Kitchen Garden Forum

If you kill a pheasant whilst driving can you pick it up and claim it? I seem to remember somebody saying that if somebody else kills it, you can remove road kill but if you run it down yourself then you can't. (Don't know whether this is true or not).
We came across one the other day and I was sorely tempted to pick it up to provide supper for our lame vixen who visits us every night. (I know all you fox haters won't approve, but we've got rather attached to her and while we're feeding her, hopefully she'll have less need to chase after somebody's chickens!)

Hi Primrose

If not a fox hater I am at least a "fox disapprover". But as for road kill, if it's there take it, whoever killed it. I very much doubt if any laws on roadkill (and I would bet there aren't any) would be policed

I'm with Alan on this one: foxes should not be encouraged. They already do very well on road kill, the contents of our bins, and occasionally our chickens (although I would argue that most chicken kills blamed on foxes are usually caused by badgers, especially where a break-in is involved). It's not altogether surprising that they themselves constitute most of the nation's road kill, which is why we not over-run with them since the (putative) hunting ban — it was always thus. That, and mange.

But to be clear: it's the occupant of the vehicle behind the one that killed the pheasant that can legally make a claim to it. Having said that, at the risk of a dawn raid, I have taken home and cooked pheasants I have accidentally hit. Yummy, and no buck shot.

From a moral standpoint, I cannot see that, if we were to make an occupation of deliberately swerving to hit pheasants to take home for our dinner, that that's any different from taking a gun and shooting the hapless beasts.

Not sure about the law, but if it is freshly killed it would be a waste to leave it. I've had hare and a couple of pheasants in the past.

Pheasants seem to have a death wish anyway. They seem to wait at the edge of the road until you don't have time to brake, and then they dash in front of the car. It is strange also how they decide to run along the road in front of the car instead of going into the edge out of the way too.

Hi Felix,
I actually have great difficulties with Badgers but it will only be a Rogue Badger that will attack poultry and break into a poultry shed and although they are not unknown they are very few and far between.
The reason a person loses poultry to Foxes is generally because of a human failure.
JB.

Mostly I agree with john.

I heard on the BBC yesterday that if you knock something down, technically, if you pick it up, you could be accused of poaching but very unlikely to be so. If the vehicle in front of you knocks something down you are perfectly able to pick it up without fear of prosecution.
The Law Is A Ass according to one of Dickens characters so things don't change do they?
JB.

The ultimate road kill?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/mers ... 315504.stm

Ah poor thing. You'd have a problem getting that in the turkey roasting tray wouldn't you?
Has anybody actually tried eating ostrich? I believe there are a few places where you can buy it.

Couldn't resist posting this. We were driving along a country lane this afternoon when we narrowly missed colliding with two red kites hovering over the road at hedge height. They'd just spotted some roadkill in the lane in front of us and were determined not to miss out. When we returned along that route two hours later the carcass had completely disappeared so I can imagine that they were down on it as soon as our car had passed. With their keen eyesight I imagine that road kill forms a useful percentage of their diet and I've noticed before that when we've spotted a dead rabbit, squirrel or something on a road and then passed back along it later it has often completely disappeared so there is obviously a hungry hoard out there looking for opportunities.

Primrose wrote:Has anybody actually tried eating ostrich? I believe there are a few places where you can buy it.

I have eaten it several times. It is delicious. And no, it doesn't taste like chicken. It's very lean (and therefore not very flavoursome) but it has a good texture and is tender, and versatile. There's a farm near here raises them. They're quite a sight. What a pity it is that we made the Dodo extinct. What a missed opportunity that was for domestication.

Primrose wrote:... two red kites hovering over the road at hedge height. They'd just spotted some roadkill in the lane in front of us and were determined not to miss out

In Medieval times, Red Kites inhabited our cities in great numbers where they scavenged what we discarded. Legislation against them by royal decree and improved sanitation did for most of them. Buzzards have increased hugely in recent years around here, in hand with the increase in sheep farming where it used to be dairy — they prosper on dead lambs and afterbirth. They feast on road kill, too, although I learned the other day that earthworms form the greater part of their diet. I'd rather we had the Kites, though. I saw a pair over Exeter Racecourse the other day. A magnificent sight.

It's interesting to note that as red kites are becoming more common over our part of the world , our local squirrel population seems to be becoming increasingly vigilant about birds flying overhead. We have surieels regularly visit our garden and often when a red kite is seen flying overhead they can be seen heading for cover in the trees. I've no evidence of ever seeing a red kite attack a squirrel, but they seem to be more wary of them than they are of either magpies or crows which they mainly seem to ignore.

Hi Felix,

FelixLeiter wrote:In Medieval times, Red Kites inhabited our cities in great numbers where they scavenged what we discarded.

I rather think that the Black Kite was the scavenger of Medieval times.
JB.

Primrose wrote:You'd have a problem getting that in the turkey roasting tray wouldn't you?

You've got to get it in your boot first!