# Survival > Foraging & Wild Edibles >  Cottonmouth for dinner

## wildgarden

Our family has decided to start our own tradition for winter solstice by eating only foods grown in our garden or gathered from the wild on that day.  Today at our pond we killed a cottonmouth.  We skinned it and gutted it, and I have it soaking in a brine solution, wondering what the heck to do next with it.  I thought I would freeze it until the winter solstice celebration and then pan fry it in egg and milk batter and panko bread crumbs.  My question is:  right now it is still intact with spine and ribs.  How the heck do I get the meat off the bones?  Or do I simply cook it bones and all?  I know we won't get much meat from it, but it will be something to add to our menu, regardless of it being just a bite or two for everyone.  Any ideas on whether to remove the bones and how to do that?  Thanks for any help.  I am a new member and this is my first post.  

wildgarden

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## Rick

Post 19 of this thread has a recipe for snake chili. Post 20 is for fried snake. The first one says remove the meat from the bones. I think I've had snake one time and it was years ago. 

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...cleaning+snake

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## Cryov

Unfortunately you will have to cook it bones and all, don't worry tho, once cooked the ribs are easy to work around. That is just how it is for the smaller snakes, you need larger snakes if you want to de-bone and have actual chunks of snake meat. Snake is quite tasty and many people compare it to chicken, I however compare it to gator. Enjoy the snake!

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## COWBOYSURVIVAL

I have ate my share of timber rattler's. Salt pepper and a fav. grilling sauce is all that is needed on the grill. Best if a fresh kill, it will turn itself on the grill.

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## crashdive123

> *Our family has decided to start our own tradition for winter solstice by eating only foods grown in our garden or gathered from the wild on that day.*  Today at our pond we killed a cottonmouth.  We skinned it and gutted it, and I have it soaking in a brine solution, wondering what the heck to do next with it.  *I thought I would freeze it until the winter solstice celebration and then pan fry it in egg and milk batter and panko bread crumbs.*  My question is:  right now it is still intact with spine and ribs.  How the heck do I get the meat off the bones?  Or do I simply cook it bones and all?  I know we won't get much meat from it, but it will be something to add to our menu, regardless of it being just a bite or two for everyone.  Any ideas on whether to remove the bones and how to do that?  Thanks for any help.  I am a new member and this is my first post.  
> 
> wildgarden


Hold on just a minute.  I won't let you do it.  What do you think this is?  A New Year's resolution?  If what I highlighted in red is true, then you are already planning on breaking the tradition (that hasn't started yet) with your actions of what I highlighted in blue.  No sir.  Not gonna let you do it.

Just kidding of course - your tradition - you can do it any way you want.  Welcome to the forum.

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## wildgarden

crashdive - I know.  We talked about that and decided to buy beer and wine, too.  Ha ha. 

Thanks, guys for the advice.

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## crashdive123

Well --- you can't go wrong with beer and wine.  You probably don't have enough time to make your own by this years deadline, but we expect there to be homemade beer and wine at next years festival.  Of course samples to our Quality Control Department are a must. :Innocent:

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## Rick

A guy has to have his veggies and fruits. Hops and grapes will keep you healthy.

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## sh4d0wm4573ri7

You cook it whole is best for anything but trully large snakes.

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## wildgarden

Okay - we've decided to do it right and cook the cottonmouth over the open fire (instead of fried up in egg and panko crumbs) along with some venison and, if we are lucky, a rabbit that we haven't trapped yet.  But we're still going with the Coors and Cabernet unless we can find a way to make pine needle wine!  Any suggestions?  My family is cringing.  I can't wait!

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## wildgarden

Just to follow up - our winter solstice festival came and went - the wind was ferocious and we couldn't build a bonfire or even a campfire...but we at least fired up the charcoal grill!  Ha ha.  We cooked venison on the grill in small slices and it was really good.  We made a salad from our garden spinach and green onion tops and a dressing from our ginger plants (okay, we cheated and used olive oil and mayo from Walmart but plan to make our own mayo next year from our own fresh chicken eggs...but not sure where we will get the oil...we have an olive tree but it is not producing olives yet), and we grilled the  cottonmouth snake whole and two of us (out of five) actually ate some of it.  It didn't have much taste, but the texture was gross.  I ate a few bites and said okay, I did it.  I'll wait for a survival situation before I do that again.  When the meal was done I gave leftovers to Paris, our flatcoat retriever.  She actually spit out the snake pieces.  Hmmm.  

So, we are not hardcore yet, for sure, but on the right track. Each year we plan to be a bit more wild and crazy...and hope to pick up some useful information in the meantime.  I love reading this website.  Thanks for everyone who contributes. 

