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MT Road Kill Bill

Idaho changed to allow animal salvage last year. The idea of people hitting animals intentionally hasn't been an issue in my area and I haven't heard of it being a problem anywhere else. It seems the people that would hit something on purpose are probably the same as the ones that don't care about hunting regulations in the first place and having people willing to "clean up" saves the game wardens around here some time.
 
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I grew up in NW Montana and in spite of everyone having monster trucks and empty freezers I can't think of anyone intentionally hunting with their vehicle anything larger than a grouse. Funny we are ok with eating beef that has been standing knee deep in crap but eating a deer hit with a car is taboo. I hate to see things go to waste and being an engineer I'm often too practical for some people's taste. However, rest assured if you are over at my house you will be eating elk cut up in the field packed out in sweaty bags and not something I hit with the car ;)

BTW, this passed the House 95 to 3.
 
I'm sad to say that in my teen years I had several friends that would routinely get drunk and try to hit deer for this very reason. They never got one, but they tried.
I must have hung out with the wrong crowd ;)

I've noticed around Bozeman an elk is lucky to last in the ditch a few hours.
 
I must have hung out with the wrong crowd ;)

I've noticed around Bozeman an elk is lucky to last in the ditch a few hours.

I used to know an old guy that drove the county snow plow near Big Sky. He always carried a chainsaw in his cab to cut the heads off of bulls he saw road killed. Wonder how many were road killed by his own plow?
 
It's amazing how bad of shape lots of roadkill ends up being in. Things will often look pretty good on the outside and not so good on inside. For some reason moose seem to end up with a broken pelvis much of the time and that really wrecks things.
 
Speaking of road kills,I just had the stupidest deer in the world run right into the side of my truck this morning .Didn't put a scratch on it,and the deer must have survived with an awful headache.Craziest morning I've had in a while
 
Will you need to call the DNR/DOW/Sheriff to get a salvage tag? In MN, you are supposed to call somebody to get a tag for free, then you can take the deer.
Personally, I think the tag is bogus since a buck won't be laying there an hour and somebody will have cut the antlers off without a tag anyway. Maybe people wouldn't be in such a hurry to cut the antlers off and would take the whole deer if they didn't have to get a tag....a few might anyway.
Unless I knew the deer hadn't been there long, I wouldn't take it anyway. If it still had it's antlers..it would have to be fresh :) If the meat were bad, I would at least dispose of it somewhere other than along the road.
 
You can get all the "bloody" details here: HB 247

Currently you can't keep antlers from road kill and I don't see anything that would change that. Not sure anyone follows those rules.
 
In Arizona we just get a tag from a L.E.O. for road kill.. I don't see a problem.... Why would anyone wreck a vehicle for a piece of meat.. ??
 
This bill needs amended to read something on the lines that the animal possessed has to be reported and presented to a department personal within 24 hrs.

That way any poached then staged road kills can be looked over.

This bill in it's original form is a poachers dream.
 
Aged in the median for a few days and seasoned with road salt. Twenty bucks says it'd beat a Jaker's steak.
 
This bill needs amended to read something on the lines that the animal possessed has to be reported and presented to a department personal within 24 hrs.

That way any poached then staged road kills can be looked over.

This bill in it's original form is a poachers dream.
ss, not sure what the original bill said, but this bill says "A peace officer may issue permits to salvage deer, elk, or moose that have been accidentally killed as a result of a vehicle collision"

Kind of hard to stage... dead animals are hard to stand up to dent your car properly, or at least that is what Ben Lamb says :D
 
Salvage the meat - yes - at the food bank. No waste, no fuzzy intentions. People buy those crazy grill protectors for a reason. Remember the guy that took out 7 bighorn sheep near Anaconda and never touched his brakes?
 
ss, not sure what the original bill said, but this bill says "A peace officer may issue permits to salvage deer, elk, or moose that have been accidentally killed as a result of a vehicle collision"

Kind of hard to stage... dead animals are hard to stand up to dent your car properly, or at least that is what Ben Lamb says :D

I've been talking with one of our wardens. He says that when a statutory law is broke, there can usually be a tougher stance taken, (higher fines, and other penalties).

There is a provision in this bill, that says the "Commission" shall set policy. So they can determine how this thing goes down. It just won't have the teeth that the statutory law would.

It's not so much that people would be ramming wildlife, as they would pop some with say a .22 LR, then through the thing out on the road and stage a road kill episode.

If the warden has the flexibility to look over the animal for evidence then that would help.

We have some really big bucks in the Root, and poaching is a big problem.
 
Shoots,

Violation of a commission rule is still a misdemeanor. Unlawfully possessing an animal also carries the restitution and mandatory loss of privileges, which would be applicable in the situation you described.
 
Shoots,

Violation of a commission rule is still a misdemeanor. Unlawfully possessing an animal also carries the restitution and mandatory loss of privileges, which would be applicable in the situation you described.

I was told average of $135 fine. It doesn't have the teeth that a statutory law does. That's what I was told anyway.

We will live with controlling it as much as possible.
 

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