When you don\u2019t have much of a choice, cold worms are a good source of calories and protein.<\/p>\n
At least that\u2019s what Jesse Butts told Cowboy State Daily his uncle figured when he once got stuck out after dark while on a fishing trip back in the 1970s.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe figured, \u2018I\u2019m hungry, and I\u2019ve got to eat something. He hadn\u2019t caught any fish, so he ate his worms,\u201d said Butts, who works in the sporting goods section of the Laramie Murdoch\u2019s store.<\/p>\n
\u2018Caviar\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Granted, his uncle Don (last name withheld) was tougher than most \u2014not only in stomach, but overall fortitude.<\/p>\n When he took that fateful fishing trip, he had just returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam where he served as a \u201ctunnel rat.\u201d<\/p>\n That was a special breed of soldier who volunteered to go into the honeycombed networks of tunnels the Viet Cong had built to hide in and stage surprise ambush attacks on American troops. So, the tunnel rats were used in some of the filthiest and most dangerous circumstances imaginable.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we went fishing together and were gutting fish, he was the type to reach in, scoop out the eggs and say \u2018ah, caviar\u2019 and start gulping them down while my mom would be over there trying not to puke,\u201d Butts said.<\/p>\n Bugging Out<\/strong><\/p>\n In survival situations, some outdoors experts have recommended an entire smorgasbord of hideous critters to eat. Ranging from seagulls (which Wyoming has in some places) to opossums (which the Cowboy State doesn\u2019t have).<\/p>\n Along with Butts, some other Wyoming outdoorsmen pondered what one could resort to if stuck out in the wild with no other options.<\/p>\n Some survivalists say that bugs of various types can make acceptable survival fare, but Christopher Rice of Laramie told Cowboy State Daily that he has his doubts about that.<\/p>\n Once during a trip overseas, he sampled cockroaches.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was absolutely terrible. And I ate them on top of ice cream, but it was still terrible,\u201d said Rice, who ties fishing flies at the West Laramie Fly Store.<\/p>\n After that experience, he said he\u2019d have to be truly desperate to resort to any sort of insects or grubs.<\/p>\n Just Say No To Prairie Dogs<\/strong><\/p>\n The Wyoming flatlands have an abundance of what is at least rumored to be a hard-luck dish for pioneers \u2014 prairie dogs.<\/p>\n But Rice said he\u2019d pass on those too.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019d probably be able to catch a rabbit as easily as a prairie dog,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019d want to wait until after a hard frost to eat any small furry animals anyway because of all the fleas and ticks they\u2019ve got on them.\u201d<\/p>\n Avid outdoorsman Paul Ulrich of Pinedale said he\u2019d probably rather starve to death than dine on prairie dogs.<\/p>\n \u201cThe one that\u2019s always horrified me the most is the thought of eating prairie dogs.\u00a0It would be hard to choke down a prairie dog. It would be a tough one,\u201d he told Cowboy State Daily.<\/p>\n Other Hideous Critters<\/strong><\/p>\n Ulrich added that he once knew somebody who, on a whim, decided to capture, kill, cook and eat a water snake.<\/p>\n He said it didn\u2019t end well.<\/p>\n The aroma of water snake roasting over an open fire wasn\u2019t exactly appealing.<\/p>\n \u201cI can assure you they did not enjoy cooking that snake,\u201d Ulrich said. \u201cAnd upon eating it, he told me it was rather bland.\u201d<\/p>\n But the snake eventually got its revenge, he added.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen that snake \u2026 \u2018revealed itself\u2019 a few hours later, it was not a pleasant experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ulrich said he\u2019s been hard up enough for dinner to eat some scrawny prairie cottontail rabbits, sauteed with olive oil and some pepper.<\/p>\n Foul Waterfowl<\/strong><\/p>\n Coots and mergansers are two birds that can frequently be found in waterfowl hunting hot spots. While ducks and geese have a fine reputation for good dining, coots and mergansers are generally avoided.<\/p>\n Rice said he tried to cook a coot once, but it had absolutely no redeeming qualities and should probably be reserved only to stave off starvation.<\/p>\n Mergansers, which dine on fish, also have a hideous reputation. But because they sometimes closely resemble ducks in flight, hunters sometimes mistakenly shoot them.<\/p>\n Rice said he was raised to eat whatever he killed. And after mistakenly dropping mergansers and experimenting with different cooking methods, he discovered they don\u2019t make a half bad addition to vegetable soup.<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes almost an Asian vegetable soup, because of the fish taste,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u2018Like Crispy Tortilla Chips\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Rice and some others at the West Larmie Fly Store said they\u2019d heard rumors of people resorting to eating skunks, but couldn\u2019t verify those tales.<\/p>\n While he\u2019s not keen on every trying skunk, Rice said that during his travels, he tried bat wings in soup and said they were surprisingly good.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bat wings were like crispy tortilla chips,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n So, perhaps bat wings could be added to the Wyoming survival food menu, maybe knocking prairie dogs down a notch.<\/p>\n