SC - A proliferation of venison

[Philippa Alderton]

Magdelena asks:

>Ras (or anyone...) please refresh my memory.  I do know that you are
allowed to keep the venison you kill with your car here in PA. However,
I have been told that if you kill it with your car, it's not likely to
be useable because you will probably break the spleen (?) and poison
most of the meat.  Is there any truth to this?  Not that I plan on going
out deer hunting with my car any time soon, but just in case ;)<

Actually, most deer, killed by a car, are quite edible. The trouble is, in
many cases, you, the driver, are not in any shape to properly field dress
the animal, or else the animal is badly torn up by a big truck. Most of the
roadkills you see on the side of the road are the result of a close
encounter of the worst kind with a semi, and they have schedules to keep-
they aren't going to stop for that d#@m deer that got in their way, and by
the time most of the rest of us see it the next day, who knows how long it
has been there? Also, big trucks do considerable damage to the animals.

On the other hand, if you hit a deer in a compact or sub-compact car, a lot
of damage is likely to be done to you- too often, they've been known to
flip up onto the hood and through the windshields of smaller cars.
Considering that they're fairly tough beasts, they can do a lot of damage
before they die, particularly if all you did was break a couple of legs.

If for some reason, you feel you are at risk for hitting a deer, my
suggestions are as follows:

Put those deer whistles on the front of your car- they do help.

Drive at a reasonably slow rate of speed in highly deer infested areas.
Obey and watch for all the deer crossing signs- they're put up, not to tell
the deer where to cross, but to tell you where there have been a number of
car /deer accidents.

Drive a larger car- a pick-up truck, or a 4X4 sports/utility type, to keep
yourself higher off the road, in case of collision.

Take along a knife, some rope, and a few plastic bags, and learn how to
butcher or field dress a deer, in case the worst/best happens, so you can
clean the deer quickly, thus saving most of the meat.

Much of the destroyed tissue in a deer is from point of impact, which
becomes worse if ANY of the intestines are ruptured, not just the spleen.
The rest of the deer can be rapidly made either inedible, of unpleasant to
eat, if it is not gutted and BLED!!!!!!!! fairly quickly. Tie it to the
roof of your car, head down, throat slit, with the rope going through a cut
you made between the tendons and the bones at the hocks, and most of it
should be great, once you hang it and butcher it properly.

Phlip
Caer Frig
Barony of the Middle Marches
Middle Kingdom

Southeastern Ohio

Phlip at bright.net

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider that cain't be throwed.
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