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View Full Version : Has anyone eaten domestic pigeons



SuperNova
04-19-2010, 09:30 PM
i was told by a friend that domestic pigeons were great eating especially the ones that eat grain off the train tracks.any truth to that?and is it legal to hunt them near the tracks?

whitebirdfeathers
04-19-2010, 09:53 PM
To quote Jewels from Pulp Fiction "Sewer rats may taste like pumpkin pie but I'd never eat the filthy motherf@#ker$"
That's nasty, grain or not.

reach
04-19-2010, 10:10 PM
In fancy restaurants I believe they call it "squab"?

Domestic pigeons are on Schedule C so you don't even need a hunting license for them.

I doubt it would be legal on train tracks since most (all?) railway lines are private property. But it's up to you to determine whether a particular location is public land and whether there are any local bylaws or no shooting zones to worry about.

urbanhermit
04-19-2010, 10:12 PM
"that guy is not your friend",

Fox
04-19-2010, 10:22 PM
My dad used to go under the government wharf in Sydney and pull the squab from there nests. Then he sold them to a chinese family in town. He said they wanted the ones that had not gotten pin feathers yet. I think its all what your used to. How many people have you heard say Venison? I would never eat that!

Swamp mule
04-19-2010, 10:22 PM
Supernova, Try hunting near the tracks and let us know what happends and how many years you have in Jail. Use your brain if you think of hunting near tracks. If you want to hunt pigeons, depe3nding where you live, if in the lower mainland go to a dairy farm that has pigeons and make contacts. You will probably be requiredto use a pellet gun so that you don't put holes in the roof or scare the cows butthe best time is in the evening when dark and you plug up most secape route. Then attach a flash light tot he gun and have at her. It is great fun and you can clean a barn out in a night or two. If you shoot a owl then you have not learned your ethics from your CORE

Ambush
04-19-2010, 10:37 PM
I have eaten pigeons. Then I went back to school and got a job.:mrgreen:

We shot hundreds of them and ate some. Young ones are fine just like with spruce grouse. They get tough and dark as they age.

A guy I rented from many years ago used to live in Montreal. He would screw a few rat traps to his window sill and place corn or bread as bait. When he came home from work he would open the window to see if he was having meat with his macaroni.

Mr. Dean
04-20-2010, 12:23 AM
I've no clue how many I've eaten... Good eats. Just be sure of the feed source - Grain transfers are a good bet.

SuperNova
04-20-2010, 06:43 AM
how about clay pigeons anyone eaten those?:-D

johnes50
04-20-2010, 07:45 AM
I've eaten BBQ squab when I was in Rio many years ago. It tasted really good from what I remember. We even went back for more.

.330 Dakota
04-20-2010, 07:55 AM
I didnt know hunting was allowed in McDonalds parking lots

Bow Walker
04-20-2010, 08:19 AM
I've eaten them at a few upscale Chinese Seafood restaurants. They were very good. Yes - they are all dark meat - no lighter/white meat at all.

I'd throw a couple on the Q without any hesitation.

SPEYMAN
04-20-2010, 09:22 AM
Pluck and gut,place in a roasting pan with a little water,cover with bacon,roast at 250 for 2 hrs,remove bacon and apply bbq sauce,put back in oven until bbq sauce caramelizes,enjoy.

tomahawk
04-20-2010, 03:59 PM
I've no clue how many I've eaten... Good eats. Just be sure of the feed source - Grain transfers are a good bet.

X 2...........

Slime green cat
04-20-2010, 04:40 PM
Domestic pigeons are on Schedule C so you don't even need a hunting license for them.


The way I understand it is that you DO need a hunting license to hunt schedule C animals, but because they are considered a pest animal ... there are no bag limits or any other restrictions ..... shoot males ... females ... babies ... whatever . you can even destroy nests and eggs . But you DO need a hunting license .

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but thats the way I understood it :confused:

reach
04-20-2010, 05:17 PM
The way I understand it is that you DO need a hunting license to hunt schedule C animals, but because they are considered a pest animal ... there are no bag limits or any other restrictions ..... shoot males ... females ... babies ... whatever . you can even destroy nests and eggs . But you DO need a hunting license .

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but thats the way I understood it :confused:
OK :D seems to be the only thing I'm good at. From last year's regulation synopsis:


Schedule C
-> Schedule "C" animals can be captured
or killed anywhere and at any time in BC.
Schedule “C” birds may be hunted using electronic
calls. You do not need a hunting licence
to hunt or kill the following
Schedule “C” wildlife:

...

(k) Columbia livia - rock dove (domestic
pigeon)

Don_Abbate
04-20-2010, 05:50 PM
ask Slyfox he eats domestic pigeons and domestic crows

ruger#1
04-20-2010, 06:41 PM
We have alot of them at the feed mill. All they do is eat and shit on everything. Air rifle works fine for them.

