Deer processing and game dealers: where to take shot game

Updated 2 November 2026

You can eat deer and game you’ve shot, or give it to family and friends, without registering or keeping hygiene records. To sell it, either supply small quantities in the skin or feather direct to consumers or local shops, pubs and restaurants, or sell it to an approved game handling establishment (game dealer), where it’s inspected before it goes on sale.

Your three options

These rules come from Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 and the Food Standards Agency’s wild game guidance, which covers England and Wales alike.

Game for your own table

Game you shoot for your own household, or give to family and friends for their own use, is outside the food hygiene regulations. You don’t need to register, keep a HACCP plan or keep traceability records. The people you give it to mustn’t supply it to anyone else.

The FSA still advises:

• cutting away as much lead and surrounding meat as you can. Eating lead-shot game regularly can expose you to harmful levels of lead, and children, pregnant women and women hoping to conceive should keep it to a minimum.
• testing wild boar for Trichinella, even for your own use. APHA supplies sampling kits free of charge if you order them before you hunt.

If you’d rather not butcher it yourself, some game dealers and butchers will skin, cut and pack a carcase for your freezer for a fee. Ask before you deliver. For hanging times, see how long to hang meat.

Selling small quantities direct

Hunters can supply small quantities of wild game, or wild game meat, directly to the final consumer, or to local retailers such as butchers, restaurants and farm shops that sell straight to the public.

• Local means within your own council area, a neighbouring council area, or 50km (30 miles) from your council’s boundary, whichever is greater.
• Small quantities isn’t a fixed number. The FSA regards it as self-defining, because demand from local customers is limited.
• In the skin or feather, game is a primary product. You don’t need to register as a food business, but the food must be safe and you must keep records of the businesses you supply, what and when.
• Once you skin, pluck or otherwise prepare it, it becomes wild game meat. You must register as a food business with your council, have a food safety management system based on HACCP principles and meet the general hygiene rules.

For deer supplied direct, the FSA says it’s best practice for a trained hunter to examine the carcase and attach a declaration.

Selling to a game dealer

An approved game handling establishment, usually called a game dealer, is approved to prepare game for sale. Large game delivered there is presented to the FSA for inspection before the meat goes on the market.

Deer and wild boar

• Gralloch the carcase (remove the stomach and intestines) as soon as possible after shooting, and bleed it if needed.
• A trained hunter examines the carcase and the offal as soon as possible, looking for signs of disease, and takes into account any abnormal behaviour before it was shot and any sign of environmental contamination.
• If nothing abnormal is found, the trained hunter attaches a numbered declaration saying so, with the date, time and place of killing. The head and offal then don’t need to go with the carcase, except for wild boar: its head (apart from the tusks) and diaphragm must go too.
• If something abnormal is found, or no trained hunter is available, the head (except tusks, antlers and horns) and all the offal except the stomach and intestines must go with the carcase. A trained hunter who found a problem must report it.
• Chill to 7°C or below throughout the meat. Don’t freeze it before it’s skinned, and don’t heap carcases in transport.

Game birds, rabbits and hares

• A trained hunter must examine the game and report anything abnormal.
• Chill to 4°C or below throughout the meat.
• Gutting is carried out or finished at the game dealer without undue delay.
• A written declaration isn’t a legal requirement for small game, but the FSA encourages one.

Trained hunter training

Anyone hunting wild game to sell for human consumption needs enough knowledge of wild game diseases and handling to examine it on the spot. One trained person in a hunting party is enough, and it can be the gamekeeper if they are with the party or nearby.

• Deer: the Deer Stalking Certificate Level 1 (DSC1), awarded by Deer Management Qualifications, includes wild game meat hygiene and gives trained person status for supplying approved game handling establishments.
• Small game: BASC’s one-day small game meat hygiene course certifies you with a trained hunter number for supplying game birds, rabbits and hares.

The declaration is usually a numbered tag on the carcase. The FSA’s template records the tag number, date and time of kill, location, species, sex, weight, and the trained person’s number, qualification and signature.

Larder hygiene and chilling

A larder used for normal hunting work and storage counts as primary production. The FSA says it should be:

• adequately ventilated or refrigerated, with a record of temperatures kept
• protected against pests and other contamination
• kept clean, and disinfected where needed, using drinking-quality water.

Start chilling within a reasonable time of killing. Don’t pile, heap or stack game in transport, because it spreads contamination and stops it cooling.

Gralloch can be disposed of safely at the kill site or at the larder. Blood and green offal from normal hunting practice that aren’t collected after killing are outside the animal by-products rules. For other waste, the FSA’s best-practice options include approved rendering or incineration, burial on the holding where the animal was shot, or double-bagging for landfill.

Lead ammunition: the position in November 2026

Already in force. England’s lead shot regulations of 1999 ban lead shot below the high-water mark, over listed wetland SSSIs, and for shooting ducks, geese, swans, coot, moorhen, golden plover and common snipe. Wales has had similar rules, covering listed SSSIs and wild birds, since 2002.

Coming in. The REACH (Amendment) Regulations 2026, made on 2 March 2026, apply in England, Wales and Scotland. From 1 April 2029:

• lead shot can’t be used or sold, apart from narrow exemptions such as registered elite athletes
• lead bullets of 6.17mm calibre or more can’t be used for live quarry. BASC notes that this includes .243.
• bullets under 6.17mm used for live quarry, and airgun pellets, aren’t restricted.

From 1 April 2028, lead bullets used at outdoor ranges are restricted unless the range has risk-reduction measures in place.

Until then, lead is still legal for deer and most game, but the FSA’s health advice applies. The British Deer Society notes that many venison suppliers now only sell venison shot with lead-free ammunition, so ask your game dealer what they accept.

Species notes

• Deer: you don’t need a game licence or dealer’s licence to sell venison. These were abolished in England and Wales in 2007, along with the close-season limits on dealing in game birds and venison. It’s an offence to sell venison from a deer you know, or have reason to believe, was taken or killed illegally.
• Wild boar: boar accepted by game dealers are tested for Trichinella as standard, and a positive carcase is rejected.
• Game birds: small wild game, so chill to 4°C. Supplying birds in feather to a local pub or butcher falls under the small quantities rules above.
• Rabbits and hares: also small wild game. Under the Hares Preservation Act 1892, hares and leverets can’t be sold or offered for sale in March, April, May, June or July, unless they were imported.

How to find a game handler

Use the finder and filter for wild game, or browse deer and wild game handlers, or look by county. Every approved game handling establishment is also on the FSA’s list of approved food establishments.

When you phone or send an enquiry, ask:

• which species they take, and in which months
• how they want carcases presented, for example gralloched, head on or off, and tagged
• whether they collect, or have a chiller or drop-off point near you
• how they price and pay, for example by weight and condition
• whether they will process a carcase and return the meat to you
• whether they accept game shot with lead.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules differ between England and Wales and change over time, so check with your abattoir, vet or local council if you're unsure.