I eat roadkill

October 18, 2011 11:45 AM

I eat roadkill. Meet Jonathan McGowan, who has spent 30 years eating only roadkill. The conservationist makes owl curries and rat stir fries because he doesn't like the way farmed animals are treated.
posted by nevercalm (74 comments total)

If there was no more roadkill, I'd be a vegetarian.

Wait. Swap that. OK.
posted by DU at 11:48 AM on October 18, 2011

I assume that this means he only gets his meat from roadkill. If he ate nothing but roadkill he'd have died of scurvy a long time ago.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:49 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

If I were a vegetarian, there woud be no more roadkill?
posted by nathancaswell at 11:49 AM on October 18, 2011

I have eaten roadkill. Why waste it?
posted by Stagger Lee at 11:53 AM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Yup. Perhaps I could've framed that better....he gets his other groceries the traditional way, but his meat seems only to come from what has been Chevied.

altho I'm sure he wouldn't be above foraging in a vegetable field behind a car that went off the road....
posted by nevercalm at 11:54 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

If I were a roadkill, there'd be no more vegetarians?
posted by Mister Fabulous at 11:54 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

My dad once found a still-warm young deer by the side of the road. Took it home and ate it with no compunctions. Rats, though... rats would creep me out a little.
posted by Specklet at 11:55 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I assume that this means he only gets his meat from roadkill. If he ate nothing but roadkill he'd have died of scurvy a long time ago.

Not necessarily true. Organ meat contains vitamin C; most folks don't eat the organ meat is all. Note, for example, the old Inuit diet which consisted almost entirely of meat.
posted by Justinian at 11:56 AM on October 18, 2011 [7 favorites]

Took it home and ate it with no compunctions.

But compunctions bring out the flavour.
posted by binturong at 11:57 AM on October 18, 2011 [13 favorites]

I respect that, but it isn't for me. I would eat roadkill if it looked fresh and tasty enough, but the reason I eat animals is very simple: their flesh tastes wonderful and I really don't care very much about them. I don't value their lives very highly at all. I mean, I don't like unnecessary cruelty and I certainly treat animals well unless I plan to kill and eat them, but I would see an entire species go extinct in preference to seeing a single human child die.

This may make me a bad, immoral person but I'm comfortable with it.
posted by Decani at 11:58 AM on October 18, 2011 [11 favorites]

I've known a few people who were vegetarians except for animals that they'd killed themselves.
posted by octothorpe at 11:59 AM on October 18, 2011

1. isn't that how Dalmher started?
2. I bet he isn't getting much action. I wouldn't kiss him.
posted by stormpooper at 12:00 PM on October 18, 2011

I would see an entire species go extinct in preference to seeing a single human child die.

Crazy like woah. Pretty intense ecological repercussions for that.
posted by nathancaswell at 12:02 PM on October 18, 2011 [11 favorites]

I've been vegetarian for 19 years or so, and I have to say that I agree with this gent.

I have eaten roadkill. Why waste it?
posted by Stagger Lee

I absolutely agree. I do think that there is a bit of a city/country angle here that's why he's getting a bit of publicity....I lived in NYC for a long time, then moved to the woods. Prior to being out here, I rarely saw even a live deer, much less the 15 or 20 on my lawn most nights. This year in particular (but in general) it's staggering the numbers of animals that are lying dead on the side of the road.

At this point, it's been so long since I've eaten meat that I wouldn't bother, but my cousin (a pretty dedicated hillbilly and someone who's been in and out of dire financial straits his whole life) has been trying to get me to eat roadkill for years. He told me that there are certain circumstances where the meat is not viable for people to eat, but when it's right, it's right.

