Road Kill

[Barney]

Reading another thread on roadkill, and having found a few tasty morsels myself, I pondered on how long after the unfortunate incident it is safe to cook and eat anything. Secondly are there any give away signs that would alert you whether the animal is too old to bother with? Apart from the obvious "its flat as a pancake and part of the road"

 

[Dave Budd]

I've always gone with the theory that if it smells bad then it likely is bad. The only flaw with that is that if the digestive system is bust then it will smell pretty quick, in which case I sniff a part of the animal away from the injury.

Alternatively, if it is a real mess then I just don't bother trying to salvage anything. yuck!

 

[xylaria]

I have a nearly useless cat. He doesn't hunt, and is a really fussy eater. He will turn is nose up at meat that smells fine to human but is on the turn. We just give him the liver. If it passes his test, then it is good meat.

We also carefully remove the intestines and they are checked very throughly indeed. I like to find out what the lethal wound was and where the broken bones are.

 

[Colin.W]

Many a fine meal has been had with the aftermath of a furry or feathered friend's lack of knowledge of the green cross code, the obvious excluding maggots (which are in themselves ritch in protien) have been mentioned if the flesh is stiff not just because it's minus 5 outside or badly smelly or too badly splatted then I look else where,As Dave said when the goey bits get split it doesnt smell too good anyway but on closer look it may just be spread over the fur and not tainted the flesh. And warm weather is terrible for turning a prospective meal into a case of the trots, providing it is properly cooked through most can be turned into a meal with a bit of common sense and trust your nose and not your stomach

 

[wingstoo]

Basically if you didn't see it die then beware, after all you don't know why it died, if a Deer it could have had a lethal injection from a vet, and it is quite likely still carrying that lethal dose in it, so you could end up ingesting it.

Have fun tasting some interesting fare.

 

[Barney]

Thanks for the advices

 

[bivvyman]

check the liver & organs,

white speckled liver can be slight worm infection- not serious but cook well.

black patches,dots ,on glands or liver- avoid !

watery eyes, thin carcase avoid! (starvation, illness)

warts/boils between toes- avoid !!!!!!!!!

warm carcase , fresh kill, check for scavinger mauls, rats !

use your instincts, smell, feel the body,always clean & grollac well,& asap, soak in bucket of water over night, if the liver & kidneys look healthy, 98% your on to a winner...