Deer questions- Graphic

[wood&feathers]

Hanging head up makes no sense to me. The best meat is the backstrap and hams. Neck and foreleg = chili/spaghetti. Head down, the blood can drain down out of the good meat. Especially if you pulled the heart/lungs and trachea when you gutted. The one time a landowner convinced me to try it heads up, the meat tasted gamier and was visibly dark and bloody.

We have eaten a lot of venison, some even roadkill. Inspect it carefully to decide if it is worth the work. Head hits where the animal drops with its nose on the edge of the road are great but rare. I see hundreds of road killed deer every year, but have picked up only 4 EVER. I want it to still be warm, the eyes still full and moist, and the ambient temp must be cold. The deer should have been hit in the front half, and hopefully not at highway speed. If someone broadsides it at highway speed, the force of impact forces rumen contents in between muscle groups EVERYWHERE. Just not worth the bother or risk.

It sounds like you happened on a prime specimen if it was still twitching! Remember the roadkill cafe shirts? Best of all, someone ELSE hit it! Enjoy

 

[cornish20]

with a road kill deer... you are setting yourself up for the biggest, bloodiest, most bruised butchering experience of your life... remember, depending on the circumstances.. that animal was smoked by a 60 mph moving 1 ton object of steel and plastic.

good luck with that, but after the first one I hit, and thought of butchering... I leave them lay...

 

[JulieNKC]

wood&feathers :

Hanging head up makes no sense to me. The best meat is the backstrap and hams. Neck and foreleg = chili/spaghetti. Head down, the blood can drain down out of the good meat. Especially if you pulled the heart/lungs and trachea when you gutted. The one time a landowner convinced me to try it heads up, the meat tasted gamier and was visibly dark and bloody.

We have eaten a lot of venison, some even roadkill. Inspect it carefully to decide if it is worth the work. Head hits where the animal drops with its nose on the edge of the road are great but rare. I see hundreds of road killed deer every year, but have picked up only 4 EVER. I want it to still be warm, the eyes still full and moist, and the ambient temp must be cold. The deer should have been hit in the front half, and hopefully not at highway speed. If someone broadsides it at highway speed, the force of impact forces rumen contents in between muscle groups EVERYWHERE. Just not worth the bother or risk.

It sounds like you happened on a prime specimen if it was still twitching! Remember the roadkill cafe shirts? Best of all, someone ELSE hit it! Enjoy

It was hit a mile from my house on a side road with a speed limit of 25mph. Even if speeding, it's only a 3 block long street so doubt they were going very fast.

There was a lot of bruising in the front legs, so I gave most of that to the dogs. The rest is in coolers, planning on making burger and/or sausage out of most of it. Deer around here are psychotic, I had one hit my car last year, just a few hundred feet out of my driveway. I'd stopped, he kept coming and hit me. Scared the heck out of me, lol.​