House kill Pheasant - legalities?

[Paul_B]

Years ago I heard the country rule about if you hit it with the car or van you coulkd not take it home to eat it. How true that is I have no idea but who would leave a nice pheasant you just hit??

Now transfer to our house with the big windows and trees reflecting in them. We get a few asmall birds like black birds a year and the odd wood pidgeon. Today was our first pheasant. Lucky to still have the window as the previous owner lost a window when a pheasant hit it. I think it was a glancing blow so enough to break its neck but not the window.

Is this housekill ok to eat? We will not be this time as no time to prep it and no place to hang it until we can prep it. So a bin job if we can't pass it on to someone this afternoon. Anyway, is it legal to eat pheasant that hit your house and died? Is it poaching? I suspect on my land it is mine (unless someone sees me taking it).

 

[TeeDee]

No ideas about the legality - I'd be amazed if you in someway couldn't legally eat it - its game on your ground.

Ref not time - just gut it quickly and hang it - its the weekend soon and still cool enough to make a better decision tomorrow.

 

[Damascus]

I think you’ll find that the bird is classed as wildlife and its on your land then I think legally it’s yours to dispose of because it’s dead, how that’s up to you!

 

[Chris]

I’d also ask with regards to roadkill, who adjudicates that? Don’t often find myself being followed around country roads by anyone who’d care.

 

[Pattree]

1. Who on Earth is going to stop you?
2. You didn’t hunt it. Theoretically, running down a pheasant is hunting it. Strangely a passer by, seeing a road kill is permitted to take it. I think you are free to do with it what you will.
3. I don’t know which police district you are in but I KNOW they don’t want the paperwork on that one.

4. I wouldn’t gut it yet. I’d hang it for five days. Yes gutting will be smelly. Wash it well and the meat will melt in your mouth. Around here they used to hang pheasant with a string around its neck and pick it up off the floor when it dropped! I wouldn’t recommend THAT in fly/time.

 

[MartinK9]

Snip>

4. I wouldn’t gut it yet. I’d hang it for five days. Yes gutting will be smelly. Wash it well and the meat will melt in your mouth. Around here they used to hang pheasant with a string around its neck and pick it up off the floor when it dropped! I wouldn’t recommend THAT in fly/time.

If you are going to do that make sure your missus has either read or watched Shogun.....

 

[The Frightful]

As far as i'm aware, if its in season, its fair game

 

[Pattree]

Unfair game tastes just as good!
Pheasants don’t use calendars when they suicide!

 

[British Red]

It's fine. It's on your land & you didn't hunt or catch it in an illegal way.

If you haven't time to dress it, pinch the skin over the breast bone and slit the skin open pulling it apart. Take a sharp slim knife & line it up with the breast bone along the length of the bird. Keeping the blade flat to the breast bone slice down and away from the centre line to cut off the breast. It takes 10 seconds .

Then go down to the legs. Slice around the leg where it meets the body. Pull the leg outwards and towards the head to dislocate the hip. The leg comes away. Nick the tendons in the knee joint and bend the knee backwards to remove the foot. You can then skin or pluck the leg.

You can get both breasts and legs off in under a minute & that's 80% of the useable meat.

 

[JonathanD]

Get it cooked. All is good.

 

[MrEd]

I can neither confirm or deny that I hit a pheasant in my car and put it in my boot, and ate it later. I also cannot confirm that my wedding buttonhole was a feather from said hypothetical bird.

Eat it, will be nice.

 

[Paul_B]

Legal query was a theoretical. If I had time it would have been food for us. I was just curious as to the exact legal situation not that it would matter.

I literally had no time to do anything with it. A very busy day so it's in a bin bag in the wheelie bin ready for the next collection. A waste but I am now away from home and where I am won't appreciate me dealing with it there. A waste but nobody wanted it that I spoke to!

I've never dealt with pheasant personally but my dad may or may not have found a fresh roadkill in his car when taking our luggage out one Xmas visit to family. He dealt with it with his dad. I watched at first then got bored as I was a young kid.

They hung it for a few days in a copl shed with it being Xmas. Then after the day and boxing day they went out and plucked it. My gran then took the meat off and cooked it in a pie with turkey. That was an amazing pie!

 

[TeeDee]

#### ONLY PLAY IF NOT SQUEAMISH !!! AND AN ADULT ####

 

[slowworm]

It does make me wonder if you can eat anything else that dies on your windows, perhaps save the blackbirds up until you have 24?

We have one large window that's a bit of a bird magnet, we put some spare fruit cage netting over it last spring and we've been strike free this last year.

 

[demographic]

On a side note, I wonder how many songbirds have been killed because of architects obsession with massive windows on public buildings, especially the ones where the bird can see through to another massive window and therefore see daylight through it..
I've worked in quite a few public buildings like that over the years and birdstrikes were an issue with that design.

I wouldn't mind but the buildings are themselves often pretty awfull anyway. Too hot in summer and need a lot of heating during winter.