Road kill..............

B

bswiv

New member
What you are seeing is our first deer of the year. Yes I know we look like two miscreants caught in the act. And to tell the truth the light is from a Clay County, Florida Sheriffs Officer's lights.

But it's all legal.

We were on the way to launch the boat when we came across this little 3 point laying on the side of US 17 near Green Cove Springs, Fl. We pulled over to have a look. It was VERY fresh, still bleeding from the nose and not even a little stiff yet.

As we're standing there the deputy pulled up blue lights going. He tells us that he had just recieved a call about a deer that had run into a car and was looking for it.

After the officer inspected the deer and determined it had not been shot he allowed us to take it. We put a couple of bag of ice in it while we chased gators for a couple of hours around sunrise and then took it to the fishmarket we own.

Cleaned it that afternoon. Friday morning we had fried venison at the market.

And it was good!



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We put a couple of bag of ice in it while we chased gators for a couple of hours around sunrise
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You've got to really watch that, even with some ice. You can get a bad case of food poisoning if you let deer meat get too warm, especially if it hasn't bled out. When I lived down on the coast one of the guys I worked with hit a deer and he thought he could save the meat but by the time the police had come and gone znd he skinned it out it was ruined, just a bloody stinking mess in the 90 degree temperature. :barf:
 
See all that gray hair on those two guys? Lots of years in the woods and on the water. We knew it was FRESH and handled it properly.

It was cooled as quickly, if not quicker, than most deer taken during our Fl. archery season, which by the way opened Saturday.
 
Used to be a waiting list to get roadkill years back. Nowdays most people don't even drag them off the roadway.

I have processed the ones I have bumper-swatted.
All one needs to do is give the dispatcher a call and a possession permit will be mailed.
 
I was offered a doe from a church member that hit it with the company van... I was at work and it was early so after work i rolled out to get her. When I got there it had been 1o hours dead... This guy didn't gut 'er or chill 'er down even. I wasn't about to eat it but figuered I owed it to him to haul it off as I had said I would get it. I don't know what is inside a doe that stinks to high heaven when cvar hit but this thing made a skunk smell like a rose blossom! I wouldn't have ate 'er fresh! She was gut hit meaning he hit her full broadside with the full width of his front end. Absolutely the most foul smelling creature I ever smelled and she didn't have a single open wound!
Brent
 
And YES I agree you should consider a man's experience before offering meat handling advice! This is the same guy that posted a top ten gator....
I bet you have had gator that was well dead for many hours before you could ice it down and yer still kickin'! Not everyone is a "sickie" I am well fortified and "food poisoning" for me is just a ploy to call in hung over!
I am willing to bet you never been sick from wild game! I have been warned to wear rubber gloves to clean hogs... Not only have I never worn them ... I have nicked my self with my knife nearly every time I butchered one!
Go figure?
Brent
 
I hit & killed a 4(eastern ct) ptr many years ago. In the trunk it went & was cut up at home. Minimal damage to the 1970 Monte Carlo. I have also taken road kill grouse & a coyote for the trapping partner. I watched the guy in front of me hit the coyote. One night there was a dead bear on the road right in the traffic lane. It looked rather large but I didn't have time to deal with it, just called it in. The media makes fun of the road kill laws but why waste a good resource?
 
"why waste a good resource"

A broadside hit by a car on a deer will cause massive internal hemmoraging & can burst both bladder & intestines. That's why I prefer to eat the deer I shoot rather than the ones I find on the side of the road.
 
That reminded me of being stationed at McGuire AFB. While driving on Ft Dix near the golf course in the wife's minivan, we saw a couple deer cross the road in the headlights. I tapped the brake, began to slow, expecting more. I didn't see anymore on the side of the road. So, I sped back up to 45 and this little button buck decided he had to be with his friends right then and dashed out. I had enough time to tell the wife to hold on and we hit him.

I pulled over, checked that he was dead, called the MPs to check him and give me a permit to posess (it was out of season) and limped the van home with $3000 in damage to the hood, headlights, bumper. I came back with the truck, picked the deer up and brought it home.

I refer to it as the most expensive deer I have eaten!
 
the previous sheriff in my county used to pick up road kill deer for his annual wild game political fundraiser.
 
Roadkill is a great source of free meat and fur.

I was on my way home one night and came upon an SUV parked along the side of the road a couple miles from home. They didn't hit a deer, THE DEER HIT THEM. It ran smack dab into the passenger side of the door. The medium sized doe was laying in the ditch dead as a doornail with a broken neck. No damage other than that and it was one of the best eating deer I've ever had.

On the other hand, I butchered a buck that was hit hard right in the side. When we skinned it, one half of the deer fell away with the hide. Yuck! That was the second worst eating deer I've ever had.

The worst? A doe in the spring. When we gutted it it still had the fawn inside. Really freaked my friend out. That thing was the foulest thing to ever enter my mouth! (and that's saying SOMETHING!)

LK
 
See all that gray hair on those two guys? Lots of years in the woods and on the water. We knew it was FRESH and handled it properly.
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Not meaning to intrude, but as other posters have pointed out, sometimes you get a good one and sometimes a bad one. With all that belly damage I feared the worst. Its like eating chicken livers, sometimes you get a greenie.
 
I am willing to bet you never been sick from wild game
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Only Duck. Never from roadkill.
Southern Indiana has a boat load of road kill. Interstate you can usually expect the worst. Tractor trailers have no mercy on critters. The 12 miles I drive every night on a 2 lane highway coming home, I see some nice ones. Here all we have to do is call the county sheriff they will come and put down the deer and give you a permit if you want it. The sheriff also has a call list if you don't want it. Out of the dozen or so I have taken I have only had a couple that i couldn't get all the meat because of damage.
 
My budies and I watched a guy in front of us plow into a big doe that ran out in front of him while he doing about 65 in way south NY...flew up about 20 feet in the air, and when it landed it got up and ran a few yards to the shoulder, still alive, but rear end was a pitiful sight. He was a real city boy, looked at me like I was insane when I asked him if he wanted it. That was the freshest deer meat anyone in my family ever brought home. Sad part was the hams literally fell off in little gooey pieces like cherry jelly as I skinned it. But the rest of it was astoundingly delicious!
 
Its funny this subject came up. This weekend is our 2 day youth deer season. After the morning hunt(short) football practice is first. I was taking a neighbor home, found a fresh downed spotted fawn. Undressed may have been 60lbs. Hit in the hind quarters(jellied) Stopped at the landowners, he said take it. I dispatched with my .44 Handi rifle. front quarters and 1/2 of the back straps on in the fridge going on the BBQ today:). Not wanting to waste the rest, it is going to the coyote bait pile. They are a problem here, have a bunch of calving and sheep in the area.
 
I will stop for a deer any day. I got 4 off the road last year. i won't take them if they are full on broadsided. I only take them if I see them killed or know they haven't been laying for more than an hour. I hate to see perefectly good steak rot in the ditch. This is fresh steak people!! Even if you only get the rear quarters and the backstraps, totally worth it. I had people from work calling me to get deer they hit, or deer they see get hit.
 
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