doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com attn: Lowell Glenthorne

Watching BBC - Am right now. The chef Ramsey was shown in the woods with his son and the landowner. He had an unidentifiable boxlock, and he was shooting - ROOK! Says he wants to reintroduce this bird to the English dining public. He didn't shoot them on the wing, rather off high branches. The first thing that jarred my aging brain when I heard the word rook was of course YOUR rook gun. I couldn't remember the details, but through the fog it seemed to be a rifle rather than a shotgun. Am I correct? And, of course, do you still have your rook gun, or has it gone the way of your damascus barreled Lang? Please take the time from the duties of your manor and illuminate us, as indeed you always have. Many Thanks - Marc

I saw that one too!
I used to eat BlackBird (Rook ) pie back in Somerset, that my mum made , if I shot a couple or three with my BSA underlever pellet gun.....
Tasted like chicken...with nice gravy n Dumplings..yum
franc

I too used to do that when I was a lad. My friend and I would stand under the bare branches of the tall trees in the woods and spinneys of the small estate I still shoot on, head craned upward looking for the rooks to come in to roost on their uncomfortable looking nests.

It would be as the light faded that they would fly in, squawking away. Once they settled onto a branch above, we would line up the bead of our .410s on their feet and fire, the flame from the muzzle well illuminated at that time of the evening. We would often get 20-30 in an evening. I recall splitting my thumb on the top lever on one occasion - my own fault in the excitement of the moment I guess.

Tim

It was an annual tradition in our part of Essex to shoot young rooks on the first Saturday of May. We shot the young rooks with 22s as they perched outside the nests. It was challenging shooting as they usually nested in a rookery, social birds these, in very tall horse chestnut trees, the big leaves were coming out and it was hard to see them. One day we were joined by some village youths armed with catapults and glass marbles and they were knocking off young rooks from the branches of the quite tall trees, probably 30 to 40 feet up. It was an amazing feat of marksmanship I have never forgotten. We did not eat them ourselves, but gave them to those who liked eating young rooks
Mike

Check out this site.

Crowbusters.com

Best,
John

Lowell loves eating fresh Rooks.

I also fondly remember early May rook shoots (generally around the 7th-9th of that month) in Norfolk where my .22 air rifle was the weapon of choice. The meat from the young rooks or "branchers" was superb and a cross between beef and chicken.

I think the nursery rhyme "4 and 20 blackbirds" is actually referencing rook pie if memory serves, and the shoots were a way of traditionally managing the populations of local rookeries.

Don't know if a rook and a crow is the same thing, but if y'all saw the things I see crows eating daily you might think twice about eating one. They'll eat any road kill a buzzard'll eat. Even if a rook is a young flightless crow, they have been fed with whatever the parents fly home with in their stomach.

We shoot them by the hundreds in the fall of the year when pecans start to fall, but, no thanks to "settin' down to one".

If you knew what shrimp eat, you'd feel the same way. So, don't think about it.

People who can be selective about their protein are blessed. A live-by-his-wits aquaintance of mine wouldn't turn his nose up at rook, or, roadkill. Few of his few pennies are required for either meal.

He claims a spring of the year raccoon is as good as it gets.

We are all leveraged differently in life.


Best,
Ted

I guess, but when I see crows eating old roadkill I just can't get past that. I've tried a lot of different dishes. But there's a few I just ain't got no use fer. Crow, 'possum, and armadillo come quickly to mind. Coon is much cleaner, but I've never had it cooked to my liking. Bobcat is the some of the best looking meat I've ever seen, pale like veal, but I just ain't been that hungry yet.