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STORY: Bear meat, possum and Donald Trump - these were some of the focal points at the annual West Virginia Roadkill Cook-off on Saturday (September 28), with this year's event taking place just over a month before Election Day.

For the past 33 years, the event has attracted adventurous eaters from near and far to the small Appalachian town of Marlinton.

"Yeah, so the rules of the cook-off is you have to have something that's commonly found dead on the road in West Virginia."

Local banker Kendall Beverage is making a special venison chili dish with fresh deer.

"We killed one this morning coming in about 4 o’clock. Skinned that thing up, we have it on the Blackstone, we're cooking it up. We put it in with some beans. We call it our bumper beans, buck bustin’ bumper beans."

Along with unusual eats, politics were a point of discussion this year, ahead of the tightly-contested election on November 5.

Many said they'd be backing the Republican presidential candidate.

“I'll vote for Trump this year. I'd like to see the economy change."

“Well, I support Trump because of the economy, mostly and the border.”

“Immigration and the crime situation, inflation is on everybody's mind. And so, yeah, I cannot hardly wait to vote for Mr. Trump.”

The support should come as no surprise: Trump won West Virginia by more than two-thirds the vote in 2020.

“Personally, I'm kind of looking for the possum...”

Even attendees from out of state, like these siblings from North Carolina, were leaning towards Trump - if a little reluctantly.

“We're Republicans, just because, I mean party - not necessarily supporting, not backing the candidate when we have, kind of a rock and a hard place as far as who we’re choosing between. But, I mean, I'm a Republican just because of the beliefs and the party. So that's who I’ll be voting for, probably Trump.”

Organizers said the food served at the cook-off isn’t actually roadkill, but dishes featuring animals you would find on the side of the road.

Still, signs warned diners to eat at their own risk.

Participating teams of cooks vied for a top prize of $1,500 - won by a local educational nonprofit this year.

Roadkill collisions are very common in West Virginia, given the state’s many forested roads and large deer population.

It even has a state law allowing drivers to take home and eat roadkill under certain conditions, such as informing the local law enforcement agency within 12 hours of hitting an animal.