# Does anyone have any suggestion for safely eating roadkill?



## allenwrench (Sep 9, 2008)

Lots of deer roadkill in my state. Does anyone have any suggestion for safely eating roadkill? 

As in determining if it is safe or fresh enough to eat and not diseased?

I am referring to road kill one comes across and not hits with ones own vehicle. So determining how long it was dead is important. Also, if it is cold / hot outside, how will that change the plan?

Is smell the main determining factor? If it does not stink - is it OK to eat?


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Here in Missouri you can get on a list with Conservation Department and they will call you to let you know a Deer has been hit,you go pick it up.Hard telling how much you can salvage some time none of it.And some times most of it.

big rockpile


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## PhilJohnson (Dec 24, 2006)

I wouldn't eat anything I didn't see get or I hit myself. I wouldn't know from first hand experience but I have heard that once an animal sits for a while the meat gets tainted with the guts. It gives it a rather unpleasant taste. If it was cold out (under 40 degrees) I'd imagine it could sit for a while before it would go bad.


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## woodsman (Dec 8, 2008)

You don't know what condition animal was in before it died. It could have stumbled onto the road because it was week from some disease. 

I'm with PhilJohnson on this one - if I didn't kill it and bleed it - I'd leave it to vultures who are much better adjusted to eating carrion.


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## SunnyJim (Oct 28, 2008)

My dad was a county cop and if the people that hit a deer didn't want it, he'd bring it home in the trunk of his squad car and I'd dress it while he went back to work.

It's a stinky job and not one I'm in a hurry to do again. Unless you saw the deer hit or could still see steam rising from it, I would leave it. If you decide to try it, stand downwind when you make that first cut into the bloated belly.


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## Rockytopsis (Dec 29, 2007)

3 deer ran in front of a neighbor and she hit and killed 2 of them, $4,000.00 damage to her truck. She called DH and another neighbor and they got the 2 deer and by the time they got through cutting all the bad stuff away they were very tired. Also the deer were not bled properly and one needs to keep that in mind. To me because of that this meat seems a little stronger than the ones they took on regular hunt.


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

Even if there is significant damage done to the deer, it might still be useful as dog food. But I wouldn't feed it to my dogs if I questioned how long it had been laying there


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

we have some rules for road kill deer. you have to hit it, see it be hit or it still has to be alive when you get there , it must be 32 or below and you have to be able to gut it right away

now i should add that since you may have to wait hours for a cop to tag if it is still alive i don't think they want to have to put down a deer , sothey wait hoping it is dead when they get there, it this is almost imposable unless you hit it yourself , but even then some cops won't let you gut it there.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

If your going to eat road kill I suggest you get as far over on the shoulder as you can and face traffic.


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## woodsman (Dec 8, 2008)

You could gut the deer and tell the cops when they arrive that you performed a necropsy in order to determine the cause of death.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Well I've picked up Deer that laid over night after being hit by a Tractor Trailer.Most of it was salvageable.

big rockpile


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

It's illegal here to pick up road kill unless a Game Warden/ LEO gives you permission.
The only road kill I eat is what I run over, but the dogs have gotten some hit by others


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## Pops2 (Jan 27, 2003)

if it's below freezing and the deer has been there less than 24 hrs you should be okay. screw gutting it. hang it w/ the guts in and skin it as quickly as possible. cut off any quarters that are in good shape. BE CAREFUL INSIDE the back legs don't penetrate the body cavity. don't try to bone it out on the carcass, much easier to slip & puncture the cavity. also take as much of the backstrap that is useable. the remainder makes good dog food as is. if not dump it where the fox & coyotes can feed AWAY from the road.
BRINE the meat to help draw out blood and put in moisture.


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## foxfiredidit (Apr 15, 2003)

JJ Grandits said:


> If your going to eat road kill I suggest you get as far over on the shoulder as you can and face traffic.


:duel::viking::duel:


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## uncle Will in In. (May 11, 2002)

Chop it up and boil it in a big outdoor butchering kettle. Then feed it to the hogs, and chickens. Ham and eggs are way better than road-kill deer.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

my dad an i picked up a deer on the side of the road on the way back form a bow hunting trip we had shot no deer and saw what appeared to be a very fresh kill at was around 40 out and we got a cop to tag it but he wouldn't let us gut it there , but he would help us get it on the roof of the van , we had a roof rack up there, as we lifted it up we found out what we couln't tell with it laying there that it was all busted up inside .

the guts spilled out all over that cop , by the time we got it home it stunk so bad it ended up barried in the garden 

if your 5 minutes from home sure don't bother gutting it but we were 3 hours from home yet that is to long especialy if thing got busted up in the hit.


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

Anymore around here since the Laos and Mong people moved in, those road kills don't stay on the road very long. Dang near snatch'm up before they hit the road. 

My rule of thumb. If it's still steaming, take it. If it's flat as a pancake, pass it.


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## brownegg (Jan 5, 2006)

Road kills that haven't been hit to hard can save you alot of money.

Deer that aren't hit real hard and recovered before a long period of time are fine. Once gutted and hung and skinned, it's easy to be able to tell the good meat from the bloodshot unusable meat.

