# English Sparrow are game?



## TheBigEasy (Dec 27, 2004)

I was reading through the small game species, and the English sparrow is listed under the no closed season category. You can really hunt a sparrow? I guess you can, cause the book says you can, but do people actually go sparrow hunting? And do people eat them? I found it kind of strange, says you can hunt starlings and Feral Pigeons also all year.


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

Most kids raised on a farm have "hunted" sparrows since they were old enough to use a BB gun. I am sure that I had taken well over a 1000 by the time I graduated from high school. The birds were a pest around the barns. The ones we dropped inside the barns were thrown outside, otherwise they laid where they dropped. I doubt that many people have ever tasted sparrow. Took some pigeons, starlings, grackles, mice, & rats with the BB gun too. Stray cats were fair game also with a more powerful weapon. 

L & O


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## sigman (Nov 2, 2006)

Not much meat. Tastes like chicken


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## TheBigEasy (Dec 27, 2004)

I admit to plucking a few off branches from time to time. But i did not know they were actually a game animal.


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

TheBigEasy said:


> ....... But i did not know they were actually a game animal.


??? They're not. 

L & O


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

English Sparrows, Starlings, feral pigeons, all nonindigenous species that compete big time with our native song birds. If it were even possible to totally eradicate them, they would not be missed, but we would see a lot more of the birds that actually belong here. The displaced natives are generally more colorful and have better songs anyhow IMHO.


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## Whit1 (Apr 27, 2001)

Mr. E knows of what he speaks.

The English Sparrow in a non-native bird that was an early (19th Century I believe) invasive species along with other birds that Paul mentions. In this country, without natural predators and diseases the population exploded and they began to crowd out native bird species that filled the same niche.

To call them a "gamebird" would be a misnomer, however. It would take a *LOT* of English Sparrows to make _"Sparrow Breast sauteed in Garlic and Wine Sauce". _ One would not want the reputation of being known as a plucker of THAT many English Sparrows.


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## 2PawsRiver (Aug 4, 2002)

It is often that I learn something new here.


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## TheBigEasy (Dec 27, 2004)

I wonder what a full mount of an English Sparrow will run me:lol:


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## Banditto (Jun 9, 2000)

Even in Europe they are a pest. I have read stories of how the birds can get so thick they block out the sun. In some places they poison them they get so out of control.


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## wally-eye (Oct 27, 2004)

174 sparrow breasts in a crock pot with mushroom soup.... yum yum.....:evil:


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

wally-eye said:


> 174 sparrow breasts in a crock pot with mushroom soup.... yum yum.....:evil:


You would be doing the indigenous species a favor. Go for it.:evilsmile


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## sfw1960 (Apr 7, 2002)

ESOX said:


> You would be doing the indigenous species a favor. Go for it.:evilsmile


Yeah ,

What he said , "Mr. Back Yard Keeper" of the carniverous chipmunk Crosman population control gestapo ...LOL!

A chicken in every crock pot!!
:lol: :lol: :lol:
What time is lunch??
:evilsmile


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## john warren (Jan 25, 2005)

actually sparrow is quite good. seasoned and deepfried whole. you can munch them bones and all.


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## BradU20 (Jan 17, 2005)

Liver and Onions said:


> Took some pigeons, starlings, *grackles*, mice, & rats with the BB gun too. Stray cats were fair game also with a more powerful weapon.
> 
> L & O


FYI...Grackles are native species, not to be lumped in with starlings, E.sparrows and the like. I have noticed they are often confused. As for the rest of your list - fire away.


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## Undertow (Apr 5, 2006)

Me and my buddys use to shoot those all the time with bb guns when we were kids.
Undertow


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## Fishslayer5789 (Mar 1, 2007)

Sparrows are actually very aggressive birds and will push the eggs of native birds out of their nest and take over the nest for their own young. They are definately a problem but I would not eat one if I shot it.


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## tbbassdaddy (Apr 21, 2006)

john warren said:


> actually sparrow is quite good. seasoned and deepfried whole. you can munch them bones and all.


 
Sounds like the "air" equivalent to smelt?!?!?! :lol:
tb


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

"174 sparrow breasts in a crock pot with mushroom soup.... yum yum"

would the above recipe be considered 'under glass'? Most crackpots have a glass lid.


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## sfw1960 (Apr 7, 2002)

CL-Lewiston said:


> "174 sparrow breasts in a crock pot with mushroom soup.... yum yum"
> 
> would the above recipe be considered 'under glass'? Most crackpots have a glass lid.


:lol: :lol: :lol:


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## timbergsp (Feb 10, 2003)

my grandpa used to tell me about when he was a kid they would get 2 cents a bird for them just took them up to the court house and give them to the clerk 


this was somthing to do with keeping the kids out of trouble

he said the clerk would toss them out the window and he would go pick them up and take them back in about 1 hour later 

then they started cutting the heads off first before they tossed them out the window

scott


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## roger23 (Jan 14, 2001)

john warren said:


> actually sparrow is quite good. seasoned and deepfried whole. you can munch them bones and all.


