Snipe Hunting

[boomstick]

Has anyone shot and ate snipe. I,m kinda curious as to taste ,after all they are a cousin to woodcock. There seems to be many recipes for them on the net . There are lots of them on the marches when i,m after ducks so would be an oppertune target to go with the ducks.I think you have to carry some num 6 steel shot for them but they are a fast flyer so it could be a hoot shooting them .

[Andrzej]

There was a few threads over years about "sniping' try to use search.
They have particular taste not for everybody. I like them.
They are difficult to hit, guess where the word Sniper came from....

My best IIRC was 10 shots and 9 Snipes. I am not this good anymore.

The difficulty in shooting them is that when they get on the wing they zig-zag
for 30- 35 meters and than flight straight sort of out of range...
I think i would use # 7 steel those days and shoot when they turn in their zig-zag pattern

[boomstick]

I have probably shot at like 200 woodcock in the bush while i grew up in ontario . Never hit one of them lol, never seen anything that fast and erratic in flight . Man they were awesome tho , explode at your feet and zig zag trees and branch at mach 2000 lol

[Mountain Guy]

Originally Posted by boomstick

Has anyone shot and ate snipe. I,m kinda curious as to taste ,after all they are a cousin to woodcock. There seems to be many recipes for them on the net . There are lots of them on the marches when i,m after ducks so would be an oppertune target to go with the ducks.I think you have to carry some num 6 steel shot for them but they are a fast flyer so it could be a hoot shooting them .

Relation to woodcock? Didn't know that but they do look similar.
As far as taste, with one living in the forest and eating forest food like nuts and berries , and the other living in the local slough eating slough things... I'm guessing the taste could be different.
I've shot and ate snipe once.....that's all it took

[Redfrog]

Woodcock in the bush eat worms etc. Snipe on shore line eat insects etc. they look similar and one tastes like woodcock and the other tastes like snipe. I leave it to you to figure out which tastes like which

Do not expect a wild bird that flies somewhere to taste lke a chicken who gets driven to the processor

[BuckCuller]

It's always a tradition of ours to kill a snipe on the first hunt of the season.
Tough to hit with #2's. They seem to fly right through the shot pattern.

[Jays toyz]

A Wilson snipe 'winnowing' with their crazy 200 foot high ventriloquist act. Drove me to drink. Heard it for years and couldn't locate the sound. A smaller bird up higher than I imagined. Might shoot me some snipe to get evensies.

[sjemac]

I shoot and eat a lot of snipe each year. I have 71/2 steel and shoot them after my duck hunts. If possible I pluck and roast them for about 10 minutes in a super hot oven. They taste like snipe -- a hint of seafood flavour to a dark duck like meat. Don't confuse that with "fishy" but more like shellfish.

Place fresh roasted snipe on a couple of fried bacon strips on toast to soak up the juices and swill it all down with an ice cold glass of sparkling white wine (or beer if you need to be a barbarian). Apparently it was Churchills favourite breakfast.

[kennedy]

They taste good and definitely awesome if you have lots of them as an appetizer. Lots of fun shooting them but make sure to take plenty of ammo. I don't see too many of them anymore.

[boomstick]

Thanks guys , think i,ll give em a go and see what there like taste wise . I do prefer my chicken running thru the bushes as taking a taxi to the store just dont taste as good lol. There is a recipe for jalopino poppers that i might try but first its straight up bird , salt pepper and fried .

[BPman]

Skin and remove the breast then pin on a piece of bacon before broiling for about 10 minutes. They taste just fine but don't overcook them - they dry out quickly. YUM!

[kennedy]

Originally Posted by BPman

Skin and remove the breast then pin on a piece of bacon before broiling for about 10 minutes. They taste just fine but don't overcook them - they dry out quickly. YUM!

Yummy!

[stob]

You may want to explore the time honoured snipe drive using nets, spotters, and pushers

[Andrzej]

Years ago my Aunt was baking them plucked only... with head and feet attached and long beak pushed into breast meat, wrapped in bacon.
Some old recipes call for entrails to be used for sos.

[alacringa]

If you're going out after snipe (which are quite tasty, especially when cooked as described by BPman), please be sure of your target. Some folks just shoot any shorebird with a long beak, and in doing so take dowitchers, which are protected.
They are a challenge - very fast!

[Bushrat]

Originally Posted by Mountain Guy

Relation to woodcock? Didn't know that but they do look similar.
As far as taste, with one living in the forest and eating forest food like nuts and berries , and the other living in the local slough eating slough things... I'm guessing the taste could be different.
I've shot and ate snipe once.....that's all it took

Woodcock fly like bumble bees, left, right, up down, changing direction in a split second, they are hard to hit. I think I saw some flying upside down in reverse! Like trying to shoot hummingbirds. Woodcock don't eats nuts, berries or seeds, like Froggy says they eat worms mostly and the odd other bug. They migrate south when the first early frost hardens the ground, they can't probe for worms through the frozen dirt and the worms go too deep for them to get.

My Grandma used to boil them, pick the meat off, along with their little livers and hearts, a few vegetables and spices, some gravy made from the stock she boiled them in, homemade pie shell and crust on top then into the oven. Yummy. I imagine snipe would be similar.

[NSDucknut]

Originally Posted by alacringa

If you're going out after snipe (which are quite tasty, especially when cooked as described by BPman), please be sure of your target. Some folks just shoot any shorebird with a long beak, and in doing so take dowitchers, which are protected.
They are a challenge - very fast!

Wow, very similar indeed. Any way to distinguish between the two on the wing?