collecting road kill deer. First time for everything. My experience

[flatlanderhuffandpuff]

I had just pulled out of my driveway this morning when I see a dead doe laying in the field beside my house. There was a little pile of headlights and bumper plastic followed by a line of anti freeze that moved to the shoulder so it was pretty easy to figure what had happened. I worked late last night and I know it wasn't there when I got home so It happened within the last 8 hours.

I kept driving as I have a few projects that need to get done. By the time I got to work I was convinced that the deer was still salvageable and worth dealing with. I never had any aversion to the thought of collecting a road killed deer but always told myself "I don't know how longs it's been there" or "it's too far from home or inconvenient". This situation was different. I went back and forth as I already had too much to do and this weekend wasn't looking any more open. I just couldn't help but feel like that deer would just lay there and rot so I changed my schedule around a little.

I headed home and dragged the deer to my back yard. It was a big "long nose" It had both hind legs broken just above the knee and I assumed it's back was broken from the fact that it didn't go very far and had pawed a bare patch with its front legs.

I elected to try the gutless method because I assumed it would likely have ruptured the guts in one way or another and I figured I was going to be pretty selective with the cuts I took. This was the first time I tried the gutless method on a white tail since we usually just gut them and hang them for a few days. It went surprisingly well and my wife even got in on the action.\

I was surprised how good of shape the deer was in once I got the skin off. I was able to take off both hind quarters with very minimal damage and the front shoulders with no damage at all. I took some cuts from the brisket and neck then went to the back straps. I rarely butcher a deer that has been dead for such a short amount of time. The deer was still very warm and rigor had just started to set in. The back straps needed very little convincing to come out and my hands did most of the work. I found one place about 3/4 of the way back the back strap that looked like it had been crushed by the impact so I threw it out. The last piece to get was the inside loin. The one on the side of impact was jelly but the opposite side was in good shape.

Once I got the inside loin out I got hit with the stench of open guts. I didn't see any stomach contents on anything but the smell it unmistakable. I took the trim meat and back straps into the house to start cleaning them and after a while I noticed a stomach smell again. I took a whiff of the inside loin and it smelled like stomach and a bit like manure. I rinsed it in cold water but it still held some of the smell. Part of the back strap near that part of the deer smelled similar so I set them both aside. The quarters are hanging in the shade this afternoon in a cold breeze until I get home.

I'm back at work now and feel really good about going home when I did. I was able to shoot 3 deer this year and had a 1/4 of a cow elk but was still concerned about running out before next hunting season. This was a blessing, although whoever hit it in their car might think otherwise. I'm also fortunate my wife gets as excited about filling the freezer as I do and she will help butcher and package this evening. Date nights look different now then 5 years ago.

Every evening before family dinner we give thanks to God for the food we are about to eat and the resources that make it possible. While I was at work debating over dealing with the deer or not I couldn't shake the idea that this would have been immoral to let this deer go to waste. I would imagine if a hunter doesn't pick a road killed deer it likely rots into the ground or is disposed elsewhere. I'm thankful I posses the knowledge of taking a deer apart and knowing how to handle the meat. I would imagine we all take that for granted.


I did call it in to the PGC and got a salvage tag issued. Pennsylvania gives you 24 hours from the time you collect it until you report it.

Anyway- a few questions as this is my first time dealing with an animal that was hit by a car. Will contact with the stomach contents make the meat inedible? Will rinsing the meat or trimming the outer edges get back to edible?

Is rinsing meat in cold water somehow bad for the meat? I know you aren't supposed to rinse poultry and never really needed to with previous game.

Do any of you have any road kill collection stories worth sharing?

 

[Huntindog45]

so growing up with a game warden dad brought a ton of neat experiences with it. One of those was dealing with a lot of road kill. in the 70s and 80s we lived in a small town, our phone number was listed, and my mom and i were essentially my dads dispatch. We would get all the dead deer on the road calls, even FROM the police dept. Often times even when my dad was not home my brother or I would go take care of the critter, even dispatching them if we had to. So I saw a lot of road kill. I would say more often than not they were jello. Like really not usable. Getting hit with a truck going 65 just demolishes everything and it is not pretty. Every now and then we would get a clean one though and my dad actually had a lot of wiggle room how to deal with it. We knew families that needed meat, we would take some meat ourselves or....there were a few other options but we tried to utilize when we could. My friends would jokingly ask when they came over if they were eating road kill. But they didn't complain.

As to your question about water there is certainly nothing wrong with rinsing the meat with water if you let it dry out good. I do that on dear I kill myself actually. And yes just like with deer we hunt you dont want the meat to contact the stomach contents. Luckily that cavity is rarely ruptured. With roadkill i probably trimmed meat back far more than i do when i kill a hunted animal largely though because the blod shot was usually far worse.

 

[Downeaster]

Good on you man. Personally ive never been able to get the gut smell out of tenderloins if theyve been tainted. Maybe trim back a little more. Even if you cant use them, the fact that you were able to collect all the other meat is a huge bonus. Well done!

 

[cvsetter]

i was in the same situation last spring.i was afew miles down the road from my house early one saturday morning listening for turkeys.when a van went by with the front end all smashed going very slow.after moving further down the road to hit another listening spot i came upon the pieces of the grill and there was a young buck lying dead in the middle of the road.so i drug it off and thought the same thing as you not wanting it to rot and go to waste and most of the damage was to the head and neck.so this sept will be my first trip west for elk,and while i`ve gutted and skinned my share of deer as you the traditional way here in pa i`ve never done the guttless method either.so i threw it in the back of the truck and up on a set of saw horses and ply wood in the garage,figured it was good practice and went rather smooth.all the quarters and trimm meat were good but those were the toughest backstraps i ever had still don`t why.

 

[LongWayAround]

I've broken down and eaten one roadkill doe. My roommate at the time saw it get hit and threw it in his truck. We did the gutless method but never went in for the loins.

 

[rayporter]

I have had several. one when we were heading to a processor with 4 deer when the driver hit one. that made five for the day

once a bud had a deer club way down in L A.[lower Arkansas] and we were heading down to his camp a little after dark. we passed herd after herd along the road and many dead ones. finally I yelled to stop and check one. it was still hot. so I peeled off the backstraps and we had a big meal that night. the other guys in camp would not touch it and went into town for a real steak. we had a good laugh over that.