Detroit retiree, 69, supplements his income by living off the land (hunting and eating raccoons)

[Duncan Grant]

Thursday, April 2, 2009
Travels with Charlie
To urban hunter, next meal is scampering by
Detroit retiree, 69, supplements his income by living off the land

Detroit - When selecting the best raccoon carcass for the special holiday roast, both the connoisseur and the curious should remember this simple guideline: Look for the paw. "The paw is old school," says Glemie Dean Beasley, a Detroit raccoon hunter and meat salesman. "It lets the customers know it's not a cat or dog."

Beasley, a 69-year-old retired truck driver who modestly refers to himself as the Coon Man, supplements his Social Security check with the sale of raccoon carcasses that go for as much $12 and can serve up to four. The pelts, too, are good for coats and hats and fetch up to $10 a hide.

While economic times are tough across Michigan as its people slog through a difficult and protracted deindustrialization, Beasley remains upbeat. Where one man sees a vacant lot, Beasley sees a buffet.

"Starvation is cheap," he says as he prepares an afternoon lunch of barbecue coon and red pop at his west side home.

Full story at The Detroit News.

[Bonobo]

1. Save the raccoons from this evil barbarian campaign!!!

Because they're cuuuuuuuute!

[cliffordu]

2. Charismatic megafauna

[imdjh]

3. They're cute until they attack your dog, but I still wouldn't eat one or kill it for kicks. n/t

[Butch350]

7. Yep one tried that with my Rottie - he didn't like the retort.

[east texas lib]

4. Now there's a survivor!

But I do wonder how racoon meat compares to rabbit or squirrel meat taste-wise.

[madville]

11. It's not bad meat, we used to make bar-b-que sandwiches from them

quarter up the body, boil for awhile, shred the meat, and simmer in barbque sauce for awhile. MAkes great sandwiches. It can be a little greasy but the boiling takes care of most of that.

[KamaAina]

5. The guy in that pic calls *himself* the Coon Man?!

:wtf:

[LuvNewcastle]

6. I caught that too, and just

had to laugh like hell.

[Davis_X_Machina]

8. Old-timers up heah say...

...that in the thirties, white-tailed deer, which are a positive pest today, got pretty scarce.

[1]

9. rabies is a big problem with raccoons and 'possom here. does that affect the meat?

i don't know about these things...

[EstimatedProphet]

10. No

Rabies is transferred in saliva.

[Hekate]

22. Better check with your veterinarian on that one. The brain and central nervous tissue would be ...

... infectious, and probably the blood wouldn't be so good to handle either. In our area we are warned against handling ANY animal (including bats) that we find lying around dead because of the risk of rabies. Not that you are talking about eating already dead animals, but if it's rabies you're worried about, then you should think about the butchering process.

On the other hand, our pioneer ancestors ate a lot of small game, including raccoons, possums, and squirrels. Even our very recent ancestors did, in lean times. Hunters (and I am not one) could give you information on safe practices.

Hekate

[ogneopasno]

12. Rabbits: Pets or Meat

[Davis_X_Machina]

13. Until recently...

...there was a sign in front of a house near my school that said

"Route 302 Rabbitry.
Rabbits for Pets,
    or
Frozen to Take Home".

[ogneopasno]

15. And that's what people protested in "Roger and Me" -- the onscreen butchering of a rabbit.

Are you in MI?

[Lyric]

17. Yuck. Domestic rabbit is disgusting to eat.

It's bland and greasy and just ick.

Wild cottontail is the way to go, although even that isn't nearly as good as deer tenderloin or roasted grouse.

:thumbsup:

[X_Digger]

14. mmmm, tasty..

Yearlings only, though- older ones get too fat and greasy.

[Bigmack]

16. Hey... don't be blabbing this shit around....

times are tough and gonna get tougher. Before this is over, we'll be fighting each other for prime 'coon and muskrat and other varmints. Let the squeamish starve.

[ConcernedCanuk]

18. "Let the squeamish starve" - with a nic like yours

.
.
.

I hadda laugh

:rofl:

[Bozita]

19. CBC News featured Detroit's raccoon man on "The National" earlier this week. - video

Visit the link and click on "Detroit Blues"

http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/special_feature/hard_times_hard_choices/red_white_and_the_economic_blu.html

Monday, March 30

Detroit Blues
Mark Kelley heads to the Motor City of Detroit, Michigan, where nearly 40% of the downtown is abandoned in this once gleaming city.
(RUNS 6:57)

Florida Foreclosures
Neil Macdonald reports from Cape Coral to track the rapid slide of real estate values in this destination state.
(RUNS 7:42)

Detroit Dazzle
Peter Mansbridge takes a look at some of the architectural and artistic treasures of Detroit, symbols of the city's by-gone automotive sector success.
(RUNS 4:01)


Tuesday, March 31

The Pride of Windsor
Peter Mansbridge takes an historical look at the city of Windsor from the Ford Motor Company, and interviews journalist Alisa Priddle of The Detroit News who lives in the city of Windsor.
(RUNS 5:51)

Sharing the Pain
Our Windsor-based journalist Susan Pedler looks at the different industries given life through the Detroit/Windsor car industry, and how Windsor's health depends on a comeback in Detroit, too.
(RUNS 4:19)

Signs of Hope in Detroit
There are plenty of signs of desperate times in the United States as the recession there deepens. But it isn't all doom and gloom in Detroit. Mark Kelley also found some signs of hope.
(RUNS 6:58)


Wednesday, April 1

The National presents a report from California, where the economy has fallen off the cliff, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is struggling desperately to rescue it.

[Lars39]

20. Sounds like a good idea until the game is hunted til they're gone.

My dad used to tell of the games disappearing from over-hunting during the Depression. Took decades for some of the game to come back.

[Hekate]

21. The man is obviously from good American pioneer stock. Davy Crockett et 'em. nt

[Hekate]

23. Tony Hillerman's autobiography tells how he supplemented a poverty diet with squirrels...

... while in college. He and his roomie were both farm-boys in the 1930s so the notion of catching and cooking these critters was not alien to them, and the tree outside their window was full of squirrels. Very ingenious, and they had the know-how.

(Tony Hillerman is the author of the Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee Navaho detective novels. I'm currently reading "Seldom Disappointed," his autobiography.)

Hekate

[Vinca]

24. I hope Mr. Beasley has a secret rabies detection device.

Most of the raccoons in our neck of the woods have died off and it could be a death sentence to handle raw meat from one.