His best pitch? "C'mon. I have a freezer full of buck right now. My friend hit him. You know what he was doing? He was chasing a doe across the road, trying to mate. He died doing what he loved, and what was most natural on this planet....trying to propagate his species. He was hit just right and died quickly...how could you not want to eat that??"
posted by nevercalm at 12:02 PM on October 18, 2011 [15 favorites]

1. isn't that how Dalmher started?
2. I bet he isn't getting much action. I wouldn't kiss him.
posted by stormpooper at 8:00 PM on October 18

1. Who or what is "Dalmher"?

2. Huh huh I bet you don't get laid much. Good argument, dude. Mature and persuasive, all in one big sexy package.
posted by Decani at 12:03 PM on October 18, 2011

Crazy like woah. Pretty intense ecological repercussions for that.
posted by nathancaswell at 8:02 PM on October 18

Depends on the species, no? And the child? Let's say it was your child and tapeworms. Whoch would you choose?
posted by Decani at 12:04 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Whoch? Which. Whatever.
posted by Decani at 12:04 PM on October 18, 2011

Good argument, dude.

FYI, I think stormpooper happens to be female.
posted by hermitosis at 12:05 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

he conservationist makes owl curries and rat stir fries because he doesn't like the way farmed animals are treated.

Because getting run over by an 18-wheeler is so much better than being killed in a slaughterhouse.
posted by Ironmouth at 12:06 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that "Dalmher" is Jeffrey Dahmer
posted by kcds at 12:08 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

maybe the manner in which the animal lived up until the point of its death is more in line with this guy's politics, ironmouth? i mean shit i dont know i dont even use punctuation right all the time
posted by beefetish at 12:08 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think there would be a minimum size requirement for me. I mean, a recently expired deer is one thing, but frogs and rats? The only road-killed frogs I've seen have been of the pancake dimensionality and most of their insides were technically outsides. So, perhaps my threshold is this: if it takes two guys and a pickup truck to haul back to your house, roadkill = OK; if you have to scrape it off the pavement with a shovel and cook it in a toaster, roadkill = bad.
posted by rh at 12:08 PM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

I'm with nevercalm on that one. There's all kinds of socio0-economic stuff encoded there.

And I dare say, people that won't eat fresh roadkill probably don't want to get too acquainted with where their meat comes from regardless of how it was killed. It's never a very clean and surgical process.

I'm going to assume that Decani is alluding to this, because we're not often actually allowed/forced to choose between the life of a child and an entire species. In the real world, wiping out entire species tends not to be a clean, isolated thing that spares us of human impact.
posted by Stagger Lee at 12:10 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Because getting run over by an 18-wheeler is so much better than being killed in a slaughterhouse.

Aw c'mon, really? You can do so much better than that, I'm sure.
posted by nevercalm at 12:11 PM on October 18, 2011

Thought it was going to be this bloke, but turn out he's Arthur Boyt. Is it a south-west thing?
posted by Abiezer at 12:12 PM on October 18, 2011

Heh, I've mentioned Jack Landers like a zillion times here on the blue, but in the hunting class I took with him he told us how to figure out if a roadkill deer is good for eating. He always stops when he sees an injured deer and it often turns out they are fatally injured, but still alive, which is a sad way to leave a deer, so he humanely dispatches them and in that case of course the meat is perfectly fresh. Of course you cook the hell out of it, which destroys any worms.

The best thing to do if you hit a deer is to call animal control in case they already have a protocol. Some towns have deals with soup kitchens and homeless shelters.
posted by melissam at 12:13 PM on October 18, 2011 [4 favorites]

Don't some animals have high risks of carrying parasites? I would only eat road-kill well done, that much is for sure.
posted by codacorolla at 12:13 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think there would be a minimum size requirement for me. I mean, a recently expired deer is one thing, but frogs and rats? The only road-killed frogs I've seen have been of the pancake dimensionality and most of their insides were technically outsides. So, perhaps my threshold is this: if it takes two guys and a pickup truck to haul back to your house, roadkill = OK; if you have to scrape it off the pavement with a shovel and cook it in a toaster, roadkill = bad.
posted by rh at 12:08 PM on October 18 [+] [!]

For me it was grouse. Probably a cleaner kill than birdshot makes anyway.

Clearly we're not talking about cleaning the highway with a spatula. Certain organs need to be intact, and the meat has to be mostly undamaged. Just like any animal you'd eat.
posted by Stagger Lee at 12:13 PM on October 18, 2011

Oh, well there you go, melissam answered my question while I was typing it.
posted by codacorolla at 12:14 PM on October 18, 2011

Because getting run over by an 18-wheeler is so much better than being killed in a slaughterhouse.