Allowing good meat to rot on the road when folks could have a full belly....doesn't make good sence to me!

brownegg


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## allenwrench (Sep 9, 2008)

Great feedback...thanks to all.

It was mentioned to brine the meat if you don't bleed the deer. How is this done? 

...loved the story about the cop getting the guts spilled on him!


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## Rockytopsis (Dec 29, 2007)

We brine ours by salting and icing for a day or so. The guys even do this during hunting season. It helps to draw all the blood out. We found that on the ones the neighbor hit that soaking in salted icy water did not get all the clots out as good as when the guys bled the deer. But out of the 2 we got about 35 pounds each.


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## tinman1 (Jan 20, 2009)

We skin and quarter out a deer, even a harvested deer gets put in a cooler with cold water for 24 hours...then drain it and refill with cold water for 24 more...hang it about 2 hours,then cut it wrap it and freeze it.The first soaking gets a half a cup of apple cider vinegar to pull the excess blood out.the meat always tastes fantastic....The deer around here have almost no crops to eat so this makes them a little more gamie..this works well, even non venison eaters like it!!


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## FB.Ironworker (Feb 27, 2009)

I guess the same could apply for a moose. I know people pay alot for their antlers.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

I've got a better story than Pete's. We ran out of venison on 21 May 1983 for one day. As my son and I were eating something made with ground beef, he said: "Dad, we need to get some venison." Next day, he had some final exams at the U of WI. I was to pick him up at the end of the bus line when he was finished. On the way in, noticed a county sheriff car stopped beside a deer in the opposite lane. We returned perhaps 15 minutes later and there were 3 state patrol cars. We stopped and there was a sergeant and 3 rookies on a training tour. The lesson for that moment was dealing with deer, especially live deer. That's because the deer wasn't dead but just laying there and refusing to get up. DNR had been called and soon the word came back that there were already 7 or 8 such deer down in the county and the advice was to shoot it. One of the rookies nominated himself as the one to have the honor of putting the deer out of its misery. Since the deer was on the gravel portion of the shoulder, my son suggested that we drag it off into the grass. Advice wasn't heeded and the sergeant and I looked at each other and just shook our head. Without a word, we both turned our backs to what was going to happen. Gravel peppered our backs and my right hand caught a chunk of the brain. We turned and 3 brand new uniforms were speckled with dirt and gore! Sergeant and I just couldn't help ourselves and started laughing. One was left behind to learn how to handle the paperwork from me while the others returned to the station to clean up. Hard lesson learned!

As for the deer, she only had a slight bruise on her hip. She was ready to drop 2 fawns and simply went into shock.

Martin


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## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

If its still warm you dont have much to worry about .
as for gutting its not likely worth the trouble if ribs are broke .
just cut the quarters off without ever touching the gut sack or rib cage.
you can take the strips off the back but let get real here there isnt much meat in the ribs anyway .
If they arent warm they are dog food , if they are anywhere near your home and cold rest assured the dogs will find them anyway its best to get them away from the road . 
as for gutting on the road I doubt any officer is going to allow it, dropping the guts beside the road creates a traffic hazard buzzards owls dogs all kinds of critters will show up to feast on the guts . 
In most states if you call the sheriff or highway patrol they will give you a salvage tag, it saves them from having to remove and dispose of the carcass


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Some counties in Wisconsin have a waiting list at the sheriff's office. If there's a deer that is freshly killed and salvageable, they'll call you and advise where it's at. You just have to be prepared to get out of bed at 1AM to get it. A sister-in-law gets one every year that way. 

Martin


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## tallpaul (Sep 5, 2004)

I liked it when a friend who owns a tow and recovery service went to a call where the car had hit and killed a cow... he brought the car and the cow back! The farmer did not want the cow as he was gonna get compensated thru insurance anyhow. We took it to the processor the next day after it was gutted and hung that night.

Now that was some good road kill! 

I am of the if I see it killed its ok- I have not been hungry enough yet to deal with the others. I gave up road kill pretty much a long time ago when I saw a pretty fox carcas on the road.... I turned around stopped and picked it up to toss into my truck bed. As soon as it hit the smell hit and it was picked up and tossed back to where it was... 

The outside can look great but ... yuck


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## Farmerwilly2 (Oct 14, 2006)

JJ Grandits said:


> If your going to eat road kill I suggest you get as far over on the shoulder as you can and face traffic.


Don't forget either flares or warning triangles if there's low visibility.


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## lorihadams (Mar 12, 2009)

Hope that it got hit in the head and I agree that if you see it or hit it yourself then it is probably okay to eat.


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## starjj (May 2, 2005)

In Illinois (at least when I lived there) it was illegal to take a road killed deer. Even if you hit it you still had to report to the state that you were taking it.


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## Riverdale (Jan 20, 2008)

A true story-

Some guys I knew (they were in college at the time) would, if they ran low on food would get some red spray paint and drive from the town they lived in to another town about 30 miles away, hitting each roadkilled animal with the spray paint. 

After a little while, they would drive home, picking up anything that didn't have red paint on it:happy:


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## doc623 (Jun 7, 2004)

" ... if I didn't kill it and bleed it "
I understand the first part but I don't understand the bleeding part.


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