The other day, in the middle of an unseasonal freeze, I was on my way to Shaftesbury to visit the HOPE Project offices when I saw a bit of plump roadkill in the centre of the road – a prime cock Pheasant that had been given a knock by a passing vehicle… To my surprise it was still slightly warm and very fresh, so it went straight into the car boot for cleaning and dressing later. 
A few miles further on I noticed a large dark furry shape in the hedgerow. My first thought was that it was a stray Bullock that had been hit by a motorist but when I doubled back to check the ear-tag information I saw that it was actually another bit of roadkill – a buck Roe Deer. It was in full rigour and so also fresh. With a bit of a struggle (as it was a heavy carcass) it joined the Pheasant in the boot 
Hmm… I suddenly realized that I had a problem. My warm-as-toast car with the heater merrily blowing out gales of hot air wasn’t really the best environment to transport and store a fresh deer carcass for a day until I could get it home and butcher it. 
The temperature outside the car was showing as -4 degrees C so the solution was obvious. Down went all the windows, off went the heater and on went my down jacket, gloves and woolly hat. Anyone seeing me driving towards Shaftesbury that day must have thought me totally insane. The coldest day of the year so far and I had all my car windows open
It worked though. I was a bit cold but both the pheasant and deer got home in prime condition. The pheasant is still hanging and waiting for me to sort it out (and frozen totally stiff in the sub zero temperatures) but here’s where I must take my hat off to the old Mountain Men and Trappers.
I’ve butchered several deer in the past, but never one in the middle of a freezing winter! The first problem was that although the rigour had passed, the carcass was frozen and I struggled to get it hung properly, skinning was a nightmare struggle of frozen hide and solid suet and gutting/cleaning the carcass when it hadn’t been bled properly was again a mixture of ice and gore 
The fact that the garden tap was frozen solid and the hose pipe was solid with ice didn’t help either. I ended up scrubbing myself clean with snow (brrrr!) and then making long treks in and out of the house with buckets of water to wash clean the carcass.
It’s still hanging in the shed, frozen solid and awaiting my tender ministrations with knife, saw and cleaver. The dogs have already eaten the offal and are salivating at the though of the scraps that will be coming their way, but unless I can bump into a Mountain Man that’s used to butchering in minus 8 degree temperatures I think I’ll let it hang a couple of more days in the vain hope that temperatures will rise….
