'edible' meat - wasted or spoiled.

[thumper]

I've always thought that the Alberta regulations which forbid leaving 'edible meat' in the field was too vague. Depending on how hungry you are - there's very little that's 'inedible'! I used to feel a bit of guilt leaving heart, tongue, liver, diaphram, brisket bits and even moose nose laying in the field - but I'm not too keen on organ meats - and my doctor doesn't recommend them either. However, I'd still take all the in-between-the-ribs, swollen neck meat and other bits & pieces which I generally find too gamey for my taste - and then use it for a spicy sausage/pepproni to tame the gaminess.
Without clearer regulations, it seemed that determining what's 'edible' was up to the Conservation Officer inspecting your game, and what side of the bed he/she got out of that morning.

Recently, after stating that they'd recover and use all the meat (and hides) possible during the CWD cull, the Alberta government found the logistics too difficult and simply buried piles of whole carcasses in the ground. They don't have to abide by the rules they set for us peasants. It got me thinking that from an ecological point of view, once I've killed an animal it makes more ecological sense to leave remains in the field to 'return to the ecosystem from whence it came', rather than dragging a whole carcass (less the entrails) home, butchering it all at home, and throwing the bones and unwanted bits out in the trash to end up in a landfill.

Since then, for various reasons I've used the 'gutless' cleaning method, only taking the 4 quarters, backstraps and tenderloins home (and deboning the neck) - leaving most of the skeleton with rib cage and guts intact.
And I don't feel guilty about it either. Nature benefits, and as I get older, the less I have to carry out of the 'foot access only' hunting areas I frequent - the easier it is for me to continue hunting.

I was interested to read that in B.C., this issue is clearly covered in their regulations:
BC Hunting & Trapping Regulations
'Edible Portions - with respect to big game, excluding grizzly bear, cougar, wolf, lynx, bobcat, and wolverine, means the edible portions of the four quarters and loins of the animal and with respect to game birds, means the edible portions of both breasts of the bird.'

In Alberta the vague prohibition is:
6. allow the edible meat of any game bird or big game animal, except cougar or bear, to be wasted, destroyed, spoiled or abandoned.

I've just read that changes to the Alberta regulations 'also contains language that the province said will "clarify the evidence required to prove that edible flesh has been wasted or become spoiled."
I can only hope that the changes result in legislation very similar to the B.C. definition, so that I can continue to hunt in my treasured 'foot access only' areas!

[Chet]

I would like to see that issue better defined as well. If I am deboning an animal in the field I take pictures of the bone pile when I'm done because it never looks like very much meat when you have it deboned and bagged. In Montana the regs specifically state that you must keep the wing meat on a wild turkey.

[BigRackLover]

Huntingstuff told me that in the Yukon you can't leave more than 5 lbs on the animal, or else big fines. Don't know if that included organs and nose's.

[prospector]

Originally Posted by thumper

Depending on how hungry you are - there's very little that's 'inedible'!

LOL, that made me laugh. I agree. I've never been hungry enough to eat the organs, nor felt any urge to keep the tongue or nose.

[M70]

I've always felt a little guilty just taking the breasts out of waterfowl to make jerky but the alternatives are just not appealing most of the time. I'll do a roast goose the odd time but the time and effort it takes to pluck a whole bird doesn't appeal to me. A skinned goose or duck with bacon strips is still not what it's cracked up to be either.

For deer that I plan to take to the butcher shop, I want them to use whatever they can if I'm having sausage made. Even when I used to make sausage with the family, we tried to get as much of the meat off the bones as possible.

Taking the tenderloins is a given. They rarely even make it to the freezer as they usually get eaten right away at my house. I remember one time when we were in such a hurry to get our animals dressed and back home that we forgot to cut out the loins and we sent a couple of the deer to the butcher's with the loins still in. Both my buddy and I got a bit of tongue lashing from my dad about those cuts making their way into "lowly sausage".

I'm getting hungry just thinking about melt in your mouth deer tenderloin....... What were we talking about again?.........

[huntinstuff]

Originally Posted by BigRackLover

Huntingstuff told me that in the Yukon you can't leave more than 5 lbs on the animal, or else big fines. Don't know if that included organs and nose's.

That's correct. All of Shockey's guides were told that if we left more than 5lbs of edible meat behind, the fine was $100,000.00 maximum.

And the CO's flew from Dawson City, to the middle of the Lansing Mountains, landed, checked to see if I had my license on me, then flew back to Dawson. That's a helluva trip. I felt kinda special.......Fred told me they do that every year.

[Matt L.]

Nothin' like takin' ya down a notch eh Huntinstuff? But as rack said, does that include the nose and organs or just muscle tissue?