Tastes like…
By Barbara Baird
Arkansas’ Jill Spencer says trapping helps her better understand her role in the wild.
“When you’re trapping, you’re an apex predator and that’s pretty exciting,” she said. “You become a part of the animal’s world and you become a part of nature.
“Trapping improves the ecosystem. For example, the raccoon population is exploding in this country, and trappers help keep the numbers in check. Also, Arkansas is known for duck hunting. Raccoons devour more eggs and female ducks in a year than hunters kill in five years.
“One of the things that worries me so much about the world I see now is that we’re so cut off from reality — the reality of the land where we all belong. Kids have no clue that food comes from anywhere but a hamburger package at McDonald’s or a plastic container from the grocery store. Trapping puts you into a reality that you can’t get anywhere else.”
While Jill and her husband, Jim, who also is a trapper, sell most of their furs to Canadian representatives from the North American Fur Auctions, some are sold locally for fur coats and taxidermy mounts. They also eat some of their quarry. Here’s one of Jill’s favorite recipes:
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Baked ‘Coon
Ingredients:
• 1 whole gutted coon
• 4 large onions, peeled; 2 whole and 2 chopped peeled potatoes and carrots, celery stalks (choose your own amount)
• salt
• garlic powder
• poultry seasoning (sage and coriander)
• black pepper
• a large bottle of cheap barbeque sauce mixed with an equal amount of water
Directions:
• Preheat over to 300 degrees F. Wash coon and trim excess fat. Apply and rub copious amounts of all seasonings to meat. Place two whole onions in the cavity and place it in the center of a large covered roasting pan. Surround with a mix of carrots, potatoes and celery, including the chopped onions. Pour BBQ sauce mixture over vegetables, taking care not to pour it on the meat.
• Place in 300-degree oven for an hour.
• Reduce oven temperature to 225 degrees F and bake for 6 to 8 hours. Check every 2 hours; if needed, add water to keep liquid level at a minimum of 2 inches.