But his act of eating something run over by an 18 wheeler does not dictate that running over, whereas his demand for farmed meat would drive increased ainmal farming.
posted by biffa at 12:15 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Because getting run over by an 18-wheeler is so much better than being killed in a slaughterhouse.

Accidental death during healthy, exciting activity vs. execution following industrial incarceration?

If I were an ungulate, I'd opt for the highway.
posted by General Tonic at 12:15 PM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

FYI, I think stormpooper happens to be female.
posted by hermitosis at 8:05 PM on October 18

I'm afraid I call anyone without a gender-obvious handle "dude", dude. Ironically, of course.
posted by Decani at 12:18 PM on October 18, 2011

If I were an ungulate, I'd opt for the highway.

Sounds like a snappy title for a collection of short stories (poetry, perhaps).
posted by codacorolla at 12:20 PM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

I mean, I don't like unnecessary cruelty and I certainly treat animals well unless I plan to kill and eat them,

Is this just poor phrasing, or do you really mean that you treat animals poorly if they are eventually headed for your table?
posted by gurple at 12:24 PM on October 18, 2011

Some towns have deals with soup kitchens and homeless shelters.

I can't link to it right now, but recently a yearling bear made it's way into a residential area here in Portland (Maine) and after 4-5 hours of trying to get it down/dart it/handle it humanely they finally had to shoot it.

The meat from the bear was distributed to local soup kitchens.
posted by anastasiav at 12:25 PM on October 18, 2011

I don't know, man, my nephew brought an acorn in from the backyard over the weekend and a little while later some fun little grubs were wandering around my living room. I would feel deeply unsettled about eating a dead animal I found lying on the side of the road, ethical issues aside. There's all kinds of weird shit out there in the forest.
posted by something something at 12:25 PM on October 18, 2011

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that "Dalmher" is Jeffrey Dahmer

Pretty sure they're talking about musician Abagail Dalmher, the vocalist and songwriter for King Shit of Fuck Mountain, the hardcore punk/Mr. Show tribute band. I believe she got her start after running Bob Odenkirk over with a car and then eating three of his fingers.
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 12:28 PM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

I've known a few people who were vegetarians except for animals that they'd killed themselves.

Those would be the "Zuckerburgs." (Or the Pollans.) Not really an option for poor urban folk, outside of the rodents.

I would see an entire species go extinct in preference to seeing a single human child die.

Completely meaningless opinion. I smell intent to provoke.

How to Get Off our Trolleys
posted by mrgrimm at 12:30 PM on October 18, 2011

Hugh Dennis enjoys some delightful roadkill recipes.
posted by Kandarp Von Bontee at 12:30 PM on October 18, 2011

@Uppity Pigeon--no I meant Dahmer. As in Jeff. I'm a horrible speller.

@Decani--you're no fun, dude.
posted by stormpooper at 12:30 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Maybe if I'd seen the deer killed, as in five minutes before, or it was still alive, sure. Dead deer that's been there for I-don't-know-how-long, nope.

But then, I don't know how to skin and carve up a deer anyway.
posted by emjaybee at 12:35 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

The thing that gets me is he calls rabbit "bland." That's a good measure of where his palate has shifted to, because I find rabbit really gamy.
posted by oneironaut at 12:36 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

The meat from the bear was distributed to local soup kitchens.

That + the fact that the animal might be not dead and suffering terrible is exactly why you should call local highway patrol/animal control if you hit an animal.

Not really an option for poor urban folk, outside of the rodents.

NY has lots of public land you can hunt on. It doesn't cost all that much to buy a gun and bullets, it's the learning curve that keeps people away from it, not money.
posted by melissam at 12:36 PM on October 18, 2011

It doesn't cost all that much to buy a gun and bullets, it's the learning curve that keeps people away from it, not money.

I think it's also the effort. I went out once with a friend who's an avid hunter (mostly to kick rocks and make lots of noise.) What I found amazing was what a nice walk I had, really rummaging off trail and into all sorts of weird little places. But also what a looooong walk back he would've had with a carcass...if he had shot a deer at the farthest point in our hike, he would've had some hump back to his truck.

