I never tasted any, but there used to be jokes about coot, which eat mostly fish, which gives taste few people like. There used to be a recipe for cooking them, which involved nailing them to a shingle, baking three hours, thowing the coot away and eating the shingle. I doubt very much that the early Colonists ate the Turkeys that were numerous, but too wary to be killed with weapons Colonists had. Remember, Ben Fanklin wanted the Turkey to be made the National emblem, because it was so smart.