It's that time of year when the men-folk go get their guns and go out shooting things. It's hunting season here in ND and my husband and I enjoy hunting.
We have been lucky enough to know people who've been giving us deer carcasses and goose breasts. We've gotten a couple pheasants too(Otto went with my hubby, wouldn't bring them back, but it's his first year out). Anyway, I'll get to the point. I was kind of curious as to everyone's thoughts on feeding game(venison, game birds and waterfowl) to their dogs. I do feed my dogs other raw(chicken, pork, beef) with supplements on a regular basis. Just thought I'd see if there's anyone else who might do this, or perhaps anything I should know(dangers, etc).

Keleah,

If you use the search function and type in wild game, or the like, you will come up with tons of pages on this.

Best advice I can give:

I feed tons of wild game. Venison, Elk, Antelope (not often, as my dogs look at me like I am nuts) goose, duck, pheasant (we breast them out and feed the carcass, feathers and all), rabbit (fur and all unless I buy them already processed) and buffalo.

The birds we feed after we take what we want. The other game I freeze for at least 10 but closer to 20-30 days before feeding to kill parasites they may carry.
I do not feed whitetail deer, nor do we eat it as we have had blue tongue reported in the past. This year I have not heard of it but still do not feed it. We hunt, eat and feed Mule deer as there has not been blue tongue reported.

I have several hunters drop off carcasses (again no whitetail) and I just use a sawsall to cut them up to fit into the freezer. I do not feed brains of the big game.
Hunters also bring the organs that they do not use.

Heart for me is a muscle meat and is fed accordingly. Organ meats make up 5% of the dogs daily meals.

I get buffalo and cow stomachs once a month which provides me with the tripe that I need/want for the dogs....it is an icky process to package it for freezing, but the dogs LOVE it.

Most of what I feed is wild game that I have taken, or picked up off the road. Check your local laws before you go scrapin' up roadkill.

There can be some "risks". I hate using that word with this particular topic, because a lot of the time the risk is only a SUPER distant possibility. Probably as real as your dog getting salmonella or choking on a chicken bone.

I would say that the most common risk would be tapeworm. They would get them by ingesting fleas. I think they can also be encysted in some animals liver, but don't quote me on that.

Tapeworms are easily detected, and just as easily treated. In my 2 years of raw feeding my dog has never gotten tapeworms.

IMO, wild game is an awesome source of food for us and our dogs. I say do it.

 Quote: Carol Boche

The other game I freeze for at least 10 but closer to 20-30 days before feeding to kill parasites they may carry.
I do not feed whitetail deer, nor do we eat it as we have had blue tongue reported in the past......I do not feed brains of the big game.

Carol, I'm quoting you, but not pointing this post at you. I just wanted to throw another viewpoint into the fire. Again, this is NOT directed at you or your choices on how you feed.

Most of my wild game is frozed, just for the fact that I am feeding a 14 lb. dog. That said, I have no problem feeding my dog something that was walking 5 minutes ago.

Any brains are fair game around here as well.

Also, I feed A LOT of whitetail deer. All with no fanfare.

Totally understand Michael. The best thing about Raw diet is the agreeable preferences we all have.

The bottom line for all of us I know is:

We feed Raw!!!

I knew you wouldn't take it wrong, Carol. Just wanted to make sure, though.

 Quote: Carol Boche

The bottom line for all of us I know is:

We feed Raw!!!

Yessirree!

we feed raw here but do not have the "exotic" sources of meat you have in thr USA. We've just stocked our freezers with totally non exotic bits, various chicken bits, bones, offal and the like. Please dont gloat over the variety you've got and probably the price difference lol

I feed my 3 worknig dogs raw. However, when feeding venison I have found that I must clean out the clotted blood around the shot or my dogs get very lose stools. Never got sick on game meat. However, my one dog became very ill after eating chicken. (had to be rushed to the vet and treated with flaygl.)one day later. Since them I soak all chicken in grape fruit extract to kill any bacteria.

We've already been giving our dogs deer(whitetail) and goose breasts we got from family and from one of my hubby's co-workers. The dogs love it. And as always, Shaed(our GSD) loves it the most. She refuses to eat kibble unless she's very hungry.
Hunting season has been great too, because there seems to be an endless stream of food coming in, all for the price of a hunting/fishing liceanse.