Also, there's a whole lot of NY that's not in NYC, most of it inaccessible to poor urban folk who depend on public transportation. Try and take a bus out to the woods, gut a deer and then bring it back on a Greyhound. I think "being looked askance at" might be the least of your troubles.
posted by nevercalm at 12:46 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Also, there's a whole lot of NY that's not in NYC, most of it inaccessible to poor urban folk who depend on public transportation. Try and take a bus out to the woods, gut a deer and then bring it back on a Greyhound. I think "being looked askance at" might be the least of your troubles.

Yep, there's poor and there's poor. Some poor folks in NYC can afford to rent a car, some even own cars if the lots in the projects are any indication. But you are right, the time thing makes it best for unemployed folks in the lower middle class who have time to scout and wait.
posted by melissam at 12:51 PM on October 18, 2011

Yep, there's poor and there's poor. Some poor folks in NYC can afford to rent a car, some even own cars if the lots in the projects are any indication. But you are right, the time thing makes it best for unemployed folks in the lower middle class who have time to scout and wait.

I can just imagine returning the car to the NYC rental company, with the backseat sticky and soaked with blackened blood.

"Just an er, hunting trip. Sorry about the upholstery. Damage waiver covers that right?"
posted by Stagger Lee at 12:54 PM on October 18, 2011

NY has lots of public land you can hunt on. It doesn't cost all that much to buy a gun and bullets, it's the learning curve that keeps people away from it, not money.

Hmm. I don't think poor kids from Oakland could go shoot wild pigs in Sonoma County via Golden Gate Transit.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:56 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Don't some animals have high risks of carrying parasites?

Fish more than anything else. Cooking kills the parasite. Sushi is the biggest concern.
posted by stbalbach at 1:19 PM on October 18, 2011

What is stopping him from driving a truck into a field, mowing down some cows, then bringing them home and cooking steak? Its roadkill.
posted by SEOdegreeo at 1:31 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

What is stopping him from driving a truck into a field, mowing down some cows, then bringing them home and cooking steak?

Common sense?
posted by mrgrimm at 1:48 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

When my sister lived in South Dakota, and had a 30 mile commute, she would aim for the many pheasants that were on the roads. Think she got 2 or so almost every month. She knows how to cook them 20 different ways. Now she lives in a small city and doesn't like squirrel, though she did shoot a lot of them one year while working on some bio project that required lots of squirrel fetuses.
posted by yesster at 2:05 PM on October 18, 2011

Good for him for having consistent ethics, but roadkill? No, thanks. I'm pretty sure if it came down to it, I'd just finally go vegetarian. Glad I haven't had to make that decision yet.
posted by Space Kitty at 2:07 PM on October 18, 2011

This may make me a bad, immoral person but I'm comfortable with it.

As long as you're okay dude, I was worried.
posted by tumid dahlia at 2:14 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh yeah that one year going home for thanksgiving I hit a deer on the interstate. Took out a headlight for me but was lights out for the deer. I was about an hour from home. Grabbed the deer, dragged it to the car and manhandled it into the trunk. Had to break its neck to get the head positioned right to get the trunk closed. At home town I went to the sheriff and reported the incident. They would have let me keep it but dad and I didn't have time to dress it. It was a 240 lb 10 point buck. Some old guy too blind to hunt got it. Yay for him.
posted by yesster at 2:42 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

What is stopping him from driving a truck into a field, mowing down some cows, then bringing them home and cooking steak?

The weight of the cows relative to that of the truck?
posted by postel's law at 3:06 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

There's a story by Bailey White, in which she talks about being offered roadkill by her mother. She says "I'll only eat that if you can tell me the make, model, and color of the car that hit it."
posted by KathrynT at 3:13 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

There is nothing funny about owl curry.
posted by The Owls at 3:20 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

1. Who or what is "Dalmher"?

He wrote some fucked up children's books.


When my sister lived in South Dakota, and had a 30 mile commute, she would aim for the many pheasants that were on the roads.

