Woodchuck!

[dinosaur]

In Indiana we barbeque them. The best ones are in the four to six pound category. When they get big you have to slow cook them like you would a raccoon.

[Grandpa]

Since we don't have your groundhog/woodchuck, I decided to look it up and see how it differed from our rock chuck/marmot. They are actually the same species but divided into 3 subspecies. Yours is marmota monax, a lowland marmot. Our yellow belly marmot, or rockchuck is native to the high rockies and sierras and is called marmota flaviventris. Along the coastal range and into British Columbia is the Hoary marmot, marmota caligata. And that concludes our biology lesson for the day.

Now, on to more discussion on how to cook these critters

[dinosaur]

If you get a really big one (20 pounds+), and I got one once that was 40 pounds, you gut and cape them, load the cavity with vegetables, onions, potatoes, and seasonings, sew them shut, pour in a beer, wrap them in about six layers of foil and place them on the grill, low heat for about four to six hours. The meat will be falling off the bones by then and very tasty.

They don't call them hogs for no reason. I don't know why they are also known as woodchucks. They never loaded any wood for me.

[campclose]

I cannot imagine putting one in my slow cooker. I wouldn't be able to use it again. I've never had raccoon either and I don't plan on eating that. It's funny what some people eat. Wonder if they taste the same.

[wvbreamfisherman]

Holy Crow! A 40 lb groundhog!! You'd need a spit to cook that thing on like roasting a pig....

[Hikenhunter]

Originally Posted by dinosaur

If you get a really big one (20 pounds+), and I got one once that was 40 pounds, you gut and cape them, load the cavity with vegetables, onions, potatoes, and seasonings, sew them shut, pour in a beer, wrap them in about six layers of foil and place them on the grill, low heat for about four to six hours. The meat will be falling off the bones by then and very tasty.

They don't call them hogs for no reason. I don't know why they are also known as woodchucks. They never loaded any wood for me.

All that sounds really good except that you forgot to put a jar of applesauce in that cavity. You need applesauce or cranberry sauce to sweeten the meat.

[Hikenhunter]

Originally Posted by dinosaur

If you get a really big one (20 pounds+), and I got one once that was 40 pounds, you gut and cape them, load the cavity with vegetables, onions, potatoes, and seasonings, sew them shut, pour in a beer, wrap them in about six layers of foil and place them on the grill, low heat for about four to six hours. The meat will be falling off the bones by then and very tasty.

They don't call them hogs for no reason. I don't know why they are also known as woodchucks. They never loaded any wood for me.

All that sounds really good except that you forgot to put a jar of applesauce in that cavity. You need applesauce or cranberry sauce to sweeten the meat.

[dinosaur]

Originally Posted by Hikenhunter

All that sounds really good except that you forgot to put a jar of applesauce in that cavity. You need applesauce or cranberry sauce to sweeten the meat.

Good catch. I failed to mention the apple slices (cut thin) that we use. These and the beer tenderize and sweeten the meat.

[BGreen]

We don't have woodchucks around here either. The closest I've ever seen to an animal like this is up at Niagara Falls. There was this big old groundhog sitting up eating and ignoring all the tourists around him. I can't imagine eating him either. A Beverly Hillbilly I'm not. That show turned me off eating critters.

[dinosaur]

A groundhog is a woodchuck. And if you don't eat "critters" you must be a vegetarian.