbage get rancid before they eat it, I'm not surprised the same would happen to a squirrel. I'm looking forward to morel mushrooms coming up when the ground warms up so I can pan fry some and then use the same oil to fry a rabbit and then use what's left for gravy. Phenomenally good.