Rattlesnake on the Grill

One of the unpleasant sides to raising critters, is you have to protect them from danger. Rattlesnakes can cause a lot of harm. They are removed or dispatched depending on location around the farm. I decided not to let this one go to waste after dispatching, and cooked it up for supper. This was a Prairie rattler.
After removing a rattler's head, bury it so no one will get hurt. The severed head is still dangerous!

Skin and clean the snake.
I soaked the meat in salt water overnight and stretched and salted the hide.

 This will make a good belt or hat band in the future...

After rinsing the meat, I divided it into smaller portions so I could try a few different recipe ideas..

I made jalapeno stuffed, bacon wrapped rattler... and blackened rattler with scallions..

I chickenfried a few pieces... used an egg/milk wash and seasoned flour..

Fried til golden and set on the lower side of the heat to keep warm..

Made a caper, lemon, scallion, garlic butter sauce....

Grilled a few pieces for color before adding to the caper sauce to simmer...

The blackened rattlesnake with scallions...

Supper is ready!
Rattlesnake in caper, lemon, garlic, butter sauce. Chickenfried rattler, blackened rattler with scallions and jalapeno stuffed, bacon wrapped rattler.

The meat runs in strips along the back. Think of it as a small backstrap.
First bite was the blackened....

then the chickenfried....

next the bacon wrapped, jalapeno stuffed rattlesnake...

and lastly, the caper, lemon, garlic butter simmered rattlesnake...

I'll have to say, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I've had chickenfried and grilled rattlesnake plenty of times, the blackened, bacon wrapped and caper sauce variations were pretty darned good!

The lemon, caper, garlic butter sauced rattlesnake was my favorite. Second came the bacon wrapped with jalapeno, Third was the blackened. I went too heavy on the blackened seasoning and it was a bit spicy for my taste buds. Next time I'll go easier on it. The flavor was good, just too hot for me.
Lastly was the chickenfried. Anything chickenfried is good in my book but I enjoyed the flavors of the others better this time.

Things are looking up here. I have the wildfire damaged pasture fencing rebuilt, received a small amount of rain (which is better than no rain), and the animals are all healthy and happy.

Hope everyone is doing well!
Thanks for stopping by!