Roadkill!?

Lots of people feed roadkill. I haven't been able to bring myself to actually pick anything up. We drove past a dead deer a few weeks ago, but it wasn't fresh enough to do anything with.

I would say if its still fresh, and doesn't smell bad I would feed it to the girls. We just don't come across a whole lot of roadkill. Even if it smells bad, it should be ok to feed, just means that its been sitting there a bit longer.

I would be hesitant to feed the central nervous system of any wild animal to my dogs.

It would be great if I could feed fresh roadkill to Aspen. Usually when I'm driving I always come across raccoons and opposums on the road that have their guts and brains sticking out of them. But never fresh... :biggrin:

Branderstaffs said:

I'm just wondering if anyone in here picks them up for their dogs dinner?

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Check out my post of a few minutes ago in another thread: http://dogfoodchat.com/forum/raw-feeding/2305-eating-dead-animals-they-find.html#post20900

Where I live I have rabbits and pheasants in abundance on the roadside,I'm tempted to stop my car and pick them up for a meal for my dogs but I'm not sure about how to give them to my dogs!?

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I wouldn't hesitate to feed these if they were relatively fresh. I would have a problem with racoons and possums though. Not for any reason other than just personal preference.

Should I gut and skin the rabbits and should I take the feathers off the pheasants and gut them too?Also should I take the heads off too?

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I wouldn't do anything to them. Just feed them like they are. It may take them a little bit to learn how to eat them but they should figure it out in time. I used to buy skinned rabbits but they weren't gutted and till had heads and legs.

Occasionally I drive past the dead dear on the roadside but just can't bring myself to stop the car and hack the legs off for my dogs!

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Don't cut the legs off, get the whole deer!!! :smile:

I've seen dead deer many times off the side of the road. In one case, it actually looked like it had happened very recently. I was tempted... If only I didn't have a sporty little coup! What stopped me from calling my husband and asking him to bring over the truck was that I wasn't sure of the legality of it all... I mean, doesn't fish and game use road kill to do studies or something? (Or sell it to dog food manufactures? hehehe!)

Obviously, this would vary from state to state, but I'm curious if any one has had run-ins with this (pun intended!).

Richelle

Ania's Mommy said:

I've seen dead deer many times off the side of the road. In one case, it actually looked like it had happened very recently. I was tempted... If only I didn't have a sporty little coup! What stopped me from calling my husband and asking him to bring over the truck was that I wasn't sure of the legality of it all... I mean, doesn't fish and game use road kill to do studies or something? (Or sell it to dog food manufactures? hehehe!)

Obviously, this would vary from state to state, but I'm curious if any one has had run-ins with this (pun intended!).

Richelle

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Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but...
I would be very learly on picking up dead deer along the road and having someone see you put it into a vehicle, driving with it in your vehicle, hauling it into the house or garage to skin, and/or butcher it! You do not want to be caught with a dead deer out of season, road kill or not, especially if it's not tagged with the proper info! You can be heavily fined and spend time in jail if the GC wants to throw the book at you. Wild game is not like beef, pork or chicken. It is regulated so I would be very cautious and quite frankly, wouldn't even think about it.

If you want more info, call your local GC and ask them. My state disposes of them in landfills.

Around here you can work with the local officials and you'll be ok. You will have to get a tag but you can do that after the fact. In some areas you can get the officials to call you if someone reports a road kill deer and you can go get it.