I know I'd rather hunt my own meat than buy it, but where do I start?

[mountainm]

Getting a rod licence is easy, you can buy one over the counter at any Post Office or via the EA website http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/recreation/fishing/31497.aspx, takes minutes to do, or as many people do these days, pay for it with a DD and it just arrives in the post every year

You can also buy a day license, or an 8 day licence if you just want to give it a go or fish over a holiday. There is also a hefty extra charge if you want to fish for "game" fish - ie. migratory Trout and Salmon

But it's all there on the link

 

[Tyla]

I suggest you try and find someone local to you that is willing to take you out. If you like it and are capable then get permission and try by yourself. To be honest though, it sounds like you'll struggle.

 

[leahcim]

I was a butcher for a long time and cut wild game as well. I dont know how game shops work in England, but deer plants here, most people eat the backstraps round legs and tenderlion and basically throw the other meat away. what a shame. so the butchers are force to deal with the left over parts, many neck, shoulders, shanks from legs, and heads. Organ meat is normally left on the ground for the coyotes and buzzards to eat. Go into the shop, and tell the butcher you are training to be a chef or be honest with him and tell him you struggling and need the meat, ask for all shanks, and other meat they consider trash (remember they pay people to come get the waste, the less waste they less they pay out, so you doing them a favor. if they tell you that or not.) if you have a cute girl, they be glad to help her out even more.

Skanks boiled down for 12 hours- 24 hours, in 4 gallon pot, adding 3 fills of water during cooking. make a brunswick stew out of it. the meat is tough, but oce cooked this way is is melting in your mouth really at 8-9 hours.

trimmings made into sausage patties, just add a seasoning mix, like for chicken, pork rub, etc.

Necks boiled down the same as shank meats

the head, tongue is cooked the same way as sheeps head, and the cheek meat is wonderful, if not tastier than tenderlion 'filet migon'.

but if you want free meat ask local hunters who are not going to eat all the parts. you be surprised how fast you can fill your freezer.

ask local hunters to save liver and heart as well for you if it isnt expoloded. remove bluish covering memebrane from liverbefore cooking, and the little gall sack. sear liver very fast add onions, celery, and red wine to deglaze pan then add cream of mushroom soup, add as a topping to the liver slices.

the heat is sliced or diced and cooked really fast with butter olive oil and red wine, add to a rice mix or a row-so-toe, that is spicy like spanish rice or tomatoe and parmessan cheese rosito.

ex-New York City Butcher tip for more wild game eat.

those who want to tan hides, do bone works, make tallow for crafts, deer toes for dogs etc. you really are helping the butchers, if you come get them, unless they are contracted out by french prefume people, since deer fat is highly prized for exspeive prefumes, and leather for NIKE shoes. But any classes in England needing hides and bones, the butcher game shop is a great place to get loads of this stuff.

 

[bearbait]

Some livestock farmers kill and butcher (or have them done) their own lambs, sheep and cattle. If you ask around you may find a farmer that will sell you a whole butchered lamb, or part of a beast next time he/she does one for themselves. Chances are that the creatures will be going to a local abattoir (not that there's many left these days) so food miles will be low(ish). Some farmers rear a few extras, such as geese or ducks or turkeys, for sale locally at certain times of the year. If the first farmer you ask doesn't do it he'll likely know who does in your area. You could try just organic farms or those signed into one or other of the ethical schemes.

You could also consider rearing a couple of chickens for a) eggs and b) the pot when they stop laying. Or even rearing your own bunnies. That was done quite widely during WW2.

 

[northumbrian]

Some livestock farmers kill and butcher (or have them done) their own lambs, sheep and cattle. If you ask around you may find a farmer that will sell you a whole butchered lamb, or part of a beast next time he/she does one for themselves. Chances are that the creatures will be going to a local abattoir (not that there's many left these days) so food miles will be low(ish). Some farmers rear a few extras, such as geese or ducks or turkeys, for sale locally at certain times of the year. If the first farmer you ask doesn't do it he'll likely know who does in your area. You could try just organic farms or those signed into one or other of the ethical schemes.

You could also consider rearing a couple of chickens for a) eggs and b) the pot when they stop laying. Or even rearing your own bunnies. That was done quite widely during WW2.

the only people who can eat the meat a farmer has slaughtered himself are his close family otherwise it is against the law !

 

[northumbrian]

Please don't catch and kill fish from your local river or canal - a lot of good people have paid a lot of money for those fish to be in there..... the odd rainbow trout is fine I guess, and Zander is an alien species. But anything else please don't kill...

lol thats u and me enimies now then.lol

 

[northumbrian]

Getting a rod licence is easy, you can buy one over the counter at any Post Office or via the EA website http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/recreation/fishing/31497.aspx, takes minutes to do, or as many people do these days, pay for it with a DD and it just arrives in the post every year

move to scotland no rod liecence there.

 

[WolfCub]

If the beast is killed 'on the farm' it can't be sold commercialy and is 'familly/personal use'.

