Roadkill Preparation

Hello all!

I'm a long time lurker here, feels funny to be posting after all this time!

I recently came upon a freshly dead roadkill hawk with a broken neck. No rigor mortis, no bugs, clear eyes, temperature outside was just above freezing. I scooped up the bird and brought him/her home. Having no experience plucking a bird, I put it in the freezer 2 days ago in order to figure out how to proceed.

All of the articles I've read talk about plucking and butchering while the carcass is still fresh. Will I be running into issues trying to pluck butcher and cook this animal? Any thoughts? Has anyone tried hawk?

P.S. I am aware that posession of a dead predatory bird can be illegal in certain areas.

I too have no experience and i know nothing of the legalities but here is two pieces of information which may help you,

One, carnivorous animals are rarely eaten as they are "gamey" flavored. Some people like gamey

Two, birds are birds are birds google up how to deal with chickens or pheasants or whatever.

It seems meat eating can't get more ethical than eating carrion.

If I ate flesh and blood, I would eat newly dead wild, free range hormone free roadkill.

This gentleman eats roadkill. A good video to see how easy it really is when you have the ability and honesty to butcher your own corpses instead of having a payed middle man do it for you out of your sight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQvt-gxbq5E

Being as how we are truly in Black Soldier fly season, any road kill can be scooped up and if an examine at ion does not cause you to say yum you can turn it into Chicken
food via the black fly larva ! Big Al !

Judging from my experiences with poultry, getting the feathers out may be a problem....this is best done while a bird is still warm. You can try dipping it in some scalding hot water for a minute or so and see if that makes it any easier. The other alternative is to simply skin the bird....since there probably isn't a lot of fat under the skin you won't be losing much and the process will be a lot quicker. Also it won't be good to try to roast and have crispy skin like a turkey....that bird will be one tough customer. I would let it age in the refrigerator for two or three days after thawing and cleaning, and then do a slow stew or curry....