so, today the topic of eating a roadkill came up. a big deer, in this case.
my question: how old a roadkill can you eat? how can you tell how old it is?
-j
The short answer:
It depends.
Long answer:
What it depends on is what type of kill is it, did it puncture any internal organs, if so, which, how cold is it out, what type of animal it is, and how you you preparingit. Examples of things I’ve eaten and things I’ve passed up.
Deer, all four legs broken, found about 2-4 hours after it was hit mid October, 40ish degrees. Eat it, wasted only minor meat where the gall bladder had ruptured.
Raccoon, dead maybe less than a day, 90 degrees out, direct sun. Passed it up. I could have salvaged the pelt, and maybe have eaten the extremities, but didn’t feel like chancing it even for raccoon. Really, if I had cooked it and eaten it, I would have been ok.
Badger, found dead on the side of the road in Idaho. Partner finds it, puts it on ice and brings it home for me. It’s puffed up and the joints are difficult to move. I skin it, scrape it, salt it, then decide to try some of the meat. AWFUL. And not because it was bad, it’s just musky and yeck tasting.
So, generally, it’s a smell thing for me. If it smells bad, it will more than likely taste bad as well. If it’s all puffed up and the joints are hard to move then it’s a smell call, but I make sure I cook it first. Short of there being maggots crawling around it or an awful smell most roadwill have something salvageable.
There’s a book out there and damned if I can’t remember the name that talks about eating roadkill. Let me see if I can remember it.