In England, if you take a pheasant that you hit in your car, it's poaching. If someone else hit it, it's fair game. (Of course England is more densely populated than South Dakota.)
posted by atrazine at 3:30 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I am kind of surprised at some of the squeamishness in here (okay not really I knew it was coming). It's not like a solid smack from a truck or car is inherently "dirty" when compared to any other conceivable method of killing an animal. Clearly, roadkill is most eligible for eatin' when it's a bigger beast, killed clean (as opposed to run over), and somewhat fresh. Hell, I'd feel better--from a moral and health standpoint--eating decent roadkill venison than I would eating a fast food burger. Have you any idea what sort of parasitic wonders are bred in grossly overcrowded and filthy stalls in a modern slaughterhouse? Do those of you who are squeamish because of the possible presence of parasites in roadkill eat your meat raw? Do you think organic farmers are breaking their dear little backs to ensure that you don't consume a single microscopic bug?

Admittedly, this is coming from someone who has eaten his fair share of road kill. Hell, just last year me and a buddy where driving out from hunting, having each bagged a decent deer, when another deer bolted across the front end of the truck as we were doing about 45. The bumper clipped her hip, clearly breaking it, and she tried to dart off with the use of 3 legs. Luckily my buddy, who was driving, hopped out and put her down with a rifle round before she got too far too fast. Since we both hunt to provide his rural family with meat, it resulted in us giving his folks TWO deer, and he and I splitting up the meat from the third. Not exactly roadkill, but it would have been if he had not been quick with his gun.

My dad and my half sister introduced me to the world of roadkill dining: we ate a deer that my sister nailed. Later, my dad drunkenly demonstrated his ability to take a opossum off the road, clean it with a pocket knife, wrap it in foil with a splash of beer, tuck it down by the block in a giant Plymouth, and drive 'til the thing is cooked. Nevermind that you could not make it taste decent (it's opossum, and it don't taste too hot); I was just enthralled with the idea that you could get over the mental hurdle to do that sort of thing. I have been doing it since, whenever the chance presents itself (not with opossum though!). As a brief (but relevant) aside, I only ever saw my dad get physical with one man, a man by the name of... I kid you not... Red Meter. Red gave my dad and me some "rabbit" at a party, and as soon as he took a bite my pop said "Red, you and these other sons a bitches just gave me and my boy something that ain't rabbit..." Red and his buddies laughed, and eventually told my dad that it was, in fact, roadkill groundhog. There was shoving, and a punch or two. I am certain that, had I taken a bite, my dad would have killed Red. Now that I think about it, I think that was also the first night I ever saw my dad smoke a joint, too. Good night, I guess.

Anyway, yeah. Roadkill is not intrinsically gross. It's an animal that died because of how humans act. So, act right and eat it.
posted by broadway bill at 3:39 PM on October 18, 2011 [6 favorites]

Metafilter: Opt for the Highway.

Available on Kindle.

/ikidikid
posted by datawrangler at 4:16 PM on October 18, 2011

I am certain that, had I taken a bite, my dad would have killed Red.

I think I'm missing something. I thought your dad was cool with roadkill. What's so bad about groundhogs?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:53 PM on October 18, 2011

What is stopping him from driving a truck into a field, mowing down some cows, then bringing them home and cooking steak?

Fences, the fact the cows weigh half a ton, some rudimentary knowledge of the damage to his vehicle that would result from driving into half a ton of mass at speed, angry farmers with shotguns, respect for the law of trespass, property ownership, theft, criminal damage and animal cruelty (or the fear of being caught), and (presumably) the fact that he's not a complete douche-canoe?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:58 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

His thoughts were red thoughts

I think it was mostly that he was only cool with eating roadkill as a way to teach me and my sister about something, coupled with his distaste for being tricked by his buddy. I also don't think he made any sort of habit out of eating things like opossums, and that it was done the one time I witnessed it mostly as a display of his willingness to eat opossum. My dad spent about 30 years of his adult life trying to be a weirdo in an effort to impress my sister and I. Must admit, it worked.
posted by broadway bill at 6:45 PM on October 18, 2011

My dad spent about 30 years of his adult life trying to be a weirdo in an effort to impress my sister and I. Must admit, it worked.

