Roadkill anyone?

[Dr Ignominious Death]

The other day I was driving home from church and noticed a dead 180ish lbs deer just off the road.  I performed a very brief drive-by assessment and felt the deer had probably been killed sometime the night prior. I started hunting about a year ago, prior to that roadkill was just roadkill; filthy, diseased, worm-ridden carcasses. I do admit once to stopping on a remote highway and plucking some feathers from a dead pheasant to tie some flies, but I would never have consider taking a roadkill animal home for food. However, now if I can claim to be a novice hunter, when I saw this deer I thought; "What a waste of perfectly good meat; it would be good practice for learning how to clean a deer and crap, church was way too long and I'm starving."

 

So my questions are thus: 1) anyone willing to confess and share details about utilization of road kill?  2) Is it legal to take roadkill and process it? 3) Is it totally white trash for me to have those thoughts?  (This is almost like a confessional for me).

 

I never did go back to get the deer, I'm kind of wishing I had, not because we are desperate for food, but rather for the reasons stated above. Thanks all.

[BizCT]

Eating roadkill? Yikes.

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[WNYBuckHunter]

I might take one IF i hit it or saw it get hit, and the only damage was to the head. I dont want to pick bone fragments out of the meat. Also, in this kind of heat, the meat can spoil FAST, if its been laying long, forget it.

[fasteddie]

I have never picked up any roadkill and I don't think it is legal to do so ........

 

A guy I went to school with took the head of a roadkill buck and was going to have it mounted . He is a braggart and someone reported the incident . The DEC went to his home and demanded the deer remains . If he hadn't given it up they would have pressed charges .

[BizCT]

Why mount a roadlkill buck? Weird.

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[waterweasle]

^{you can get a carcass tag from the cops for a roadkill deer,}

[shawnhu]

you can get a carcass tag from the cops for a roadkill deer,

Don't know about the cops, but you can definitely get carcass tags from DEC.

[fasteddie]

^{you can get a carcass tag from the cops for a roadkill deer,}

 

And ..... that makes it legal . Just stopping to pick it up , isn't .

[waterweasle]

And ..... that makes it legal . Just stopping to pick it up , isn't .

 

 

uhhhh yeah, just stating that you can get a carcass tag from a cop,

 

[noahmstone]

I have eaten road kill deer before. Never stopped to pick it up myself but I remember as a kid my mothers friend was bringing us home and hit a deer the trooper asked if she wanted it or knew anyone that wanted it. My father went and picked it up knowing it was fresh and it had only been hit in the head so the body wasn't damaged. Also a few years ago my father hit a yearling in the head with his week old jeep and we ended up having an excellent cook out that weekend. The most tender deer I had ever eaten. I wouldn't pick up a road kill deer unless I knew how fresh it was and I knew that there was only damage to head but if I didn't have any venison in the freezer and really had a craving for it I would pick it up if it fell under those circumstances.

Edited July 17, 2013 by noahmstone

[PREDATE]

My grandfather used to get tips about fresh road killed deer.He used it only for feeding to his hawks. He raised 500 bobwhite quail every year for the hawks, but the hawks liked some venny too.

 

Please don't consume carrion! LOL

 

Here's the dead animal reporting page from the DEC website.http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/6957.html

Edited July 17, 2013 by PREDATE

[EspressoBuzz]

I had a family friend near Princeton NJ and he got in good with the local PD and they use to call him to come remove the road kills. Sometimes at all hours of the night.I'm sure from what i saw in the freezer he doled it out at the Police HQ.

[Airstrike]

You may possess the deer ONLY if you have a tag. The tag can be issued by a Trooper, deputy, DEC officer, or local PD at the scene of the accident. See if the agency maintains a list of people wanting road kill. Just be prepared to get a call at late hours.

[Early]

I have processed three road killed deer...all approvecd by local law officers...no tags necessary.  I will never do it again...unless I witness a kill by head blow.  The ones I got were a real mess to work with:  lots of aggravation...little meat.  Like I said....never again.

[wooly]

A few years back I had one run into the side of my truck, so on my way back I scooped it up and threw it in the bed thinking it just broke it's neck. Once I opened it up, all the innards were jello, and every bone in that deers body was splintered into the meat....just an absolute disgusting mess! Dragged that one out back for the critters.

 

A southern buddy of mine from SC then told me about a method they use down there where they just skin down the back and cut out the backstraps without messing around with any of the other stuff.

 

A few years later, I hit 2 more deer in consecutive days, in the same spot on my way to my hunting grounds,lol. I tried his method right on the shoulder of the road on my way home and it worked out great! I'd never take an entire carcass again, but his technique was worth the 5-10 minutes it took me to extract them tender, tastey, prime cuts!

Just pray you don't get pulled over after this with bloody hands and knife in the truck....