wild animals- what is good to eat?

[Geoffknight]

I was wondering if anyone could inform me whether or not it is safe to eat some of the wildlife in the UK. is there no scare of desiese from rabbits etc. i know certain species are on the endangered species list. but just what can we hunt safely and legally in the UK without fear of any form of desiese etc. could anyone tell me please??

 

[Marts]

I reckon this should be in fair game not flora and fauna

 

[C_Claycomb]

I reckon this should be in fair game not flora and fauna

Yup, now it is.

I was wondering if anyone could inform me whether or not it is safe to eat some of the wildlife in the UK. Is there not a danger of disease from rabbits etc? I know certain species are on the endangered list, but just what can we hunt safely and legally in the UK without fear of any form of disease etc? Could anyone tell me please??

Yes, it is both legal, and safe, to eat some of the wildlife in the UK.

I am not sure what "rabbits etc." refers to. Rabbits can have myxomatosis, which is pretty easy to spot and is not meant to be dangerous to humans anyway. Tularemia is not naturally found in the UK, so no worries there. I am sure there are other possibilities, but those are the only ones that I know of. Eating squirrel brains isn't adviseable either.

You can hunt and eat rabbits, grey squirrels, pigeon, and collared doves year round without anything more than the land-owner's permission. Pheasants, partridge, hares and deer all need a licence and can be hunted in season.

As for disease, well, just about anything can carry a disease, but if you are hunting then you generally get to have a look at the animal in the live state and it is usually pretty easy to see if it looks ill. Road kill is much dodgier, never mind the issues about barbiturates and bacterial action, but there is a guy down Devon way that gets all his meat that way and seems to be doing alright by just cooking it really thoroughly.

I reckon your concern about whether a wild animal might have disease is unfounded and more than outweighed when you look at all the drugs that go into domestic live stock, not to mention your not knowing how the meat was handled before you get

 

[Chance]

Go for the plentiful and relatively nice-tasting: rabbits and wood pigeons.
Check for odd-looking internals (e.g spots on organs).
Get the landowner's permission.

 

[Geoffknight]

thanks, any tips on cooking and preparation??
geoff

 

[dtalbot]

Rabbits, grey squirrel, wood pigeons. Cook it well just as with any meat and don't eat abviously diseased stuff. Rabbit in particular I'd say gut in the field as soon as it is dead.

 

[Chance]

Preparation: there are several ways to skin a cat: there was a tutorial in the BCUK magazines (and a search on this site should yield more advice). If you're in a rush, I've seen a pheasant 'peeled' by stepping on its wings and pulling on the legs (it was already dead, I should point out).
Cooking: take your pick. In the past few months, I've tried frying, grilling, stewing and a hangi. I used a rabbit to illustrate to my children where meat comes from, and that was just the skinned and gutted carcase placed on a grill over a fire (we also had pignut and wild garlic, but they were eaten separately).
Take a recipe book, replace "chicken" with whatever you've killed.

 

[fredcraft]

Preparation: there are several ways to skin a cat : there was a tutorial in the BCUK magazines

Did I just read correctly ?! :yikes:

 

[Chance]

Did I really say "skin a cat" ? Apologies, I meant "stroke a cat". No, wait...

 

[C_Claycomb]

For game recipes, Google is your friend! There are LOADS of sites out there that have hundreds of ways of cooking game.

I am partial to pigeon slow cooked with Madera and cream sauce, or alternatively, cut in strips and deep fried in seasoned corn meal.

As for cats, well, they ARE the "other" white meat....probably better to stick to wild game though!

 

[Geoffknight]

thanks guys these have been really useful. my apprehensions about british wild food have been thoroughly alleviated

thanks
geoff

 

[BobG]

Other sources of meat include hedgehog, venison, duck, wild boar, rook etc subject to the law and local permissions.

 

[KAE1]

I think for a start stick with rabbits and pigeon - locally available just about everywhere in UK. I generally skin the pigeon breast and simply cut off the breast meat - wasteful I know but people are usually keen to give away loads of pigeon.

Mike Robinson demonstrated a really good method of tearing out a whole pigeon crown in abour 5 seconds, I'll see if I can find the link, in the mean time heres some good recipes.
http://uktv.co.uk/index.cfm/uktv/Food.stepbystep/aid/576749

 

[birch-fire]

Check the liver of rabbits and if there are no spots or discolouration (and no obvious signs of disease before you killed it) then the rabbit will be fine to eat.

A great way to cook rabbit easily in the 'bush' is to cube the meat and skewer it on a sharpened stick and cook it over a fire kebab style! Lovely!

Dave

 

[lofthouse31]

there are many wild herbs to compliment pigeon and rabbit, never tried grey squirrell.
just cook it simply.

 

[woodstock]

Rabbit jointed and soaked in milk over night in the fridge gives it a really nice taste, one other piece of advice is be aware of the area around where the rabbits are feeding as rabbits regularly eat deadly nightshade berries and ivy which contaminates the meat and can make you ill

 

[moocher]

Other sources of meat include hedgehog, venison, duck, wild boar, rook etc subject to the law and local permissions.

i thought hedgehogs were protected now.

 

[jamie18thmo]

Has anyone actually tried eating hedgehog? They're a pest down here in NZ because they eat/compete with native species.