How To Prepare Wild Game

1. How To Prepare Wild Game Rus Hays

2. Small Game You Can Eat • With relatively few exceptions, you can eat anything that walks, crawls, swims, or flies. • Frogs • Turtles • Snakes • Squirrel • Groundhogs • Possum • Birds (all varieties) • Rabbit • Raccoon • Armadillo • Skunk (desperation) • Fox (survival) • Coyote (survival)

3. Insects • Do not eat those that are brightly colored, furry, or are known to be poisonous. • 80% Protein • Insects should be cooked first, especially those that would be crunchy if eaten raw—they are particularly susceptible to harboring parasites • Once cooked, pound them into powder and add to soups or stews • Worms should be dropped into a bucket of water. The water will clean them off and cause them to purge.

4. Frogs, Turtles, Snakes • Skin, eviscerate, and eat muscle tissue • Snakes provide the most bang for the buck. Easy to catch if seen, lots of meat for little effort. If it is a venomous variety, use caution in removing the head

5. Squirrels, Ground Hogs, Etc • All are edible with varying degrees of palatability • The basic process of skinning and butchering is the same for all four legged mammals. It just differs on scale. • Brining helps tame the taste of the meat in less desirable species. • For possum, raccoon, ground hog, and others boil the meat first and then bake until browned and tender.

6. Birds • All birds are edible but there is usually a high amount of effort required to procure them in survival situations • Some species are better than others i.e. game birds vs raptors or ravens • Often the meat tastes like the primary food source of the bird-those that feed on insects, fruit, and grains taste better than those that eat carrion. • Did you know there is a hunting season for sparrows?

7. Fish • Salt water species can usually be eaten raw with little danger • Freshwater species should be cooked • Never eat rancid or spoiled fish. Spoiled fish produce toxins that cooking does not neutralize • Remember fish absorb chemicals from the water into their flesh. Consider the source of your fish. • Crustaceans—in general, the warmer the weather, the higher the risk of contamination

8. Road Kill Rules • See how fresh the meat is. Does it stink, have maggots, look sick, or have ruptured organs? • Rigor mortis is not a disqualifier, especially if the other signs are not present • Clean and butcher the meat • Cook the meat to a high internal temperature (150 F or above) to kill parasites • Remember, some animals may have died due to poisoning

9. Diseases • Tularemia—infected animals get the disease from being bitten by horseflies, ticks, or mosquitos. All of these carriers are dormant in the winter that is why the rule of thumb for rabbits is don’t eat them in the months without “R” The disease is most prevalent in rabbits and rodents, thus the slang “rabbit fever.” Other animals can catch the disease but it is very rare.

10. Tularemia cont’d • Tularemia is spread to humans by: • Direct contact through a cut in the skin or being stabbed by a bone while dressing the animal • Being bitten by an infected tick, mosquito, or horsefly • Eating improperly cooked meat (thorough cooking will kill the virus) • Indications—white spots on the liver. White cysts or nodules are indications of parasites not tularemia. Tularemia can be treated with antibiotics. Untreated it is fatal in 5% of the population. Treated it is fatal in less than 1%

11. Infected Liver

12. Rabies • Virus carried by mammals—most cases in the US are caused by skunk bites (about half) • Enters the body through a bite or broken skin or contact with infected blood. Rabies is killed by thorough cooking. • Vaccination should be administered within two days. Once the virus incubates there is no cure or antidote. It is fatal.

13. Other Conditions • Liver flukes • Worms • Rancid smell • Soft, spongy flesh

14. Rabbit Procedures • The procedure for preparing a rabbit is much the same as any small animal. • Dispatch the animal. A sharp blow to the head with a stick or club is usually sufficient for rabbits, squirrels and the like however, remember that even with a crushed skull that results in instant death, they will still jerk and spasm. An air rifle is a very quiet and efficient method of killing rabbits

15. Procedures cont’d • Cut the head off of the rabbit and hang it upside down if you can allowing the blood to drain; otherwise, lay it on a table. • Cut around the feet, down the legs, down the belly (between skin and muscle), and down front legs. Peel the skin off • Carefully make an incision from between the hind legs up to the rib cage with the point of the knife cutting up and away from the organs. Remove the organs. Save the heart and liver to check for disease. A diseased heart and/or liver does not mean you cannot eat the meat but you might want to discard the animal anyway unless it is a survival situation.

16. Procedures cont’d • Rinse the meat and cut off the feet at the joints. • Break the back and cut the rabbit in half. Split the hind quarters or cut until they lay flat. • Most people use the hindquarters for roasting or grilling and boil or stew the ribs and front half, removing the meat from the bone to use in stews, stir fry, etc.

17. Rabbit meat • Highest protein content • 63% of fat is unsaturated • USDA states that domestic rabbit meat is the most nutritious known to man

18. Preserving the Hide • Using small nails or brads, Stake out the rabbit skin on a small board with the fur facing down. • Remove all fat and tissue from the fur (flense) • Salt heavily and let dry thoroughly before shipping to a processor. • In a survival situation hides can be tanned using the brain of the animal. Once the hide is flensed and dried, mash the brain and work it into the skin. Roll the skin and allow it to cure overnight. Unroll and scrape all of the brain matter away. Work the skin through a rope loop—the friction will heat the hide, thus drying it and finishing the process.

19. Chickens For chickens, especially large roosters, wringing the neck is an art and is not recommended for beginners. Many people hang them upside down and cut their throats allowing them to bleed to death. I find the fastest, most humane method is to chop off the head. A chicken once lived for several weeks without a head so expect lots of flopping even with the head removed.

20. Chickens cont’d • Remove the head • Hang the chicken upside down by the feet and allow to bleed • Remove chicken and soak in scalding water for about one minute. Attempt to pluck a large pin feather. If the feather does not come out easily, repeat the process until one does. • Pluck the feathers • Slit open and remove the internal organs

21. Chickens cont’d • To skin a chicken • Remove the head • Hang upside down until bleeding stops • Hang by the neck • Insert knife between skin and muscle at the neck and cut downward, peeling the skin and feathers away as you go. Remove tips of wings. • Open up the abdominal cavity and remove entrails and organs • Cut off feet

22. Chicken skinning