I love a happy ending.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 8:03 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Fences, the fact the cows weigh half a ton, some rudimentary knowledge of the damage to his vehicle that would result from driving into half a ton of mass at speed...
Where my folks live is on an old common, which means the road runs through a biggish expanse of unfenced rough pasture where locals have had rights to graze livestock for centuries. They occasionally have to go out and help drivers who've hit cattle (despite the warning signs) and totalled their car; often the cow has wandered off having survived, so they help the haywarden with the search for that too, as it will be injured and likely have to be put down.
posted by Abiezer at 8:15 PM on October 18, 2011

I navigated in a car rally on the weekend for a team called Toyota Huntin. Named after the practice of slammin a Tojo off road to get that bloody turkey, mate.
posted by Ahab at 9:12 PM on October 18, 2011

Deer and other, smaller animals are hit on the road on a regular basis around my house. I’ve often thought I could eat some of it, but I just don’t have the knowledge. I’m not a hunter, don’t eat much meat, but it just seems adding insult to injury for the animal to just lay there and rot.
posted by bongo_x at 10:01 PM on October 18, 2011

I dunno about just cooking wormy meat well. We had some wormy Dolly Vardin and I couldn't hang with it, no matter how it might be prepared. We're talking worms you can see. Cooked or no, I don't want a filet riddled with "just meat noodles, kids."

I'd be happy to kill and dress a roadkill to find out what was good to eat though, and feed the rest to the cats. I really wish I had a better appetite for game.

What is that flavor that's "gamey" anyway? I don't mean the flavor of meat close to spoilage, but that strong flavor in venison that's also in mutton to a lesser extent. How does an animal'd diet actually come to be represented in it's flavor?
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:08 PM on October 18, 2011

I assume that this means he only gets his meat from roadkill. If he ate nothing but roadkill he'd have died of scurvy a long time ago.

wait... you're telling me there's food that isn't meat?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:56 PM on October 18, 2011

I don't have anything against eating meat, but I absolutely have huge problems with how animals are treated, and I will not support it. I eat eggs from hens that have a fun time, clucking and jumping around after grasshoppers or whatever; I'd eat beef and/or pork that'd been treated well if I could afford it, but it's pretty damned expensive. I eat lots of sardines and salmon but only wild-caught, as they've at least had a life, not to mention they're not jammed with antibiotics and/or god only knows whatever else "farm fish" are fed.

don't know how to cut up a deer but if I did and ever I came across a deer just knocked down or knocked it down myself, I think it'd be a shame to let it go to waste. I've eaten deer and I liked it, lean as hell, too, real pretty steaks.

Worms? News to me, people hunt and eat deer all the time, are you all telling me that those things are crawling with worms? Not that I'm all Mr. Experienced Outdoorsman or anything, but the only thing I've ever seen crawling with worms was a fish my little brother caught in FLA about a thousand years ago; damn shame, too, huge fillets but it all got tossed to the birds.
posted by dancestoblue at 12:21 AM on October 19, 2011

I don't get the point of this. So one guy eats roadkill.

Should we get rid of slaughterhouses and move all the livestock next to major highways and eat whichever ones wander onto the road?

It seems a better statement against inhumane treatment of slaughter animals is to either go vegetarian or at the very least support free-range cattle farmers in lieu of industrial farms.

Eating free roadkill seems like you're trying to have your nasty-ass cake and eat it too.
posted by unigolyn at 2:44 AM on October 19, 2011

About a year ago I was driving out to see a friend of mine in rural NC and the kid in front of me hit a deer. He was a good ole boy in his daddys truck, probably not more than 18. We both stopped and he was lamenting the fact that he didn't have his rifle so he could finish it off, take it home and eat it, (it had only broken it's back legs). So, while he called his dad to bring him a gun I snapped the things neck to put it out of it's misery. He told me I was a 'real cool lady' and his dad thanked me over the phone because that'd be "some good eatin'". We tossed it in the back of his pickup and that was that. Roadkill, yum.
posted by julie_of_the_jungle at 6:33 AM on October 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Roadkill guy's theme song?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:12 AM on October 19, 2011

So, while he called his dad to bring him a gun I snapped the things neck to put it out of it's misery.

Like, with your bare hands? Is that something you had to learn how to do? And how do you practice something like that?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:45 PM on October 19, 2011