Sandhill Cranes

FishHog2 said:
Don’t know how someone can’t like goose other than people who don’t know how to cook. But everyone has different tastes.
I love goose and look forward to the chance of trying sandhills
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Fact is, a lot of people have been turned off wild game because of poor handling of meat and improper cooking. I’ve eaten deer and goose shot and cooked by others that tasted absolutely terrible and was chewier than jerky. While proper handling and cooking yields juicy and tender meals with mild flavour.

Goose breast is great stuffed with apricots and apples 👍
 
FishHog2 said:
Don’t know how someone can’t like goose other than people who don’t know how to cook. But everyone has different tastes.
I love goose and look forward to the chance of trying sandhills
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What annoys me the most are the guys who hunt these wonderful game birds and do not eat the met they harvest and have the audacity to complain about how they perceive how they taste.
You guys know the ones I am talking about, they are in every rod and gun club and hunting forum pretending to be Great White Hunters.
And before anyone jumps on the band wagon about guys hunting mammals for fur I have no problem with harvesting fur bearing animals for the hide regardless if they leave crow bait behind or use the carcass for trapping bait call me a hypocrite, pffft as long as it is legal in ones home range I am good 2 go with their choices.
 
iron cat said:
Anybody who tells me they cook their meat well done gets unfriended right now! LOL
Cat
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I like making hocks - elk done in osso buco style has to go many, many hours to break down the collagen and make it all delightfully tender. Same goes for a pork hock in the oven - low and slow and then turn it up to crisp the skin.

I have also done whole deer and lamb shoulder - and even hind leg - in a derp pan with salt, pepper, chopped onions, fresh rosemary and covered with beer. Again, goes for hours until everything falls off the bone and id melt in your mouth tender.


What I have found is there exists an “in-between” cooking time that makes game meat really tough. Rare and medium rare or even medium is good, but if you go past that you have to go WAY past, as in the examples above.
 
My ex-wife ‘speed baked’ a goose to have in time for guests arriving early for dinner. So tough it could have been made into a 100,000km snow tire.
My favourite is to blend waterfowl meat chopped up fine and mixed with 50% hamburger, chopped onion, garlic, red pepper salt and pepper. Baked low and slow and served with a warmed up tomato sauce on top. Flavourful and moist.
As for steaks its black angus for me, can’t imagine a 1,000 lb steer flying overhead.
 
Not that this hasn't been said, but I want the overall opinion here to lean in favour of harvesting and eating all wild game. Sandhill is delicious and a delicacy that is reserved for the few who take the time to be out there (or hang out with someone who does). It isn't going to melt in your mouth like a ribeye steak but it's a seasonal treat that, like all wild game, needs to be cooked properly (reverse sear, sous vide, or proper grilling - not cold meat, some indirect heat) to be enjoyed. Harvesting and eating wild game is a chance to be closer to ourselves as part of nature and away from the systems that we've constructed to generate profit and waste. Taste the freedom haha
 
I have never been able to hunt crane but I have shot many a “tough” goose.
The ones that just arrived after a week of flying from the Arctic.
Rare is best or ground i to chili for these.
However, one excellent recipe for goose breast and I would guess crane to be even better is Carpaccio.
 
Better than Geese! We shoot them all the time and prefer to eat more than Geese. They are great to eat - they eat the same Grains that Ducks + Geese eat go figure...

I have access to several fields that are full of them every year
 
Longwalker said:
I shoot some cranes most years. They do taste OK, and are great in a stir fry. But beware of over cooking! The meat makes a pretty good leather substitute if over cooked. The worst thing you can do with crane is roast one. Great breast meat when sliced thin, with a light marinade, and cooked quick and hot and not too much, on a BBQ.
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Never tried the Bird but was told they are good rare or med rare - Very Lean meat . 🥩 ?
 
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