--- title: "Bumper Crop: Turning Roadkill Game into Table Fare" description: "My father says there are two kinds of people: those who have hit deer, and those who will hit deer. I entered the first group while driving home to Missoula, Mont., after a weekend at my parents’ north-central Montana farm. The entire incident—from seeing the whitetail doe sail over the barbed-wire fence along the highway to the impact with my car—took less than a second. But the guilt I felt at unintentionally taking a deer’s life stayed with me even longer than the significant dent in my vehicle’s body. Luckily, I had a way to ease my conscience: by utilizing the meat from the deer. In 2013, Montana’s state legislature passed a law allowing the Fish, Wildlife & Parks Department to establish the Vehicle-Killed Wildlife Salvage Permit. Because of this provision, I was able to take that doe, whose body sustained only minimal damage, and butcher her when I got home." date: "2016-01-11" modified: "2016-01-11" authors: - name: "Jess Field" link: "https://www.outdoorlife.com/authors/jess-field/" url: "https://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/hunting/2016/01/bumper-crop-turning-roadkill-game-table-fare/" categories: - "Hunting" - "Wild Game Recipes" --- # Bumper Crop: Turning Roadkill Game into Table Fare ![]() My father says there are two kinds of people: those who have hit deer, and those who will hit deer. I entered the first group while driving home to Missoula, Mont., after a weekend at my parents’ north-central Montana farm. The entire incident—from seeing the whitetail doe sail over the barbed-wire fence along the highway to the impact with my car—took less than a second. But the guilt I felt at unintentionally taking a deer’s life stayed with me even longer than the significant dent in my vehicle’s body. Luckily, I had a way to ease my conscience: by utilizing the meat from the deer. In 2013, Montana’s state legislature passed a law allowing the Fish, Wildlife & Parks Department to establish the Vehicle-Killed Wildlife Salvage Permit. Because of this provision, I was able to take that doe, whose body sustained only minimal damage, and butcher her when I got home. I’m not the only remorseful driver who has taken meat from road-killed game. Two years into the program, Montana FWP has issued almost 1,650 permits. More than 1,000 were used on whitetails, 281 on mule deer, and 276 on elk. Sixty-one moose and 11 antelope have also been legally salvaged. Sixty-five percent of these salvaged animals were classified as “found by roadside.” The remainder were designated “hit by my vehicle.” [**THE 8 BEST MEAT HUNTS IN AMERICA**]() In Montana, permits can only be issued for deer, elk, moose, and antelope. Idaho allows drivers to salvage black bears and bighorn sheep in addition to more common big-game species. In Ohio, anyone wanting to legally salvage a deer is required to obtain a “carcass receipt,” but the numbers are not tracked statewide. Louisiana and a handful of other states require game wardens to inspect the carcass before the motorist can take possession, verifying that the animal was killed by a vehicle and not some other means. Salvaging roadkill is prohibited in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Texas, and Alaska. **ACCIDENTAL ENTRÉE** It was difficult, at first, to wrap my mind around eating something killed by my vehicle instead of my bullet or arrow. Before utilizing the permit system, I pictured roadkill as putrid rabbits or flattened skunks, not prime wild meat. Pulling that first package of salvaged steak from the freezer somehow felt wrong, and once it thawed, I inspected it with much more scrutiny than I would any meat I had collected by hunting. I smelled it. I judged it for signs of unacceptable discoloration or bruising. But any apprehension I had vanished when I took the first bite. It was as tasty and tender as any doe I might have killed in my father’s alfalfa field. I immediately realized the purpose of the FWP permit system. Now the meat in my freezer identified with a red “R” in permanent marker is prized, not only for its quality, but because it has allowed me to make the best of an unfortunate situation. **ROADKILL RECORD** Although the majority of states allow vehicle-killed wildlife to be salvaged, few keep detailed records like Montana. The following were provided by state officials and represent species legally salvaged along roadsides in 2014. **Idaho** 472 whitetail deer 372 mule deer 185 elk 79 moose 12 pronghorns 7 mountain lions 4 black bears 4 bighorn sheep 3 wild turkeys 2 gray wolves **Maine** 3,163 whitetail deer 125 moose 31 black bears 36 wild turkeys **Michigan** 128 whitetail deer 2 black bears **Iowa** 2,389 whitetail deer **Kansas** 698 whitetail deer *Illustration by Kyle Fewell*