Question: Is roadkill deer safe to eat?

j.irvin

Banned
Is a deer that has been hit by a car safe to eat? Why or why not? My dad always said that when a deer is hit, it messes up the meat. :confused: I have heard of people finding a deer that was hit at night and taking it home to eat. I was just curious to get everyone's thoughts on this. Obviously, I mean a fairly fresh kill, not one that has been laying there for a couple days.:huh:
 

deadend

Senior Member
Yes as long as it is not spoiling. Cut out the bloodshot and eat it like normal. I've eaten a ton of road killed deer over the years with no problems but I always knew when and how they were killed.
 

MR.BIGBUCK

Senior Member
i hope you can im not dead yet.LOL

most of the time they do not get hurt bad and are fine to eat. I never could understand why when a county leo gets a call on a deer and car reck why not take the deer to a shop grind it up in deerburger and give to to the needy?
 
M

MsFit

Guest
Wouldn't that depend a lot on how long it has been laying there? We used to joke that if that possum was still there when we came back, we'd make stew out of it.
:rofl:
 

droptinegirl1

Senior Member
It may be okay to eat but I am not eating it. I only eat deer that we shoot. There is no way that I am eating anything laying on the side of the road. No offense to those of ya'll that do. If you can eat it without it turning your stomach then I am happy to see that deer not waste. Now I would cut off the horns of a decent buck to use as rattling antlers. I have been looking for one and found one. He was a nice 8 but by the time we got our saw that somehow got out of our car and got back the whole deer was gone. I guess someone got him and ate him.
 

j.irvin

Banned
I was just asking because I found a nice 8 pt laying beside my mailbox this morning, got hit sometime during the night. I relocated him to the field behind my house for coyote bait and kept the rack. I just kinda felt bad about that meat going to waste. Thought about takin it to a deer cooler to donate to the needy, but I felt weird about that too.
 

killNgrill

Senior Member
yes, we ate a roadkill deer last weekend at work, it was really good
 

Bucknut

Senior Member
Yeppers, and it comes pre-tenderized from the grill of the truck..It goes from truck grill to BBQ grill ... :cheers:
 
Yup!! You can eat roadkill so long as it is not spoiled....then you can brag about your new buck on here like a couple of people did already this year...
 

Southern_Buck

Senior Member
I got my road kill on ice right now gonna chop up them there straps :banana: and turn the rest of him into sausage :D
 

whitworth

Senior Member
Depends how good a butcher you are

Knew one forty years ago. Knew from experience good meat cuts from bad meat cuts. Knew when to dispose of a roadkill. Knew what to keep for cooking. And never had to pay a processing fee to find out.

Last time I looked they weren't teaching butchering in hunter safety class.
 

dgr416

Senior Member
Question:Is Roadkilll safe to Eat?

I eat roadikll all the time.I look at the tempature outside.If its below 40 degrees and the deer is still warm its pretty fresh.If its still limber its also fresh.If the hair look like a normal deer and not ruffled too bad.Be careful.I picked up one last year and when I grabbed it it was still alive.I have put way more roadkill in the freezer than deer the last few years.During the rut you will find alot of deer.I will go out of cold nights early in the morning looking for it.I found a bunch in the more populated areas than in the country.I saw tons in Coweta county on hwy 85 during the Nov rut.People were hitting them left and right.
 

gator808

Senior Member
Ok, I'm confused now. I thought you wanted to gut a deer immediately after killing it? Is that only when you shoot one? I heard if you dont it will spoil the meat. Is this not the case with a road kill dear?
 

Bucknut

Senior Member
Ok, I'm confused now. I thought you wanted to gut a deer immediately after killing it? Is that only when you shoot one? I heard if you dont it will spoil the meat. Is this not the case with a road kill dear?

From what I understand , It's best to gut it right away for the best quality meat, but it won't cause the meat to spoil...
 
If I found a roadkill that I knew had been dead only a few hours, I wouldn't hesitate to utilize the meat. The colder the temperature, the longer the meat will be good. I got one last year that had been killed sometime during the night, but the temperature never got above 40, and took it to a needy family I know. I wasn't exactly sure how long it had laid there, but I knew it wasn't spoiled. It might not have tasted as good as a fresh kill, but I'm sure it was okay, and they were glad to get the meat.
 
This is absolutely true, you can check it out with any old time law enforcement.

Back when, when there weren't nearly so many deer, and there were work camps in nearly every county, road kills were regularly picked up and fed to the prisoners.
 

albridges

Senior Member
I would have no problem if I knew when it was killed. I have eatin it a plenty. Got a buddy who used to work with emts. he would call when ever they got called out and we would go load up and dress um out.
 
Top