We eat ducks and geese why not swans? I never hear of people hunting them either.
Huh? You don’t have KFS where you live?
because swans are beautiful, majestic. if they had the face of a vulture, then Hellooooooooo frying pan!
Where did you get the idea that we don’t? They (the swans) just aren’t around these parts that much.
Peace,
mangeorge
I only know two things;
I know what I need to know
And
I know what I want to know
Mangeorge, 2000
Are they yummy?
if swans aren’t around your parts much, it’s probably because everyone’s eating them!
<marquee> :D</marquee>
“I drive way too fast to worry about my cholesterol.”
Swans are a triumph of PR. They may look graceful, but they are really mean. It’s best to just admire them from a distance.
I imagine that like any type of waterfowl, you can pluck 'em, gut 'em, and eat 'em.
And where is fried vulture a common delicacy?
Gypsy: Tom, I don’t get you.
Tom Servo: Nobody does. I’m the wind, baby.
“if swans aren’t around your parts much,”
—NickyLarson
Hey, watch it, buddy. I know all about Leda. 
Peace,
mangeorge
My guess would be that they are:
(A) Hard to domesticate since they are ill tempered nasty brutes who like to bite.
(B) Worth more alive than dead.
For that matter, I don’t see goose at the local grocery store though I know there are domesticated geese intended for food. Just no market for swan meat I guess.
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
As far as wild swans, or other waterfowl for that matter, you don’t see 'em at the store because it is illegal to commercialize wild birds in the U.S. See the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, 16 USC 703 et seq. for details, which also sets the rules for seasons on game birds like ducks; there is no season for swans.
Domesticated swans would be another matter, but they taste not much better than the least-preferred ducks, like scoters or mergansers. Tasty waterfowl tend to be seed-eaters like pintails or geese. So there isn’t much demand for captive-raising them either, other than for aesthetic purposes.
I don’t know if this is the reason that nobody anywhere seems to eat them anymore, but swans were eaten all through the late middel ages in Great Britain, up to and beyond the reign of Henry VIII; then somebody or other (I don’t know which monarch exactly) passed a law saying that all swans in the kingdom belonged to the crown, as they were such tasty eating I presume. This would most probably lead to a loss of popularity for the animal as a meal, as being caught frying one up on the 'ole hearth would get you into big trouble. Sorry for the vague-ness of my post, but this is about all I remember from history class.
[vain attempt to keep straight face]You know they changed the name to an acronym because they really aren’t swans at all but headless, feetless, featherless bioengineered organisms.[/vain attempt to keep straight face]
Don’t expect logical consistency, vegetarians excepted, in how we see certain animals as food and/or pets in this country. Ostrich and Emu ranching is a good example. Lots of sensible reasons they should be more popular than beef but it didn’t work out that way.
I know someone who legally shot a wild swan. Some species are plentiful enough that permits are issued for hunting them, the same as wild geese and ducks except more controlled. I don’t know if he ate it or not, it had an enormous neck and was a fairly large bird.
Here’s a page of assholes who shoot and eat Dakota Tundra and Trumpeter swans. The picture bears out exactly what Frolix8 said 
Swans are like many water birds are very susceptible to lead poisoning. A swan with this
condition will not hold it’s neck and head up, but leave it’s neck bent down.
I’m only your wildest fear, from the corners of your darkest thoughts.
Auggggh. So much for cut and paste from a word processor.
Swans like many water birds are very susceptible to lead poisoning. A swan with this condition will not hold it’s neck and head up, but leave it’s neck bent down.
I’m only your wildest fear, from the corners of your darkest thoughts.
Apparently the first remove at a traditional Russian wedding feast (Pir) is roast swan.
I agree with Padeye, that cultual preferences for certain foods don’t really follow any consistant logic. I hear dog is quite tasty. That, at least, is the opinion of many Polynesians. Of course, many of them were said to be quite fond of longpig, at one time.
If you’re not finishin’ that swan, kin I have it?
Uke
Nickrz, why are they assholes? do you not eat meat?
Hunting swans in MD is illegal, I thought it was illegal in many states.