Roadkill Venison

So, this whole blog is about the roadkill deer that I have picked up. In Michigan, when you see a deer on the side of the road that has been hit by a car/truck/etc., you can claim it by calling 911 and asking for a permit. The person that hits the deer gets first shot at it, but if they don’t want it, it’s up for grabs. And we all know that venison is very good for you as well as tasting great 🙂

Nutritional Value of Venison
Nutrients Are Found in Venison
FARMED VENISON – THE HEALTHY RED MEAT

Link to the PDF from the Michigan DNR detailing the permit:
Special Permit Regulations

And the excerpt from the above PDF with the specifics (don’t want to violate this law or this one 😉 )

5.10 Highway killed deer and bear permit, issuance; prohibited acts.
Sec. 5.10 (1) A deer or bear killed by collision with a motor vehicle, or so injured that it must be killed,
may be possessed by a person only if that person has obtained a highway killed deer and bear permit. The
highway killed deer and bear permit may be issued by a police or peace officer investigating the motor
vehicle collision upon a form prescribed by the director according to the following rules:
(a) The driver of the damaged vehicle shall have first priority to the highway killed deer or bear.
(b) A highway killed deer and bear permit shall not be issued to possess a spotted fawn or cub bear.
(c) A person possessing a highway killed deer or bear shall immediately produce the highway killed deer
and bear permit upon the demand of a conservation officer or peace officer. Within 24 hours following the
issuance of a highway killed deer and bear permit, a person possessing a highway killed deer or bear
carcass shall securely attach the permit to the carcass. The permit shall remain attached until the carcass is
processed or butchered for consumption.
(2) A permit authorized under this section may be issued by a conservation officer to dispose of the
carcass of a deer or bear which was otherwise accidentally or unlawfully taken, or unlawfully possessed.
History: Eff. Mar 31, 1989; Am. 15, 1989, Eff. Sep 1, 1989; Am. 3, 1996, Eff. Apr 11, 1996.

 

Publisher’s note: See Possession of Road-Killed Wild Animals for a summary of the regulations.

Will attach the file here as well.

So the basics are that with where I work, I can listen to the police radio, hear the Car/Deer accidents get called in, and then after work go find ’em, call 911 and have Law Enforcement issue me a permit. That’s the simple version. The longer version details weather, temperatures and if I have time to deal with one or not. I also do not gut them…after being tenderized by a vehicle weighing around 3,500lbs, the last thing I am going to do is cut them open..yuk. So all I do is cut the skin back to expose the backstraps and then the hind quarters. Sometimes the only thing I get are the hind quarters…but some is better than none. 🙂

All the posts here are copies of the posts I put on a hunting forum, with pictures of the deer…so read and enjoy.

Here are the attached files detailing the permit as well as laws:
ChapterV_128589_7
ChapterIV_128586_7

If you would like more info on this, you can contact me via this form:
[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]

Deer 1 and 2

Deer number one:

Here are a couple deer that I have obtained recently. the little one (doe) was a CDA on Feb 4 and the bigger spike was a CDA on Feb 8. Was able to use both shoulders, hind quarters and backstraps from the little one, but could only get the left side front shoulder and left hind quarter and both backstraps from the spike as he was hit pretty solid on the right side (you can see that his front right hoof is just a touch out of whack ). Due to various reasons, I have missed picking up at least 6 deer in the last 2 months that were hit by cars, but did manage to get these 2 as well as one in Oct.

Deer3

Deer

Deer 4

Deer number 4 on Dec. 3rd, 2012:

Here is my latest addition to the freezer:

Deer5

The story behind this one….Central Dispatch called out for a car/deer accident at about 0705 on Dec. 3rd and it wasn’t very far away (about 5 miles), so I headed that way after leaving work at 0800…got to the area and could not find the deer, so I headed for home…and on the way back, I saw 2 cars parked on the side of the road (one on each side) and thought maybe someone had hit one but kept driving. Didn’t make it but maybe 3/4 mile when a co-worker, who had the day off, called and said that he got a call from work that a deer had been hit where I just was. So, I turned around and asked the guy if he wanted it, which he did not, and then waited for the local LEO to show up. Kinda funny how it all worked out. And the LEO that showed up was the one who responded to the 0705 call and told me that deer survived.

We had been watching this guy for a while now..little spike (tines about 6″) as well as a 4 point and a really nice 8 point…was hit about a 1/4 as the crow flies from where I work.

Deer 5

Deer number 5 on Dec. 31st, 2012:

And one more for the freezer. ‘Tis a button buck, about 120lbs or so. Was hit about 0750 and was still alive when I got there at 0810. The LEO got there at about 0815 and finished it off as I don’t carry with me. Back right leg was broke but salvageable and both shoulders looked really bad, so I didn’t touch them. Last one for the 2012 year….Happy New Year or a belated Christmas present to me?

Deer6

Deer 7

Deer number 7 on Feb 28th, 2013:

Wow, heard 2 CDA’s on the 27th., but by the time I left work and arrived to the first one, it was gone (we are talking about 20 minutes), so on to the next, which was about 15 miles farther up the road. Wayyyy outa my way, but I’m getting a bit desperate, and I did have the next few days off, so I went. BIG doe, took both myself and the Deputy to load her…and on the way home, a co-worker calls me and says that Central Dispatch called him to inform him of another, so when I got home, I called Central up only to find they had called up the road commision to remove it…my loss…but I had this one, plus the one from the day before, so I thought all was well….until I cut into her…ugh…she was hit so hard that both the hindquarters were majorly blown apart! About all I got from this one was the backstraps…but some is better than none I guess.

Deer8

Deer 9

Deer number 9 on Mar 23rd, 2013:

And another…starting to get the freezer back up to where I would like it.
There was 2 hit, but the other was mangled so bad that it was beyond wanting to put it in my car. If there would have been someplace to backstrap it, I might have taken the straps, but it was just “YUCK”, but I did get this one…wasn’t too awful bad. Got it on March 23rd. I took this picture where she lay, whereas I usually take the picture at home…had better cell signal here.

Deer10