John Longo, 69, has been ordered by a Wisconsin court of appeals to surrender roadkill that he found on the side of the road in February 2008. It appears that even a dead deer on the side of the road requires a permit, which Longo did not have.
The 2nd District Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision. Racine County Circuit Judge Allan B. Torhorst found him guilty in a bench trial, but only fined him $1 and ordered the DNR to give him a permit if the agency didn’t retrieve the head by Halloween 2008. The DNR appealed and the appellate court ordered Longo to turn over the trophy head immediately. To quote Loudon Wainwright, it was a ruling that “stunk to high heavens.” I still fail to understand the public interest in spending the money to litigate this case.
This is all news to me, but the black-booted DNR thugs will have to pry my cold dead fingers off my collection of dead flattened possums. By the way, exactly how much of a trophy is a deer head that you cut off roadkill?
Longo, to ease your loss I give you Loudon Wainwright Dead Skunk in the Middle of Road:
he was probably going to sell it on Ebay, I once tried to buy a sunfish mount for my office and the final bid was over $100. So who knows what a Deer head mount would bring.
I’m bidding $50 for the possums.
how about some posting on the Honduran issue?
IS,
Starting bids on 8 to 10 point White-tale and mulies are $300. I doubt that it was a 8 or 10 point roadkill, but you never know.
My wife’s family has been known to harvest roadkill deer before (as well as humanly finish off critically injured deer), but never for trophy mounts, strictly for food.
Gyges:
I thought the cars mangled them up pretty good and left the meat all bruised up?
Personally I like elk and buffalo better than deer. Maybe it’s a psychological issue from seeing Bambi as an impressionable 20 year old.
IS,
You don’t get as much good meat, but you still can get meat. It depends on where the car hit, how quickly the deer died, etc.
As far as the taste it depends on the diet of the animal.
Gyges:
how long can they sit on the side of the road at say 50 degrees? A few days and that would be some tender buck or doe and aged too.
Nothing like debating the finer points of road kill cuisine.
IS,
Same as if you shot them, you’d want it dressed ASAP, even in the cold.
I know about this because my friend’s family eats roadkill! You get put on the waiting list, kind of like an organ donation, and when a deer is hit you’re called to come pick it up. It then gets tested for disease and you go to the butcher. It’s actually quite safe to eat because of the testing (more so than most grocery meat). The meat is also set aside for food shelters in some cases.
As to heads, I know about this also. My friends run estate sales and they held one at the home of a great white hunter. His house was enormous and every room had game that would get you arrested if you hunted it now. He had two giant halves of water buffalo flanking one wall and a host of other rare African species. Those heads just flew out the door. I really wished I could have videotaped them for a horror film–maybe it would have been called: “Head Case”.
Well then it’s settled, I will outfit my car with a “deer bumper” offer.
Well done (no pun intended!) Jill! Interesting info. There’s a place, not far from where I live, called Road Kill Cafe. Hadn’t been there yet, but have heard it’s good.
When I read this story I Googled “roadkill taxidermy” and the sites just went on page after page. Some of it was really disturbing too and I’m not easily disturbed.
That aside, I’ve read about the roadkill meat giveaways in some of the States and the use of fresh roadkill (of big animals)for homeless shelters also. If this was the case in Mr. Longo’s State then the State does have a valid interest in the meat. I’ve also read that in some of the western States that during migration from winter to summer pastures that the animal herds hold up traffic as they cross roads. If roadkill wasn’t property of the State then hunting by auto could be a problem.
When I saw the photo depicting the serene pleasures of hiking, and read the headline alluding to roadkill, I was sure that I was on a Governor Sanford thread. More is the pity, but I must give one piece of free legal advice to the man who swears he will “try to fall in love again with [his] wife” for the sake of the children. I would caution our conservative family values icon that if you really want to re-up another term with your Mrs. then calling your ex-paramour your “soul mate,” probably isn’t the best way to start the conversation. To her credit, Jenny Sanford is no shrinking political Mimosa just because she hears the hoof beats of a few lose women,and can handle herself. One shudders to think what Mrs.mespo727272 would do under similar circumstances! Her idea of “open marriage” is to let me swap credit cards with her! Brava to those ladies who refuse to “stand by their man,” when he deserves it not.
Here’s one sent out to FFLeo:
gilamosaics,
I call this, meals from under wheels. I’d heard of that cafe also so here’s the link. Their motto appears to be: You kill it, we grill it!
http://www.road-kill-cafe.com/roadkill.html
Road Kill Cafe Open for Business?
