Disposing of waste

[SquirrelBoy]

Never having caught any `live` food myself, let alone despatch it - I was wondering...
How do you dispose of the unwanted remains of your kill be it a fish, bird or rabbit etc.. Where Ray put the left overs of that reindeer on his Telemark program, heaven knows !

Do you burn it, bury it , put in a bin??

Im not a vegi, but would feel a bit disrespectful if I didnt dispose of it properly, even a humble bunny :-(

Its just something that I have always wondered ops:

[Powderburn]

You leave it lay so other critters that like that sort of thing can get some benefit from it. Gutpiles seldom last long in the woods if there are carnivores and/or scavengers around.

[dtalbot]

Yep,
Let nature recycle it, just think how quick the flat roadkills disapear, somthing in the woods won't last as long!
Cheers
David

[Martyn]

Id say as above, let the creatures of the forrest benefit from what you can't use, because they surely can. Be it small animals, bugs or bacteria, , something will use it - nature abhores waste.

[SquirrelBoy]

Cheers guys, guess nature would clear it up - bit of a silly question really.

Shows you how little a kid from `plastic wrapped food` generation knows ! ops:

[dtalbot]

Cheers guys, guess nature would clear it up - bit of a silly question really.

Shows you how little a kid from `plastic wrapped food` generation knows ! ops:

No such thing as a silly question if you don't know the answer, the only sillyness is not asking!
And as one of the plastic wrapped food generation you are doning really well to know a) Meat dosn't originate from the supermarket and b) cutsie little bunnies make some of the best eating there is, I'm a fish eating veggie most of the time as I just don't like most meat but I can't and don't resist the temptation of a nice bit of rabbit or wild venison, or most other game for that matter.
Cheers
David

[the naughty boy]

magpies crows foxes and rats will soon clear up for you m8.

ps how do you guys cook your rabbit? i bone mine ,cut it into cubes and deepfry it,then empty out the oil -add some water and gravy granules and a tin of sweetcorn...yummy.

but if im outdoors i enjoy a spit roast. with the rabbit i mean! :wink:

[Brynglas]

[quote="the naughty boy"]magpies crows foxes and rats will soon clear up for you m8.

ps how do you guys cook your rabbit? i bone mine ,cut it into cubes and deepfry it,then empty out the oil -add some water and gravy granules and a tin of sweetcorn...yummy.

but if im outdoors i enjoy a spit roast. with the rabbit i mean! :wink:[/

I've posted this before, bvut I think it's well worth a go f you get a chance, it's an old Italian hunters recipe from Liguria.

Obviously it depends what ingredients you have to hand, most of these are optional, but the wine and tomato puree are important. Tesco do wine in cans which is great for throwing into your pack, I've also been known to decant a bottle or two into Nalgene bottles for a short trip.

just cut them up into pieces, legs, saddle etc. chuck in a big frying pan and brown lightly.

Add a couple of thinly sliced onions salt and pepper, and if you have some olives a slack handful of them go very well too.

Add a handful of sage and thyme or marjoram, whatever you have, but sage works well.

Add a good glug of wine, whatever you have to hand, oak leaf works very well. put a lid on the pan and leave for about 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes you can chuck some vegetables in if you like, at home I use artichokes, but any sort of sprouting greens will work, a spoonful of tomato puree and throw the lid back on, fifteen minutes later voila! a feast fit for a king.

I've made this out in the woods and at home it works as well with rabbit and chicken :idea: :-)

[Tumper]

Never having caught any `live` food myself, let alone despatch it - I was wondering...
How do you dispose of the unwanted remains of your kill be it a fish, bird or rabbit etc.. Where Ray put the left overs of that reindeer on his Telemark program, heaven knows !

Do you burn it, bury it , put in a bin??

Im not a vegi, but would feel a bit disrespectful if I didnt dispose of it properly, even a humble bunny

I'm always careful not to leave anything where others are likely to see it. In remoter areas it's fine to leave it where you are, but in areas where there is a chance of walkers, etc; stumbling across a pile of viscera, then I like to stick it in the undergrowth. Out of sight from those who think the countryside is lovely, but would be better with a bit of paving.

Brynglas: good recipe, have you tried the addition of prunes, or dates. Works suprisingly well.

