Muntjac

[Wowbagger]

My brother had the good fortune to be driving behind someone who killed a muntjac the other morning so, being an enterprising and practical chap, he bunged the bugger in the boot. Within 15 minutes he had it home, had decapitated it and drained out as much of the blood as he could and has now butchered it and it is in his freezer awaiting the cooking pot.

I understand that muntjac is a very fine meat. Has anyone else had some? Mrs. Wow, Dez and I are off to the same brother's house on Sunday for lunch, but brother David told me that muntjac is not on the menu.

[Hot Flatus]

I was told they are delicious by an octogenarian chap called Wyndham who has a farm in the valley that leads up to the Gospel pass. There were none left in that valley though. He'd eaten them all.

He then proceeded to rant on about government countryside policy resulting in the countryside being "full of predators".

The irony was lost on him.

[Cudzoziemiec]

In this case, Wowbagger's brother was not the predator. More of an opportunistic carrion eater.

[Wowbagger]

According to a Dail Heil article I found via Google, muntjac are "responsible" for 42000 car crashes a year. That's a bit odd as I doubt that any of them can drive. I would suggest that it is more likely that the drivers were responsible for failing to take the road conditions (likely appearance of a wild animal) into consideration.

[Kim]

Complete lack of road sense.  They're worse than the tourists in Parliament Square.  https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=73629.msg1553186#msg1553186 refers.

Accepted that cycling along at 12mph on a clear, well-lit road probably counts as failing to take the conditions into consideration.

[pcolbeck]

According to a Dail Heil article I found via Google, muntjac are "responsible" for 42000 car crashes a year. That's a bit odd as I doubt that any of them can drive. I would suggest that it is more likely that the drivers were responsible for failing to take the road conditions (likely appearance of a wild animal) into consideration.

No they just explode out of the hedge. Same with roe deer. Unless you are going to insist that all cars drive at 5mph and have a beater walking in front of them banging a drum your never going to stop accidents caused by deer. Even then I think an occasional beater would still get trampled by a deer.

[tiermat]

<snip> That's a bit odd as I doubt that any of them can drive.

Nearly correct, none of them can drive, it's the opposable thumbs thing, again

I would suggest that it is more likely that the drivers were responsible for failing to take the road conditions (likely appearance of a wild animal) into consideration.

Correct, if you are driving in an area where there are dear, or there may be dear (IIRC they tend to have a LARGE roaming area) then more care than usual should be taken.  I have nearly been taken out 3 times by dear, whilst on the bike.  Having my whits about me and covering the brakes, plus slowing down, when you hear the loud rustling sound in the hedgerow (a major give away) is the key.  FWIW dear tend to not like roads (those big lumps of metal hurt when they hit them) so will tend to be only crossing.  Trouble is they have never been asked to join the Tufty club.

[Wobbly John]

The problem is, anticipating the appearance of wild animals, and also what they are going to do. Deer can rush out across the road, and if startled by a vehicle, can turn to rush back - this is exactly what happened to my daughter when I was with her a year ago - about 500yds from Tesco, on the bypass, not traveling too fast in my opinion.

I've had muntjac running in front of me through our village when I've cycled home from the pub!

Deer seem relatively robust - you ronly occasionally see dead ones on the road - we couldn't find the one my daughter hit. Maybe they are the type of animal that makes for cover no matter how badly injured they are.

[Tewdric]

They do run for cover even if very badly injured, sadly. 

We get them in the garden regularly and they are a pain in the arse.

Local wisdom suggests the EU meat sourcing regs mean that local hostelries and restaurants won't buy from poachers any more.  As a consequence, the deer and boar populations around the valley are increasing to nuisance levels.

[madcow]

My brother had the good fortune to be driving behind someone who killed a muntjac the other morning so, being an enterprising and practical chap, he bunged the bugger in the boot. Within 15 minutes he had it home, had decapitated it and drained out as much of the blood as he could and has now butchered it and it is in his freezer awaiting the cooking pot.

I understand that muntjac is a very fine meat. Has anyone else had some? Mrs. Wow, Dez and I are off to the same brother's house on Sunday for lunch, but brother David told me that muntjac is not on the menu.

Too much haste-  game should be hung for at least 48 hours.