I've just been given a deer

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I've just been given a deer

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boisdevie1

Joined: 11 Aug 2006
Posts: 3897
Location: Lancaster

Posted: Wed Jan 22, 14 2:43 pm Post subject: I've just been given a deer
My mates dog killed it yesterday. He's hacked off the two back legs. My plan is to skin the rest and keep the skin to tan later. The intestines are already gone but I can keep the liver and heart. Plan to remove them with the lungs and then remove the head. After this I plan to hang it in my cold barn for a few days before cutting. Does this sound like a sensible plan?

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Wed Jan 22, 14 5:22 pm Post subject:
This might be of some help: https://www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk/best_practice/meat_hygiene.php I suppose it'll depend on how warm the shed is, how quick the critter died and how quickly it was gralloched. It may also depend on whether the deer was ill before being savaged or if one considered it poached.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 14 11:52 pm Post subject:
fresh enough ,gut ,check organs for vermin, venison jerky is very yum if you have time to shred and dry it,otherwise butcher and cook/freeze i dont like hung game but if you do make sure temp is below 5 c and no flies can get at it dog killed is usually tidier than road killed ps the neck tendons are the ones to keep for sewing the skin

quixote

Joined: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 198

Posted: Tue Dec 17, 19 1:03 pm Post subject: Re: I've just been given a deer

boisdevie1 wrote:

Does this sound like a sensible plan?

No. It doesn't.

First and foremost (and I appreciate this is an old post, so this is for the benefit of anyone else who may think this is a good idea) it's illegal to allow dogs to kill deer in the UK. No argument. I notice nobody has bothered to mention this quite important point.

Second. It's also highly likely that the deer is absolutely flooded with adrenaline, and god-knows how many other hormones.

Third. From a practical point of view the carcass won't have been bled properly, so it likely to spoil very quickly.

Fourth. 'Hacking the legs off' an unskinned carcass is almost certainly going to contaminate the meat. God knows how badly he performed the gralloch . . . . .

Fifth. If someone as cack-handed as your 'friend' has so little knowledge and skill to think this unfortunate deer is fit for anything other than being left in the field where it was illegally killed I certainly wouldn't want anything to do with the meat . . . . .

And as for the 'advice' and comments on this thread. . . . . ?

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15967

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 19 8:00 am Post subject:

It is illegal to kill deer with dogs, but sadly deer are killed by dogs not on a lead. I acquired some that died that way once. It was properly butchered after death etc.

Would dog owners please note that the 'hunting with dogs' law applies if you have more than 2 dogs that chase any animal and kill it or cause it to die. In the case of deer, this applies to any dog that causes the death of the animal. Deer are easily spooked by dogs so tend to move away from areas where they are found, but I have seen them running having been upset by a dog merly following them.

In the original post, Boisdevie ! was just asking the question having acquired the deer in the same way I acquired the venison. It was not his fault the deer died, and I hope his mate will be more careful with his dog in future.

sgt.colon

Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 19 8:39 am Post subject:
I suppose it's another one of those things where hindsight is wonderful.

quixote

Joined: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 198

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 19 1:50 pm Post subject:

sgt.colon wrote:

I suppose it's another one of those things where hindsight is wonderful

Not really. Anyone with even a modicum of knowledge (or commonsense) could see that this was completely in contravention of every aspect of food hygiene and good practice, quite apart from the legal and welfare aspects.

How would the OP have known the condition of the deer prior to when it was killed? Was it harbouring parasites? Was it caught as a result of illness? Had it been inspected for any notifiable disease? Was it a road traffic casualty that had been previously injured . . . . . . ?

There's a very good reason venison isn't permitted to enter the food chain without traceability and appropriate inspection. If you don't know exactly what you're looking at, and looking for, then you really shouldn't be accepting venison from any other than qualified sources . . . .

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