[Kath]

have you tried the addition of prunes, or dates. Works suprisingly well.

Oooh! good idea! I'd be planning on that for my bushcraft dinner - still not had it btw :wink: - except for the rule that it all has to be foraged, home grown or otherwise snaffled. But I'll definitely remember that for next time! :-D

[dtalbot]

I'm always careful not to leave anything where others are likely to see it. In remoter areas it's fine to leave it where you are, but in areas where there is a chance of walkers, etc; stumbling across a pile of viscera, then I like to stick it in the undergrowth. Out of sight from those who think the countryside is lovely, but would be better with a bit of paving.

Yep, good point.
Those who either don't live in the coutryside or don't know it like all the town based folk here seem to regard it as a bit of a theme park and certainly can't cope with the fact nature is red in tooth and claw and we are part of nature.

And, reading what Hugh F-W says in the River Cottage Cookbook about likley reactions if townies (at a guess he didn't specify, but most country folk know tree rats are destructive pests) if they know you shoot grey squirrel, I am left wondering what proportion of the population realises that meat was once a living creature!
David

[dtalbot]

magpies crows foxes and rats will soon clear up for you m8.

ps how do you guys cook your rabbit? i bone mine ,cut it into cubes and deepfry it,then empty out the oil -add some water and gravy granules and a tin of sweetcorn...yummy.

but if im outdoors i enjoy a spit roast. with the rabbit i mean! :wink:

Out and about it would be spit roast probably. At home I tend to bone it, find whatever other game is lurking in the freezer, chop all the meat into cubes, coat in seasoned flour and shallow fry. Make a stock from all the offcuts, carcasses and edible offal, a few veg and herbs. Chop up some veg like onion, potato, carrot.
Stick the whole lot in a huge dish with a good slug of decent red wine and a spoon full of whole grain mustard, cap it with some puff pastry and bake until done.
If I get to chose my last meal will be a home made game pie!
Cheers
David

[Brynglas]

Out and about it would be spit roast probably. At home I tend to bone it, find whatever other game is lurking in the freezer, chop all the meat into cubes, coat in seasoned flour and shallow fry. Make a stock from all the offcuts, carcasses and edible offal, a few veg and herbs. Chop up some veg like onion, potato, carrot.
Stick the whole lot in a huge dish with a good slug of decent red wine and a spoon full of whole grain mustard, cap it with some puff pastry and bake until done.
If I get to chose my last meal will be a home made game pie!
Cheers
David[/quote]

The game pie is cetainly in my top ten!!! :clap:



I think that HFW m,akes some excellent points relating to all meat having to be killed at some point, and that we have become from divorced from the realities of food, kids not knowing that bacon comes from pigs, milk not coming from cows etc.. This is a big shame, particularly when we look at how poor many peoples diet has become, encouraged well and truly by McD's etc.

Personally I'd much rather eat a rabbit/ squirrel/ wood pigeon that has lived a free, natural, mostly organic ( in my area at least!) life than an average supermarket chicken.

[Stuart]

everything said so far is right with regards to letting nature clear it up to the benifit of the local wildlife

remember that if you are trapping rabbits prep them away from your trapping line, you dont want to be attracting foxes to your snares

if you have a natural track trap mud/sand pit etc then you can brush it out and leave the remains in the middle, then come back in the morning and take a look at what animals came visiting in the night (we did this last weekend and found tracks left by fox, polecat and stoat)

you can also use the remains as bait for eel traps and catching crabs
which is what I do down where I trap)

[Gary]

In a survival situation remember also that the heart, kidneys and liver can all be eaten or added to a stew - boil the bones too - when you scrap the hide use the fat from this for frying or some such - you can even use it as the fuel for a wick lamp.

Larger game you can eat the inner organs - tongue, cheeks - brain etc.

In true wilderness living there is little that is left or classed as waste from a kill and we in the wasteful west would do well to remember this.

[dtalbot]

In a survival situation remember also that the heart, kidneys and liver can all be eaten or added to a stew - boil the bones too - when you scrap the hide use the fat from this for frying or some such - you can even use it as the fuel for a wick lamp.

Larger game you can eat the inner organs - tongue, cheeks - brain etc.

In true wilderness living there is little that is left or classed as waste from a kill and we in the wasteful west would do well to remember this.