Rutger
04-20-2010, 06:48 PM
Heard birds that feed on rail-grain from the tracks are not so good, because of the contamination in the ground from years of trains passing overhead?

wolverine
04-21-2010, 07:35 AM
We used to get them from underneath the train bridge in Mission (old Mission bridge) when we were kids out fishing for sturgeon. Wait for it to get dark and then one of the guys would go under the bridge and scrawg the buggers out of the nest. We would roast up the breast on an open fire. They were actually damned good eating. I think it would, like most every other animal, be wise to consider their food source. Grain fed should be just fine. Was a lot like Grouse.

yamadirt 426
04-21-2010, 09:12 AM
Ive ate 3 this year. Bbq salt and pepper. My 1.5 yr old loves them. I like it too. The are grain fed from a farm in surrey. Try it !!

Stresd
04-21-2010, 07:04 PM
Back on the farm in Langley on Livingston rd, 40 to 50 years ago we kept domesticated pigeons . A pigeon coop by the barn. The pigeons roosted at night in the coop and we you could walk right up to them with a flashlight in their eyes. Pick which ones you wanted for dinner . Grasp selected bird around body. put the neck between thumb and forefinger. Apply a little pressure and thats all she wrote. Yummy!! Excellent eats. :cool:

wolverine
04-21-2010, 07:42 PM
I have a family of Band Tails living in my back yard. I just haven't figured out a way to bag 'em yet.

SPEYMAN
04-21-2010, 10:00 PM
Suggest you wait until Sept 1st.Might want to bone up on the regs.

303Brit
04-21-2010, 10:31 PM
Haven't eaten domestics since I was a kid. I nocked a bunch this year, as the one of the farmers asked me to shoot any I saw while waterfowling. I was going to eat them but at couple guys that hunt the area wanted them for there pups. I ate the 2 bandtails I managed last season they were good, like grouse as others have said.

303

phoenix
04-21-2010, 10:43 PM
Suggest you wait until Sept 1st
Why would he have to wait for Sept.1st?
Kim

spreerider
04-21-2010, 10:45 PM
i know a few people who raise them for eating, aparantly the feed conversion is better than chicken and they grow fast and lay clutches often. and are quieter and not as smelly as chickens.

im gonna stick with raising chickens myself i like the white breasts more than dark ones.

303Brit
04-21-2010, 11:20 PM
Why would he have to wait for Sept.1st?
Kim

I believe he was referring to Wolverines comment about the Bandtailed Pigeons, as they have a season.

303

mpotzold
04-22-2010, 12:38 AM
[quote=SuperNova;664304]i was told by a friend that domestic pigeons were great eating ...

Eve and I went to a Conservative Fundraising Dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Van. When the pigeon dish (squab) came around we thought that it was some type of cornish hen so I generously helped myself. I took one bite and had to run to the washroom to spit it out! Something that tastes worse than tofu!

MFERGIE
04-22-2010, 01:52 AM
Domesticated pigeons are "not" on schedule "C"....Columbia Livia "Rock Dove" and or wild pigeons are! These also should "not" be confused with Bandtailed Pigeons which are about 3 times the size. Pigeons can be eaten and are super tasty, but make sure to inspect them carefully many wild ones carry "Canker" and "Salmonella." The ones raised on farms for slaughter are medicated for both of these. If its skinny its sick or is rittled with worms, open the beak and look down the throat if theres cottage cheese looking stuff stuch to the insides of the throat toss it. Lastly if around its a$$ is dark green, good chance of salmonella!

MFERGIE
04-22-2010, 02:04 AM
Sorry I have to clear that up.....however it does say domesticated pigeon on the schedule.....domestic pigeons are not rock doves, the government screwed up once again. Domesticated pigeons would include homing pigeons, rollers, tumblers, fantails...theres over 500 breeds of pigeons. Rock doves are not domesticated and live on every continent excluding Antarctica. If you notice a flock of pigeons circling a house in your neighbourhood chances are they belong to somebody that breeds and flies them. I personally know a guy that spent 24,000 American on 1 pigeon that won a race out of 27,000 pigeons twice......be carefull what your shooting LOL!

SPEYMAN
04-22-2010, 11:03 AM
Bandtail Pigeons are a migratory game bird just like morning doves.There is a season I believe opens Sept 1st.

Martin_Hunter
04-22-2010, 11:23 AM
i was told by a friend that domestic pigeons were great eating especially the ones that eat grain off the train tracks.any truth to that?and is it legal to hunt them near the tracks?