Gyges, certainly you are not carrying on a personal conversation with someone on this list. For Shame, For Shame cast the first stone and see where it lands you?
Mespo,
I’m thinking “It’s Too Late”
This could only happen in Wisconsin. I have a brother-in-law who used to stop for road kill in order to use the fur to make his own fishing flies. I can’t even imagine actually eating road kill of any kind.
While I will gladly sample most ethnic cuisines, except for haggis or scungilli, the thought of game meat, road kill or no, makes me queasy. I don’t even buy buffalo meat from my butcher and I hear it’s healthier. Would road kill by the way be considered an ethnic cuisine of red necks?
Mike,
You should reconsider on the buffalo. It’s really quite good. Taste is a little different, but it really is very comparable to lean beef in taste and texture. Here in KS it’s commonly available. Ground, I think it makes a fine chili or meat sauce, but I don’t suggest it for meat balls/meatloaf applications as it is very dense. A gently worked buffalo burger works though. It is so lean though that some oil is almost always required of some sort for full flavor. The good news is you can control what kind of fat you use. And it’s all farm raised. Thankfully so too. They are huge animals. If you think hitting a deer would be bad . . .
Mike,
Someone was in my office as I was giving you the buffalo advice and they told me about this buffalo burger recipe that requires no additional oil because you blend the buffalo with ground chuck. I’ve never made them this way, but she says it’s excellent and I tend to value her opinion on food issues.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/george-duran/buffalo-burgers-recipe/index.html
AY,
Actually my posts were on topic.
Look, all I was saying was that having to read you telling somebody to have someone else call you was a little annoying to me. I didn’t tell you to stop, or even suggest it, I just told you that it annoys me. If that offends you some how, well then feel free to be offended.
Buddha,
Bacon is the solution. I know that adding bacon defeats the “health” reasons for eating Bison, but a little bacon mixed in with the meat will do wonders. I say this as someone who cooks A LOT of game meat.
Mike,
Have you tried Antelope? It’s similar to Goat.
mmmmmmmmmmmm
bacon
I short out more keyboards this way.
Mespo72,
Thanks for postin’ that purdy song. Ms. Tammy was a real gem of a common gal who made something out of life from nothing.
“You should reconsider on the buffalo. It’s really quite good. Taste is a little different, but it really is very comparable to lean beef in taste and texture.”
Buddha,
Thanks for the advice, but “tastes a little different” is not the best encomium for a food choice. Also, as to your friend’s advice if I blend in ground chuck I raise the fat content and low fat is how I’ve lost 35 pounds in the last two years while, eating the foods I love. I use beef chopped meat that is only 4% fat in content. Turkey chopped meat is actually higher in fat and doesn’t taste as good in chili. I make a mean chili. but have to keep it mild for my wife. I would love to make chili in the real style using cubed beef, rather than chopped, but haven’t gotten around to it. My biggest problem is that due to my health I have a restricted salt diet. It’s tough to cook without it and have anything but bland taste but I’ve learned to compensate.
“Have you tried Antelope? It’s similar to Goat.”
Gyges,
Add goat to haggis on my not interested list. Irrational though that may be, even with me loving Jamaican food, but there it is. Also I don’t use bacon, more for fat content than religious reasons.
Mike,
lol
Yeah, I’m not a food writer for a reason I suppose, but different doesn’t mean bad. If you’ve had venison, think venison (which also makes a fantastic chili or stew). A red meat, just a little wilder tasting than beef. And honestly? The flavor is so mild, I question how much of the buffalo flavor will come over the beef in that recipe. Since it’s so lean, fat carries taste and the fat there is from beef, I tend to think the beef would dominate. But I know you gotta do what you gotta do too.
And while I personally like goat, I can understand why some might not. It’s a bit greasy. Well. It’s a lot greasy actually. That’s coming from a Southerner too (which automatically means my blood is 10% bacon grease to start with).
This thread reminded me of this I found in the NY Times
The Perfect Burger and All Its Parts
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/dining/01burg.html?_r=1&em
Mike,
Well then here’s another reason to try antelope (by which I mean the pronghorns we have in the U.S., although I do wonder whenever I go to the zoo…) there’s next to no fat.
Bob,
Thanks! It’s the middle of the afternoon and now I want a burger. Oh, I was okay for the first couple of paragraphs, but by the end? Let’s just say now I’ve got a box cutter, a Bic and I’m thinking hard about those cows quite literally down the street. I’ll pull a Denis Leary and eat what I want, then ride the rest home.