Yep,
Even at home those bits are worth using. According to HFW bunny heart, kidney and liver is really good when lightly fried, mine tends to go into the stock where it adds richness to the flavour.
David

[george]

[/quote]





I think that HFW m,akes some excellent points relating to all meat having to be killed at some point, and that we have become from divorced from the realities of food, kids not knowing that bacon comes from pigs, milk not coming from cows etc.. This is a big shame, particularly when we look at how poor many peoples diet has become, encouraged well and truly by McD's etc.

Personally I'd much rather eat a rabbit/ squirrel/ wood pigeon that has lived a free, natural, mostly organic ( in my area at least!) life than an average supermarket chicken.[/color][/quote]

Fairly soon we're going to be raising some pigs for food. In my time I've shot or otherwise caught many hundreds (thousands?) of wild beasties of one sort or another and eaten the vast majority of them. But I've never grown one from a baby up to the point where I kill it for food.

My wife and I both agree that we should be able to kill and process them ourselves, (home kill for home consumption is legal in Scotland once again) that it is tantamount to hiring a hitman to send it off to the slaughterhouse. If I can't do it then I should give up meat.

I don't know how I will feel about it when the time comes. I sense that for me it is very different looking at a bunny through the sights or picking up a rabbit from a snare than it is to tie down an animal that you've know since it was young and popping it with the .22

What do the rest of you think?

George

[Gary]

On the first ever survival / E&E i did in the army I was a fresh faced lad of 18 and part of the course was that they gave us all a rabbit. Said Rabbit had to be named and carried with us for a couple of days - mine was a fluffy little fellow I named George (honestly).

Anyway at one of the many RV's were we instructed to kill our rabbits and butcher them - many soldiers (hard men or not) seem to have lost there rabbits along the way.

George however dutifully met his maker and I felt guilty as hell but - and here is my point - I showed him the greatest of respect, I even buried his skin, legs and head.

With your porkers or any animal I think the same rule should apply, as long as your respectful, dont cause unnecessary suffering - then you should be able to kill and consume it with a clear conscience.

When it comes to the kill dont let your feelings get in the way either - be firm and kill cleanly.

Good luck and keep us posted on the progress.

[the naughty boy]

why waste a bullet m8,havent you seen carrie?
just kidding, you just need to be completly sane about the whole thing.human emotion and reaction are the hardest things to get over when accomplishing a target sometimes.it wont be easy to do and even harder if you give them names! it would be like me eating my tropical fish....Hmmm ....
think nike...just do it! :-D















and hope they dont haunt you :shock:

[the naughty boy]

one more thing...if you think you cant do it then you,ll end up with two very fat very old pigs draining your assets.expensive pets or delicious tasty bacon and chops?


pass the apple sauce m8 :wink:

[george]

Thanks guys.

Well I've got a few months to go before they arrive and then a few months after that before dinner time. So we'll see.

I totally agree with the clean death/ good life /respect bit - thats why we want to grow and eat our own. I don't eat supermarket meat if I can avoid it and I would rather go without totally if I couldn't put my money where my mouth is so to speak.

I'll keep you posted.

[dtalbot]

I think that HFW m,akes some excellent points relating to all meat having to be killed at some point, and that we have become from divorced from the realities of food, kids not knowing that bacon comes from pigs, milk not coming from cows etc.. This is a big shame, particularly when we look at how poor many peoples diet has become, encouraged well and truly by McD's etc.

George[/quote]

Good points,
I think my 4 year old is probably one of onlt 0.001% of 4 year olds in knowing exactly how to skin a rabbit and get it ready for the pot, only the fact that she would like as not chop bits off herself as well if handling a sharp knife stops her having a go!

When the pigs time comes wouldn't a captive bolt gun do the job more effectivley than a .22? Only guessing but they are quite up to the job of dispatchin injured horses and deer so I'd think they would be OK to do a clean, quick job on a pig.Cheers
David

[dtalbot]

, and that we have become from divorced from the realities of food, [/quote]
Well,
Lucky me lives right on the edge of the peak district, which as you probably know, given the fact that more people live within 50 miles of than 50 miles of Trafalgar Square, is the second most visited NP on the planet.
But get this. Last autumn I was quietly gathering my winters supply of blackberries near a well used local path. It always amazes me that I find such a plentiful supply at that point given the paths business but it isnt a useful route from and to anywhere. A visitor with the distinctive accent of a nearby city stoped to ask what I was doing. I explained, visitor listened carfully then with a concerned look on her face asked 'don't they have them in the supermarket freezers here then?

