Roadkill
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Urban Pigeon
If the soup kitchens are providing nothing but watered broth and the dumpsters are picked clean there is still an easy source of protein if you are careful and fits your philosophy. First of all realize that this is both contraversial in that some will call it cruelty and secondly it could be an excuse for the pigs to haul you in.
While in China rat is sold in markets and racoon, cat, rabbit, and squirrel all exist in the urban zones they are too often diseased or dangerous as they will fight back. Other birds (except the occasional dove, goose, or duck) like seaguls and crows are also too gross because of their diet of vermin infested dead things and rotten garbage.
The best meat we can get for free is the simple stupid urban pigeon. The easiest way to catch them is with a little bread trail for bait, a box with a stick holding it propped up, and about twenty feet of string. A cardboard box might need a rock or brick on top for weight to help it drop closed faster. It goes like this, bird follows trail of bread under box, you pull string, stick lets box fall, bird is trapped. You can use other methods like nets or a loop of string and hope to catch a leg but the box method seems the easiest and most humane. Put your hand under the box and grab your bird, he won't bite, be quick so he won't hurt himself flapping, grip around his body pinning down his wings and covering his head which will calm him down alot.
Look him over, are his feathers looking good or is he shedding and scabby, Is he infested with bugs or weak and sluggish, are his eyes looking filmy or gross, if so let him go and wash your hands he is probably diseased. If he looks good snap or cut his neck quickly (with a new razor blade) so it will be over for him. Cut him open from neck to tail and look his insides over, are they glistening smooth and come out easily(good) or are they all stuck together and spotty(sick), if they look bad or wormy again chuck him out and let a cat or racoon find him, he was not long for this world anyway. Rinse out the gut area with safe water before proceeding. You might consider plucking before cutting open(it is too hard after) to save the skin and fats, but most of us just peel the skin off and cook like a mini chicken. A pigeon soup would be the safest way to go, let it boil for at least a half hour, but an hour is better, drink or save the broth. For smaller birds like doves somethimes the breasts are all that is worth taking for pan frying but see what you can salvage of other parts at least for stew stock.
A rubber wrist rocket type slingshot, high power air pistol (.22 pellet is very good, not those wimpy BB guns), even a thrown stone can be used to zap birds at a bit longer distance but if you get caught shooting in the park expect a night minimum in the clink and your stuff confiscated for your effort.
Anyone who eats meat but is offendend by this idea must remember that at least this bird lived a completely free life and died quickly unlike the factory cage chickens you might be eating from the store.
Roadkill
Edited content from original book:
That's right, you can eat dead animals that you find on busy roads. As long as you get to the dead animal fast enough (before it starts rotting), there aren't any reasons that this practice should be dangerous. Just make sure to cook it properly.
In some US states you are supposed to notify the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) if you find a larger animal (deer, bear, wolf etc.) dead on the side of the road. They will usually still let you keep it. Notifying them will get you out of trouble if some 'helpful' officer accuses you of poaching.
In small towns and rural areas, the death of any livestock must be verified by an authorized individual. This is to prevent someone from, say, ramming into their bovine encephalitic cow and saying that was the cause of death - also for insurance purposes. For this reason, always make sure you befriend your local veterinarian, and he's the one who makes the death certification. He normally gets paid for his work in carcass.