Some farmers now will keep back the smaller, larger or not full market grade lambs etc. These are sometimes sent to a local slaughter house as 'private kills'. These can be sold as they've gone through the recognised slaughter system.
If you can find a farmer who dose this you can get a genuine bargain on a whole lamb over high street prices. The cutting will be basic, the meat may not reach the specified mark for a shop (lot of variables to why, normaly dosn't really matter)

Just vary how you cook it relevant to how it is as leahcim said re. game. You can get a real bargain. Difficulty will always be making the contacts.

 

[Aaron Rushton]

if you want to go fishing without all that fuss, then try the sea. no license for rods and no permit required. you just need a rod, reel, line, a string of feathers whipped to hooks,a lead and you can have enough mackeral to feed your family for a week in 3 hours. of course it's not as simple as that in the real world, but they're are the easiest fish in the sea to catch. talk to a local angler or fishing shop owner and they'll point you in the right directin. right now is prime macheral season an they'll be plenty of them around our coasts, all you need to do i cast out your feathers then jig and real them back. do this repetativelyy and it shouldnt be lon before you find a shoal.


hunting is a different matter al together, wheras all the kit i mentioned above will set you back about £50, a powerful, accurate airgun will set you back around £200-250, and about £30 for a scope on top of it. even then it takes at least a month of practice and geting used to the rifle before you even consdier taking live quarry. i recommend you join an airgun club and get the feel of a few guns and talk to to people face to face. your maximum hunting range, in some cases up to 45 yards if your a really good shot, is determined by the maximum range at which you can get all your pellets in a £1 piece. this is an accurate sized killzone for rabbits, pigeons and squirrelsl. you should try to take headshots whenever you can as these are the only shots which ensure a quick painless death.

 

[Toddy]

Ruthiemari, from what you describe of your circumstances, grow your own is the best way I reckon.
There are specific breeds of rabbit, chickens, ducks and so on for smallholders needing meat and eggs on a budget and in small family sized quanitites.
I suggest that a good read through some of the smallholding sites or magazines would prove very useful.

Best of luck with it

cheers,
Toddy

 

[leahcim]

raising Rabbits is very easy to do, and quick meat. England sounds like they have tons of the wild stuff roamiong sheep fields, but not easily hunting in south walking for the elusive swamp rabbit. But I grew up eating Rabbit, Shrimp, and Deer. i didnt know what a steak was until I was 16 years old. I thought it was normal to eat squirrel brains for supper. But anyways, a lot of meat very quickly, at low cost. We raised cockatail, buggies, and parrots and for the exchange at pet store we got rabbit fed, but eateries, throw tons of lettuce, and veggie scraps away to feed the rabbits. So the food can be had for the cost of picking the scraps up, and maybe helping with dishwashing once in awhile or giving some rabbit meat in return. but dont build pens out of wood, rabbits must chew and will eat their way through. but leave wood branches for them to chew. Rabbits love innerbarks of trees.

 

[FGYT]

also look at Quail for meat they are small easy to keep and fast to the pot.

i get lamb from the field next door they are slaughtered in the local abattoir 10mins up the road

we will be getting pigs next year for meat and they will be sent to an abattoir (unfortunalty the close local one only does cattle and sheep)

pigs can be home slaughtered but can only be eaten by those living on the property ( ie you cant serve it to guests )

Sheep and cattle ie BSE animals if home slaughtered can only be eaten by the person who tends and kills them

all the above anrt worth the hassle and cost to do it your self (pay for guts to be disposed of legally etc)

poultry are the same as pigs but actually worth doing and easy to kill and process again you cant sell or give them away unless your qualified etc

rabbits can only be sold on to a game dealer if you have your small game handling cert etc

if you want to Hunt you need to learn to shoot then learn to get close it could take several Hrs to get dinner or even nothing.

ATB

Duncan

 

[spandit]

If you're worried about tough meat, a pressure cooker is well worth the investment. Also great for making stock, rillettes, rendering fat etc.

 

[johnnytheboy]

A good option would be to join a local shoot, depending on your time and available money. We have a wee shoot where we raise pheasants feed a duck pond. We also get a good flight of wood pigeons the odd rabbit and there are a few deer about, realistically we do allot more conservation and land managment than we do shooting but it allows us to put something back. It would also give you somewhere to do the odd bit bushcrafting plus wild forgaging. Its a good social activity plus it opens doors to other shooting! and keeps the freexer full enough to enjoy throughout the year!

 

[The Ratcatcher]

I wish I was near the coast - sea fishing and shellfish gathering would be fab and easy, and I know (more or less) how to do it all!

Sadly I am in the heart of the Pennines. At least a hundred miles from ANY coast, and probably more like 150 miles to any coast I'd like to eat stuff from.

Actually you're not that far from the coast. I'm in Manchester, and it's about 40 miles to the sea from here, and you're not that far east of Manchester. There are shellfish beds along the coast around the Ribble estuary, and some beach fishing along the Fylde coast.

I still have 'snails? eww' issues going on. Care to enlighten me

Gun club is a good idea. (I just have to get over my isshoos about expecting it to be full of hooray henries, or people who like torturing animals, or loads of patronising men)

 

[The Ratcatcher]

Sometime soon I'll work out how to use this thing.

Until then, please ignore any mistakes.