Im treking through the woods, I'm hungry. Oh joy, there is a dead dear lying there. Looks as though it is fresh. No smell. No wounds. What is the rule of thumb or SOP for animals dead already? Do you only eat animals you have killed yourself?
Eating Already Dead Animals?
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Discovery Channel had a special and this tribe regularly ate rotten meat. The narrator said something about them having extra enzymes to deal with the rotten meat that most people don't have.
I'd skip the deer unless I had fire and could near burn it to kill anything.
I'd skip the deer unless I had fire and could near burn it to kill anything.
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well brother, there are a few considerations for this, first thing I would do is get the book by ted nugent, on how to eat roadkill...etc. Kill it and Grill it is another title by him. You dont exactly know what to look for and neither do I. This is one time I must bow down to the more knowledgeable jedi master on such matters. watch out for other predators lurking around, you might not be the only one eyeballing dinner, it would really suck to become dinner yourself.
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Mammals have a LOT of bacteria in their bodies. For most animals , this "native fauna" is beneficial for life, but when the animal dies, these bacteria will VERY QUICKLY run AMOK.
For instance, the body needs E Coli Bacteria in the small and large intestine to process ingested food, but if you happen to eat food tainted with E Coli, it can kill you.
I would guess that these bacteria would be present almost everywhere in the dead body within just a few hours.
In addition, eating an animal with no outward sign as to why it died usually means it was sick before it died and could have additional bacteria or virus at play in its body. There is a reason most predators dont eat already dead animals.
Cooking would probably kill everything but many bacteria produce toxic byproducts that are not destroyed in cooking and if you eat those toxins, well it could be very bad for you.
IMO you are probably better off going hungry. Better to starve to death than to eat something and die a horribly painful death because you ate some tainted meat.
For instance, the body needs E Coli Bacteria in the small and large intestine to process ingested food, but if you happen to eat food tainted with E Coli, it can kill you.
I would guess that these bacteria would be present almost everywhere in the dead body within just a few hours.
In addition, eating an animal with no outward sign as to why it died usually means it was sick before it died and could have additional bacteria or virus at play in its body. There is a reason most predators dont eat already dead animals.
Cooking would probably kill everything but many bacteria produce toxic byproducts that are not destroyed in cooking and if you eat those toxins, well it could be very bad for you.
IMO you are probably better off going hungry. Better to starve to death than to eat something and die a horribly painful death because you ate some tainted meat.
It all depends on how long its been dead and why its dead and when you can cook it.
Deer, middle of woods, no sighn of death. I say disease. No dinner for me.
Deer, middle of woods, bullet hole. Feel to see if guts are warm. If its hot out and temp of guts cant be guaged, pull up a flap of hide and let it go. If its slugish to return to the body "no dinner" If the skin fold imediatly returns to normal like your belly skin "Dinner!"
Any game found dead that you decide to eat cook well. Nothing rare or even med rare. Stew/roasts is ideal since well done steaks lick donkey balls.:thumb:
Thats how I do it
Deer, middle of woods, no sighn of death. I say disease. No dinner for me.
Deer, middle of woods, bullet hole. Feel to see if guts are warm. If its hot out and temp of guts cant be guaged, pull up a flap of hide and let it go. If its slugish to return to the body "no dinner" If the skin fold imediatly returns to normal like your belly skin "Dinner!"
Any game found dead that you decide to eat cook well. Nothing rare or even med rare. Stew/roasts is ideal since well done steaks lick donkey balls.:thumb:
Thats how I do it
I'd never eat a dead animal even if it fell in front of me unless I killed it. Any animal that dies of natural causes ( okay not that a bullet is unnatural per say)
has most likely suffered death by having it's organs and muscle tissue fill with toxic chemicals byproducts of improper working organs, production of Bacteria or viruses. In some cases the animals body has literal died in it's own cells waste products. Better to use it as fishing bait or hunt across for meat eaters that are small.
has most likely suffered death by having it's organs and muscle tissue fill with toxic chemicals byproducts of improper working organs, production of Bacteria or viruses. In some cases the animals body has literal died in it's own cells waste products. Better to use it as fishing bait or hunt across for meat eaters that are small.