I ate them in Laos .they were some kind of sparrow, the locals cooked them and were eating them ,we ate bones and all, all I can remember was crunching the bones, in my opinion they are right up there with fish heads and rice.we lived off the land ..as we were really never there.and nothing else to eat..those were the days,Forgot they left the heads on little round skulls ..


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## Sam22 (Jan 22, 2003)

I have thought about taking a walk in the summer to shoot all these pest species, I am always worried that I would get in trouble. I don't think a CO would buy the story. I think people would get suspicious.


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## wally-eye (Oct 27, 2004)

roger23 said:


> I ate them in Laos .they were some kind of sparrow, the locals cooked them and were eating them ,we ate bones and all, all I can remember was crunching the bones, in my opinion they are right up there with fish heads and rice.we lived off the land ..as we were really never there.and nothing else to eat..those were the days,Forgot they left the heads on little round skulls ..


 
When I was on vacation in SE Asia in 68/69 I ate something that looked like a rat on a stick. Ate it, wasn't bad but I surely didn't ask what it was............but watched baby-son eat 3 of them so I felt sorta safe....


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## TrekJeff (Sep 7, 2007)

Invasive, non native blah blah...so many non-native species are protected and regulated, too bad...I'd love it if there wasn't a season for Brown Trout, Sheshwan Pheasant(sp)..hahahaha


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## john warren (Jan 25, 2005)

cool i wasn't there too. before they told us we had to get out. still recall the taste of monkey, lizard, and those yummy grubs we would get from half rotted logs.


roger23 said:


> I ate them in Laos .they were some kind of sparrow, the locals cooked them and were eating them ,we ate bones and all, all I can remember was crunching the bones, in my opinion they are right up there with fish heads and rice.we lived off the land ..as we were really never there.and nothing else to eat..those were the days,Forgot they left the heads on little round skulls ..


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## snowman11 (Nov 21, 2006)

I just wish they would open the season on Blue Jays. I'd make special trips to shoot those birds. 

Dont tell anybody, but my grandma used to shoot them out of the bedroom window. She liked her songbirds and the bluejays were bullies....

And yes, I spent a lot of time "hunting" sparrows as a kid.


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## pwatol (Jul 25, 2007)

A couple of facts:

House sparrows (or English sparrows, as they're referred to in the regulations and statute) are not game species. They are an unprotected species (it's a fine distinction sometimes).

House sparrows were introduced to North America in the mid and late 1800s (the first introductions didn't take so folks kept trying). As the birds spread westward, states instituted bounties and other efforts to try to eliminate them since they both competed with native birds and could become a pest. Michigan had a bounty system paid out by the county clerks. It was found that a) county clerks couldn't tell a house sparrow from pretty much any other small brown bird - so native birds were getting taken, b) small children saw sparrow (and starling) bounties as a money maker - they'd catch adult sparrows and breed them and bring their offspring in for the bounties, c) it was very expensive - individual counties recorded annual outlays in the neighborhood of $2,000-$4,000 in the late 1800s, and d) it didn't do anything to reduce the numbers of sparrows. The house sparrow bounty was taken off the books fairly early. The crow and starling bounties were taken off the books last year (bounties hadn't been paid in years on these species).

In Europe, house sparrows are actually in decline. You can usually find a certain amount of ire from Europe on the birdwatching forums where North Americans extol the virtues of exterminating house sparrows. Ironically, Europeans feel similarly about our bluebirds which got introduced over there and are apparently doing well. Here's an interesting story on the reaction to the killing of a house sparrow in Europe: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino_Day_2005_sparrow

As far as eating them goes, there's actually a book that contains at least one recipe: nytimes.com/2007/04/04/dining/04rine.html?_r=1&oref=slogin


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## wyle_e_coyote (Aug 13, 2004)

Never eaten Sparrow, but Pigeon is very good.


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## roger23 (Jan 14, 2001)

john warren said:


> cool i wasn't there too. before they told us we had to get out. still recall the taste of monkey, lizard, and those yummy grubs we would get from half rotted logs.


Its amazing the things we did not do..monkey legs taste just like chicken ...yea right ,,I never thought I would eat any of that stuff ..but when you are hungry many would be surprised the stuff you can live on


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## HunterHawk (Dec 8, 2005)

my aunt is an anti hunter and she has no place for sparrows.. she wont kill them but she has as many sparrow traps as she has blades of grass i think because she loves her blue birds and they go in the blue bird houses and kick out the blue birds and blue bird eggs and raise there own... little hellyens.....

i cant even tell you how many sparrows and starlings i shot when i was a kid... i had a pump pellet/ BB daisy air gun and me and that gun killed TONS of birds.. My aunt and uncle own a farm and they used to watch me when i was little and they had 2 bushes and one day they got a new refrigerator and i kid you not that box was the best sparrow hunting blind in the world... they would practically land an inch away from my gun and blam and of course they didnt know where it was coming from so they would all come back... man oh man i used to shoot em like crazy until i found my uncles reloading bbs for shotguns in his basement and i had this great idea to pump up the gun and then poor these down the barrel after i put a bb in.... turns out bb guns dont make good shotguns because the gun jammed and the fun was over.... that was a good day for the sparrows.:lol:


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