Would You Eat Road Kill?

Thump! I heard as my wheels ran over the little rabbit. I remember seeing a sign in Arkansas that said, "You kill, we grill." It got me to thinking about the many wild critters that killed on our roadways each year. I have eaten rabbit, deer, squirrel, raccoon, and opossum. However, none of it was "road kill" or "flat meats" as it is sometimes referred to.

When a deer is hit in our county, the county sheriff is called. If they can get to the animal quick enough, they load it up and away it goes to be cleaned and processed. Many times the meat is donated to individuals that are in need. However, there are times when the members of the county sheriffs department will take it for a family feast.

Most individuals find the idea of eating road kill as repulsive. But, what would you do if you were forced to eat it to avoid starvation. Is there a difference between hunting and fresh road kill? Finding road kill is easy. The secret is to find fresh. It has to be clean of insects, had no other critters feeding on it, no rigormortis has set in yet. If you can get it home quickly and get it cleaned and processed, you are going to be alright.

According to Wikipedia.org, there are many States that allow the salvaging of roadkill. This helps save the State money by not letting State workers waste time picking them up. These salvager's have been doing this for some time and know what can be eaten and what can't. Some will pick them up just to get the fur. Much like fur trapping, hides can bring a good price, even for road kill. In many States, if you hit it, it is yours.

A recent study gave these facts. Each year 41 million squirrels are killed, 26 million rats, 22 million cats, 34 million opossums and raccoons, and 350,000 deer. The study was done by Merrit Clifton editor of Animal People Newspaper. Outside of deer the lowest was dogs 6 million. Armadillos are the easiest to hit. this is because they jump up instead of moving away as a vehicle approaches.

There have been cook books written as well as how to clean, process, and cook road kill. Buck Peterson has written two cookbooks. They are titled "The Original Road Kill Cookbook and The Totaled Roadkill Cookbook." Another one is by Richard Marcou called, "How to Cook Roadkill." Bruce Carlson has written cookbooks for many States on how cook roadkill. You can find these books by title at www.amazon.com.www.cooking.com also has a cookbook of roadkill. They refer to it as "Yellowline Yummies."

Many jokes have been made through the years about roadkill as well. One line is "You know you are a redneck ..................if you take road kill seriously." Although many jokes are made by individuals about road kill, the fact remains that many individuals consider it just as good as game from their hunting adventures. When prepared the right way, they can be a sustainable meal.