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well...there is one thing i have found out about roadkill yes u can eat it...just cut off the meat that looks as if it's...bad lol.....as long as u cook it good u can eat it.....survivorman ...les ate meat that was rotting and didn't get sick and also asked the wife being she has her masters and is a NP i trust what she tells me about that is good for u and what is not...just alittle tid bit of what u know....i mean...if u don't think it's good to eat....don't eat it....me....if i can cut off the good stuff...and cook it to 165% ....where i know it's safe....anything that is in the meat will be dead....and safe to eat...but as i always say... to his there own
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well like i said...anything living in the meat that can hurt u will die at 165 % when cooked...look at it this was...what is the rule of thumb with water....boil it for 3 min....well boil the meat for 3 min...longer if it makes u feel better....kill off anything it would carry......u show me any bac. or dis. that can survive 3 min in boiling water.....we should all give up....cause we are dead...that meat u get at the store....why do u think they tell u to wash your hands....after u handle it....not cause it's cool....because it is full of bac. and all that good stuff....all meat is....
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During a selection course for the Selous Scouts in Rhodesia back in the 70's and 80's the candidates were basically starved over a period of days and were only allowed to eat what they forraged or trapped, they were not allowed to hunt with rifles, as a result many found them selves on the verge of starvation during the selection course.
Waiting for them at a camp set up by the instructors was a dead and very rancid maggoty baboon which was stuffed into a pot and boiled up into a stew and consumed with relish, some troops even comming back for seconds.
It was found that, however rotten the meat it could be cooked thoroughly ONCE and consumed while hot. To reheat it would have resulted in possible death from botulism.
Can you eat rotten meat? yes would I ? NO.
Waiting for them at a camp set up by the instructors was a dead and very rancid maggoty baboon which was stuffed into a pot and boiled up into a stew and consumed with relish, some troops even comming back for seconds.
It was found that, however rotten the meat it could be cooked thoroughly ONCE and consumed while hot. To reheat it would have resulted in possible death from botulism.
Can you eat rotten meat? yes would I ? NO.
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When I was a young lad I used to live in North Yorkshire.
My dad used to have a bright yellow, rusting, ex British Telecom van
:. Me and my brother had to sit in the back and we would roll around when we went round corners (no back seats).
Whenever my dad would see some roadkill he would screech to a halt (oh no, whats dad found now!), jump out and inspect it. If it passed first inspection he would pick it up and chuck it in the back next to me and my brother.
When we got home he would dress and clean it, if it passed that test he would cook it for tea, if not, then it went to the ferrets or dogs.
We used to eat rabbit, pheasant and hare.
On youtube there's a video of a British guy who eats badger, fox and other critters he's found on the road.
My dad used to have a bright yellow, rusting, ex British Telecom van
:. Me and my brother had to sit in the back and we would roll around when we went round corners (no back seats). Whenever my dad would see some roadkill he would screech to a halt (oh no, whats dad found now!
), jump out and inspect it. If it passed first inspection he would pick it up and chuck it in the back next to me and my brother. When we got home he would dress and clean it, if it passed that test he would cook it for tea, if not, then it went to the ferrets or dogs.
We used to eat rabbit, pheasant and hare.
On youtube there's a video of a British guy who eats badger, fox and other critters he's found on the road.
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I would not rule out scavaging some of the meat. It would really depend on how badly I needed it and what the environmental conditions are like.
If is is a deer in the winter-time, dead and partially frozen, I would probably harvest some meat from it. If it were in the summer, I would be much more hesitant and likely forage for something else first.
Anything bloated, seeping, in the water, maggot infested or has an overpowering rank smell would be a no-go for me.
Although I am a bloody-steak person, anything I scavenge would definately be well done before I ate it.
BTW--people eat rotten food all of the time--cheese for example is mold. kim chi (a korean salad) is made of spiced/fermented cabage. Alaskian Inuits eat stink heads (rotten salmon heads), The folks in Iceland eat fermented shark. Most of us have drunk beer or wine and the Phillipinos eat a rotten duck egg (bulot). Don't forget the high dollar Kobe steaks--it is rotten meat (they call it "aged"). The same with hams and Iberian proscuito.
Only our individual cultures dictate to us what we can or cannot eat. Remember, us humans are omnivores. We can eat most anything. The trouble for most of us though, is that we have forgotten or just never learned what and how to eat something if it did not come out of a box, package or is not plactic covered meat.
Hell, most people would not know what to do if given a bag of flour, a whole (undressed) rabbit, a package of yeast and some oil then told to live on it for a month.
If is is a deer in the winter-time, dead and partially frozen, I would probably harvest some meat from it. If it were in the summer, I would be much more hesitant and likely forage for something else first.
Anything bloated, seeping, in the water, maggot infested or has an overpowering rank smell would be a no-go for me.