[Brynglas]

Fairly soon we're going to be raising some pigs for food. In my time I've shot or otherwise caught many hundreds (thousands?) of wild beasties of one sort or another and eaten the vast majority of them. But I've never grown one from a baby up to the point where I kill it for food.

My wife and I both agree that we should be able to kill and process them ourselves, (home kill for home consumption is legal in Scotland once again) that it is tantamount to hiring a hitman to send it off to the slaughterhouse. If I can't do it then I should give up meat.

I don't know how I will feel about it when the time comes. I sense that for me it is very different looking at a bunny through the sights or picking up a rabbit from a snare than it is to tie down an animal that you've know since it was young and popping it with the .22

What do the rest of you think?

I don't have pigs this year as my partner is expecting twins so my time is limited enough, however for the previous three years a colleague and I have kept a couple of pigs for the freezer, he is a far more experienced smallholder than I am and we've managed to keep ourselves in pork, sausages and bacon and managed to sell a few pounds of sausages as well, we've also had great success in making our own 'Carmarthen' hams in the old fashioned way (it's virtually the same process as Parma ham).

As far as slaughter and buthchery is concerned I wouldn't ever consider using a .22 for the job, simply because I couldn't guarantee a clean shot, once the animal gets a hint that something is amiss, and they definitely will, one is more likely to shoot a toe off than to dispatch the pig. I've tried using a .22 to process a goose, with little success. Very traumatic and unpleasant all round and not a little bit dangerous. Our pigs have always gone to a professional slaughterman who has done a fantastic job of keeping the animals stress free and returned them almost ready straight for the freezer.

This is obviously only my opinion, but if you have absolutely any qualms at all about being able to grow to kill, I would avoid a DIY job on pigs, a job much better left to a professional.

I can however give you an some excellent sausage recipes though!

:-|

[Buckshot]

I agree Brynglas, a pigs skull is quite thick, I'm not sure a .22 would be powerfull enough to guarantee a kill rather than just stunning the animal with the shock.

Perhaps a messier but more effective way would be to use a 12 bore loaded with heavy shot at close range. The power of a shotgun at close range is awesome, it's only when the pellets travel and spread that the power is lost. You would need to ensure you don't get hit with splash back of the pellets though ops:

Or you could use a larger rifle.

Cheers

Mark

[george]

Thanks guys

The .22 was a figure of speech - the captive bolt is obviously the way to go.

One of the problems that we have here is that our nearest slaughterhouse is 90 very difficult miles away. No-one round here likes the idea of having the animals in the trailer for the best part of 3 hours to take them to slaughter. They get there already in a bit of a state and that begins to get away from the point of keeping them.

Yup Brynglas - we owe it to the pigs (and any other animal we raise) to do as good a job possible and any half arsed botched attempt would only make things worse. Thats my point entirely - we want to do the best we can for ourselves, our kids and our animals - we all carry enough moral baggage with us about the decisions that we make - but do I have it in me or not? I don't know yet. But I can assure all of you, if I cant do it then it's off to the slaughterman with them and then no more meat I can't kill myself!

George

Happy to swap sausage and ham recipes though :wink:

[the naughty boy]

hey george just a small question...do you have digestion problems?
just a yes or no will be ok m8.

remember that to eat ,something has to die,even if its only on a cellular level,the problem arises when the cells aggrigate into larger forms and grunt and have curly tails :-?

[george]

Naughty Boy

Yes (but only if I have to eat crap supermarket meat or processed rubbish that comes out of a can!)

George

[dtalbot]

Thanks guys
But I can assure all of you, if I cant do it then it's off to the slaughterman with them and then no more meat I can't kill myself!

George

Happy to swap sausage and ham recipes though :wink:

Just another thought, I'm sure someone in your locality, be it vet, farmer, knackerman, gamekeeper or huntsman, must be profficient with a captive bolt. Maybe one of them will be willing to teach you how to do it or visit and do it for you.
Cheers
David