Wildgardener

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## TresMon

A for effort!  Surely you did not cook the cotton mouth long enough.  One time I went on a 7 day survival trek in Bay Minete AL. (7 miles inland from the coast.)
There were Cotton mouth's everywhere. We ate 4 of them. ALL of them were some of the finest, most delicate meat I have ever eaten.  We cooked it till the meat flaked right off, like a properly cooked fish and it was awesome.

So in a tone of inspiration & encouragement-  assume you undercooked it (er somethin) and don't hold it against Cotton mouth's nor rob yourself of such delicasy!

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## shiftyer1

I've eaten rattlesnake before,  when I wasn't told what it was.  It was fried and I found no bones,  it was actually very good but I haven't been able to eat snake when I knew it was snake.  I actually killed what snake lovers would call a beautiful rattlesnake and cleaned it up and froze it with the intention of cooking it.  It got freezer burnt on me,  when I gave it to the dog and cats they wouldn't touch it.  I guess they know what a snake is no matter if it has clothes on or not.

I really need to work on my pickyness as an eater!!  I am pretty sure you undercooked your snake.

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## TresMon

> I really need to work on my pickyness as an eater!!  I am pretty sure you undercooked your snake.


Not a problem. Go on a (guided) week long full survival expedition with only knife. Come day 4 you'll be willing to argue and fuss dibs over what you considered "really gross" food a few days prior.  Cures folks pickiness every time!

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## TresMon

> I really need to work on my pickyness as an eater!!  I am pretty sure you undercooked your snake.


Not a problem. Go on a (guided) week long full survival expedition with only knife. Come day 4 you'll be willing to argue and fuss dibs over what you considered "really gross" food a few days prior.  Cures folks pickiness every time!

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## RandyRhoads

Cook it and eat it bones and all. Always too much trouble getting the meat off for me, I end up with a spoonfull of meat.

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## Rick

Never eat bones of anything. You take a high risk of a punctured esophagus, stomach or intestine. And if they come out sideways.............

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## SemperFi

dont worry about the "cheating" part , when the zombies come we'll be sorting out the foods we want from Wal-Mart and using a grill also , "I wonder if I can have zombie for next years winter solstice? Wonder if it tastes like ham?"!

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## RandyRhoads

I disagree on that. Small game such as a squirrel cooked right, put it a bag and beaten against a rock, pounded with a rock or any other way to crush it shouldn't cause a problem. Using common sense... Don't pick up a jagged bone that didn't get crushed and try to swallow it. In the case of Crotalinae (don't know about other types of snakes) i've not even had to pulzerize it. The thin bones turned to powder with normal chewing....

The smallest part of the gastrointestinal tract is the distal ileum with a diameter of 2.5-3cm. Who would swallow a bone or anything that diameter without chewing it more? So as for coming out sideways that shouldn't be a problem. I'm not saying go eat large rabbit femur bones with a razor sharp jagged edge. But small squirrel, snake anything similiar...I don't see a problem.

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## Wildthang

When I eat rabit and squirrel, I just chew the meat from the bones. I just dont eat bones unless I am totally starving and it't the only way to survive!

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## TresMon

Ever read of "rabbit starvation" ?  Story goes that 'back in the day trappers would eat plenty of rabbit in the hard months and die. The 'engines would eat rabbit in the hard months and live.  The difference?  The 'engines ate the meat, the (pounded) bones, the marrow and some of the organs.

Science says that rabbit meat requires an essential enzyme in your gut to digest it, but the rabbit does not replace the enzyme- hence the white trappers could eat themselves to death.

Moral of the story: eat the (pounded/powdered) bones, and all the critter you can.

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## crashdive123

Rabbit starvation refers to a no fat, no carbohydrate, high protein diet.




> Mr. Stefansson wrote, "The groups that depend on blubber animals are the most fortunate in the hunting way of life, for they never suffer from fat-hunger. This trouble is worst, so far as North America is concerned, among those forest Indians who depend at times on rabbits, the leanest animal in the North, and who develop the extreme fat-hunger known as rabbit-starvation. Rabbit eaters, if they have no fat from another source - beaver, moose, fish - will develop diarrhea in about a week, with headache, lassitude, a vague discomfort. If there are enough rabbits, the people eat till their stomachs are distended; but no matter how much they eat they feel unsatisfied."
> 
> The Indians of the north hunted older reindeer bucks, because they carried an enormous slab of back fat that could weigh up to 50 pounds. They then made pemmican by mixing fat with meat in a proportion of one-to-one by volume. By caloric content, the pemmican amounted to 80% of mostly saturated fat calories to 20% protein calories. And don’t forget - among the northern Indians, cancer and heart disease were nonexistent.
> 
> Anyone who is compelled to live for several weeks on little but lean meat will actually experience rabbit starvation. Without fat or carbohydrates, it will make no difference the quantity of meat ingested. He will be hungry after every meal and will lose strength or become ill.


Source:  http://www.raising-rabbits.com/rabbit-starvation.html

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