Although I am a bloody-steak person, anything I scavenge would definately be well done before I ate it.
BTW--people eat rotten food all of the time--cheese for example is mold. kim chi (a korean salad) is made of spiced/fermented cabage. Alaskian Inuits eat stink heads (rotten salmon heads), The folks in Iceland eat fermented shark. Most of us have drunk beer or wine and the Phillipinos eat a rotten duck egg (bulot). Don't forget the high dollar Kobe steaks--it is rotten meat (they call it "aged"). The same with hams and Iberian proscuito.
Only our individual cultures dictate to us what we can or cannot eat. Remember, us humans are omnivores. We can eat most anything. The trouble for most of us though, is that we have forgotten or just never learned what and how to eat something if it did not come out of a box, package or is not plactic covered meat.
Hell, most people would not know what to do if given a bag of flour, a whole (undressed) rabbit, a package of yeast and some oil then told to live on it for a month.
[QUOTE
BTW--people eat rotten food all of the time--cheese for example is mold. kim chi (a korean salad) is made of spiced/fermented cabage. Alaskian Inuits eat stink heads (rotten salmon heads), The folks in Iceland eat fermented shark. Most of us have drunk beer or wine and the Phillipinos eat a rotten duck egg (bulot). Don't forget the high dollar Kobe steaks--it is rotten meat (they call it "aged"). The same with hams and Iberian proscuito.
Eskimos (that includes Yupik and etc, anyhow they dont call themselves inuit, they call themselves eskimos) have several different fermented types of meat they eat.
They dont always get it right. Some die of botulism. Some, like me after i ate some 'stinky seal flipper" get have a vicious case of , uh active bowels.
It is interesting tho how meat or fish can smell like death incarnate and still taste good, and not make you sick.
The "balut" that I ate in PI wasnt rotten and i dont think they ever eat them that way. Whether you like a feathery embryo in your hard boiled eggs in another matter.
I think the dead deer etc question is moot anyway. Other than road kill, who has ever found a dead animal?
BTW--people eat rotten food all of the time--cheese for example is mold. kim chi (a korean salad) is made of spiced/fermented cabage. Alaskian Inuits eat stink heads (rotten salmon heads), The folks in Iceland eat fermented shark. Most of us have drunk beer or wine and the Phillipinos eat a rotten duck egg (bulot). Don't forget the high dollar Kobe steaks--it is rotten meat (they call it "aged"). The same with hams and Iberian proscuito.
Eskimos (that includes Yupik and etc, anyhow they dont call themselves inuit, they call themselves eskimos) have several different fermented types of meat they eat.
They dont always get it right. Some die of botulism. Some, like me after i ate some 'stinky seal flipper" get have a vicious case of , uh active bowels.
It is interesting tho how meat or fish can smell like death incarnate and still taste good, and not make you sick.
The "balut" that I ate in PI wasnt rotten and i dont think they ever eat them that way. Whether you like a feathery embryo in your hard boiled eggs in another matter.
I think the dead deer etc question is moot anyway. Other than road kill, who has ever found a dead animal?
Any animal that is dead with no visible wounds, leave it. Go vegan for a bit.
I have eaten road kill, other animal kill (bear killed a half-grown fawn, I scared bear off and snagged the fawn for my larder) and animals killed by *misadventure*. (A deer that literally broke it's own neck running into a fencepost, and found two mid-age bucks that tangled their antlers together and got tangled into a fence to boot and died, I presume from a combination of exhaustion and dehydration and exposure to bitter cold).
Never got sick.
But I am cautious and would recommend everyone else be so, as well.
Meat from haunches and shoulders, good.
Meat from around any organs or any organ meats, bad.
If you shoot a deer or other animal, you have a different set of circumstances, of course.
I have eaten road kill, other animal kill (bear killed a half-grown fawn, I scared bear off and snagged the fawn for my larder) and animals killed by *misadventure*. (A deer that literally broke it's own neck running into a fencepost, and found two mid-age bucks that tangled their antlers together and got tangled into a fence to boot and died, I presume from a combination of exhaustion and dehydration and exposure to bitter cold).
Never got sick.
But I am cautious and would recommend everyone else be so, as well.
Meat from haunches and shoulders, good.
Meat from around any organs or any organ meats, bad.
If you shoot a deer or other animal, you have a different set of circumstances, of course.
I may be the idiot here, but I have no problem with some fresh leaves as my meal... I used to go for days back when I was little with nothing more than the leaves I found around my house... Granted, I was also one of the skinniest kid's I ever met at the time...
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