Wild Food and the Risks

[rollotomaz1]

Who of the members here trusts wild food over processed food, take for instance the rabbit population which is from time to time riddled with Mixie, once the animal has been skinned, how would you know what your eating from a game dealer or butcher, would you trust the sellers of such meat if you didn't know them at up to a fiver a pop in places.

What if any game meat have you eaten in the past and recently ?

[elixirsoo]

Originally Posted by rollotomaz1

Who of the members here trusts wild food over processed food, take for instance the rabbit population which is from time to time riddled with Mixie, once the animal has been skinned, how would you know what your eating from a game dealer or butcher, would you trust the sellers of such meat if you didn't know them at up to a fiver a pop in places.

What if any game meat have you eaten in the past and recently ?

Personally, I wouldn't buy game from anyone I didn't know or who hadn't been recommended by someone whose opinion in such matters I trusted.

I'm quite partial to a bit of venison, which these days I get through Waitrose, it being a local product they acquire. Not too keen on the odd bit of shot in it though.

On early morning mushroom forages a friend and I have often spotted deer, on the local public golf course, and thought of the amount of meat it would yield. My mate is South African and back home would have it shot, butchered and in the freezer sharpish. Public golf course not the best place to be butchering a deer though. *sigh*

Fresh caught trout is lovely too - last one I cooked broke the barbeque, it was huge. Later found out boyfriend had not caught anything but his mate gave him one to impress me. Bless him, he could never put the tent up or light a fire either.

[moon monkey]

Originally Posted by elixirsoo

Personally, I wouldn't buy game from anyone I didn't know or who hadn't been recommended by someone whose opinion in such matters I trusted.

I'm quite partial to a bit of venison, which these days I get through Waitrose, it being a local product they acquire. Not too keen on the odd bit of shot in it though.

On early morning mushroom forages a friend and I have often spotted deer, on the local public golf course, and thought of the amount of meat it would yield. My mate is South African and back home would have it shot, butchered and in the freezer sharpish. Public golf course not the best place to be butchering a deer though. *sigh*

Fresh caught trout is lovely too - last one I cooked broke the barbeque, it was huge. Later found out boyfriend had not caught anything but his mate gave him one to impress me. Bless him, he could never put the tent up or light a fire either.

For your information Waitrose do not source their venison locally. You will also not find shot in venison no matter where you source it. This is because most supermarket venison is farmed and therefore killed in an abattoir. Wild venison will not contain shot because they will have been shot with a rifle which shoot bullets. Bullets are easily retrieved from a deer carcass as a matter of course by all game dealers as it is the law and may taint the meat.

[tracker]

Originally Posted by rollotomaz1

Who of the members here trusts wild food over processed food, take for instance the rabbit population which is from time to time riddled with Mixie, once the animal has been skinned, how would you know what your eating from a game dealer or butcher, would you trust the sellers of such meat if you didn't know them at up to a fiver a pop in places.

What if any game meat have you eaten in the past and recently ?

I try the ancient method of cooking .
A means of heating up food in the same way we boil water , it gets rid of most diseases etc .

Rabbits have always been risky , and attempting to live off rabbit can actually kill you because it takes more energy to digest it than what it has in it , thus through only eating rabbit , one could end up dieing of starvation and malnutrition .

same goes with celery .

you have some very good points though

how do we know what we are getting from shops ?

I suppose eating wild game , and buying food stuffs from the shops poses almost the same risks accept one thing .
some food like
pigs , cattle , sheep etc are monitored --------in a wide sense -----------but game ? I dont think game is monitored .

I havent bought game from shops but as funny as it sounds I would prefure to catch my own wild game and just give it a "peeky boo" all over just to make sure it looks OK in a wide sense .

and then boil the ass off it in some kind of tracker soup . lol.

[elixirsoo]

Originally Posted by moon monkey

For your information Waitrose do not source their venison locally. You will also not find shot in venison no matter where you source it. This is because most supermarket venison is farmed and therefore killed in an abattoir. Wild venison will not contain shot because they will have been shot with a rifle which shoot bullets. Bullets are easily retrieved from a deer carcass as a matter of course by all game dealers as it is the law and may taint the meat.

Well, the venison I've bought is from Hampshire and as I live in Hampshire it is local to me. It is also marked as 'may contain shot' and it occasionally does. I only speak from my own experience, make of it what you will.

[moon monkey]

Originally Posted by elixirsoo

Well, the venison I've bought is from Hampshire and as I live in Hampshire it is local to me. It is also marked as 'may contain shot' and it occasionally does. I only speak from my own experience, make of it what you will.

Shot is from a shotgun cartridge. It is illegal to shoot any cervid with a shotgun.

[elixirsoo]

Originally Posted by moon monkey

Shot is from a shotgun cartridge. It is illegal to shoot any cervid with a shotgun.

Whatever.

[lyrag]

Believe me if something was 'riddled' with mixie you would know!
Why do people feel the need to eat meat, if your stuck somewhere with no edible plant population and you are skilled in catching rabbits then thats great. But most people have no idea how hard it is to catch and kill animals until it actually came down to it. Much easier to gather aload of greens and berries.

[metacomet]

Originally Posted by tracker

I try the ancient method of cooking .

LOL! Good post.

Yes I'm not sure I've ever heard of any bacteria or parasites that can withstand fire. Most definitely to handle wild animal flesh before cooking it you can be sure you have parasites and bacteria all over your hands and that is a serious risk when eating wild game, if you're not conscious of where those hands go before cleaning.

Rabbits have always been risky , and attempting to live off rabbit can actually kill you because it takes more energy to digest it than what it has in it , thus through only eating rabbit , one could end up dieing of starvation and malnutrition .

Oh yeah, rabbit starvation is a crazy thing. On one hand, it is precious, delicious protein... on the other hand, there is absolutely no fat and the human body just shuts down without getting some source of essential fats...

Gotta have that fish option!

[exmicrochipmafia]

I'll echo MetaComet on this one: Rabbit Starvation- Protein Poisoning. They're great in a pinch for survival, just don't pin long term plans on them without some kind of other source of fat for your body.

And as to the wild greens and veg.... they don't grow in the wild in the winter...ahhem. There's a survival saying here in Canada: You've got about 4 months to gather wild edibles; after that if you don't hunt of fish, you starve... period.

[rollotomaz1]

Originally Posted by elixirsoo

Whatever.

Moon is actually correct on all counts here Soo, it is actually illegal to shoot deer with a shotgun, when we go shooting with a local game keeper we have to use a minimum calibre of 243, better to be a 308 for a cleaner despatch.

If your finding shot in the meat joint which is the muscle of the animal it is more than likely poached meat, not that I'm saying it is, but it could be, you see a shotgun will not kill deer of Roe or above, the range that you need to be when using the larger shot sizes needs to be very close indeed, which is not really possible, because they will hear you long before you will see them at such ranges.

Moon is also correct about rabbit meat being very low in nutrients, its best eaten with other things like a soup with vedge and potatoes, then its what we call an all in.

Next time you get some shot in deer take it to your local vets and report them who will take things further, shot in that meat is a no no.