I've shot so many pigeons in and out of town (abroad).I like the taste,but some people say pigeons taste a bit bitter.

I usually BBQ'd them after marinading them in fresh lime,salt,pepper,...
They taste great if you marinade them.

They don't taste like other birds,anyway.So,try eating one and see if you like it.

SuperNova
04-22-2010, 10:10 PM
do you just breast them like grouse? or?

Bowzone_Mikey
04-22-2010, 10:44 PM
used to work with a guy that boxed up pigeons that we trapped on the roof of the building that we worked at (it was an infestation) ... they gathered under the chillers cooling towers/Condensors

He is Veitnamese ... I helped him trap and capture them ... but never asked what he did with em .. I have a fairly good idea tho...

I was always watching the news the night that we trapped the Squab .... looking for a headline along the lines .... "Huge Pileup on Deerfoot south today just before 5pm"... wondering if the pigeons got out of the box and flew around in his car

Martin_Hunter
04-22-2010, 11:43 PM
do you just breast them like grouse? or?

No,I just used to eat the entire edible parts.They're good size,better not waste the meat.

308Lover
04-23-2010, 10:37 AM
Neighbors in Edmonton raised pigeons. They kept the females penned up when they were on eggs, then fed them wheat when they had their chicks. The young (squabs) become twice the size of the parent and are eaten before they grow pin feathers. Taste like the best grouse. Baked whole in the oven, but I don't remember what they used for stuffing--NOT sage dressing for sure. No one would normally eat an adult, but that was before the new Canadians arrived.

Ubertuber
04-23-2010, 11:30 AM
I ate them when I was a kid, I always thought they tasted great.

city hunter
04-30-2010, 10:52 PM
I have been eating them for more than 30 years,it's very tasty with deep fired and expensive at restaurant,price from $9.99 to 18.99 each,I just ate one at restaurant in vancouver 3 days ago and cost me $16.88 for one.

cwocarsten
04-30-2010, 11:58 PM
Ate them as a kid. I think it is all in the way they are served, as my mom was/is a great cook.

Long bow
05-06-2010, 03:50 PM
Hunted and ate lots while posted overseas, both in Germany and France..really a fancy dish. Having said that, I asked about eating the ones in the valley here, and was told that after all the chicken, turkey and duck farms were closed to avian bird flu..and because pigeons travel from barn to barn, why risk getting sick..So, they are fall when hit targets, and get handeled with rubber gloves...And I used to like eating them..seems a shame, but after that little bit of info, kinda lost the drive to cook em up...

spreerider
05-06-2010, 11:46 PM
you cant get avian flu from eating wild birds, it comes from living birds and if you wear gloves while handling and wash your hands etc then you should be fine
you get the flu from animal saliva and mucus not from blood or meat

stugatz
09-11-2011, 09:38 AM
Supernova, Try hunting near the tracks and let us know what happends and how many years you have in Jail. Use your brain if you think of hunting near tracks. If you want to hunt pigeons, depe3nding where you live, if in the lower mainland go to a dairy farm that has pigeons and make contacts. You will probably be requiredto use a pellet gun so that you don't put holes in the roof or scare the cows butthe best time is in the evening when dark and you plug up most secape route. Then attach a flash light tot he gun and have at her. It is great fun and you can clean a barn out in a night or two. If you shoot a owl then you have not learned your ethics from your CORE
Hey Bud, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? He is just enquiring, he is not saying that he was planning to hunt on railways. Reeeeelax!!!!

Foxton Gundogs
09-11-2011, 11:44 AM
Don't have to HUNT them on the tracks, use a live trap, train the dogs with them and the ones that you shoot and don't freeze whole for retrieving practise skin and put on the Q with a nice honey garlic or sweet and sour sauce some cold Buds and you have a feast.

Bowzone_Mikey
09-11-2011, 11:54 AM
Hey Bud, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? He is just enquiring, he is not saying that he was planning to hunt on railways. Reeeeelax!!!!

A year and a half later ..... You are officially nominated ....

FirePower
09-11-2011, 02:28 PM
Don't have to HUNT them on the tracks, use a live trap, train the dogs with them and the ones that you shoot and don't freeze whole for retrieving practise skin and put on the Q with a nice honey garlic or sweet and sour sauce some cold Buds and you have a feast.

X2 as a kid when Da was training 8-10 dogs we ate a lot of pigeon, always some hanging in the larder, Mother had many good recipes for them and the were good as I recall. Waste not Want not That was Da's motto so the training birds were always recycled 1 way or another. Price out squab in a 5* sometime, we didn't know how high on the hog we were eating.

stugatz
09-11-2011, 11:37 PM
A year and a half later ..... You are officially nominated ....
whatever its a bit late, but the point was there.....shucks!!!