Meals From Wheels…Bringing Roadkill to the dinner table

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”  ~Mother Teresa

Maybe it’s because I was raised by a father that was a hunter and a mother that was a great cook, but it really bothers me to see good meat sitting on the side of the road rotting and going to waste. 

I’m not talking about squirrels, raccoons and skunks, I’m no Granny Clampett; but I am talking about healthy, well fed, unfortunate deer that end up on the gravel scattered shoulder of highways and roads that wind through Scott county and our beautiful Kentucky landscape. 

When we moved here to Georgetown over twelve years ago, I was thrilled to see so many deer roaming through pastures and green space on the way home. 

I’ve been in love with wildlife, my entire life and so has my husband. I grew up floating on the lakes and rivers of Kentucky every weekend possible thanks to wonderful parents that love and appreciate the great outdoors. I drove a boat before I drove a car, baited my own hook before I was five, dodged deer feet and antlers hanging in my fathers garage just to retrieve my bicycle and grew up learning how to soak the “game-iness” out of Deer roasts, Buffalo and Elk in the kitchen with my mother. 

My hopes were to pass that love onto our children and I think we have. In fact, I have a son studying Environmental Science in college with hopes of pursuing a career in Wildlife Management or Veterinary Medicine. Our kids probably have spent more time learning about the life cycles of frogs, fish and animals than most kids spend sleeping. We feel that everything serves a purpose. 

Even dead animals. 

At least once or twice a month in the summer I see deer that have met their end on the bypass near our house. During the Fall and Winter months I see even more scattered throughout the Scott county side roads. Deer that have come face to face with headlights after being spooked by hunters out of hiding or in search of food because of the limited resources they have in colder weather. Regardless of how they have arrived at their demise, they are there. Waiting to decompose or feed vultures and coyotes or any other critter that crosses their trail. 

While driving past a freshly hit deer this past Tuesday it sparked an idea. Why let that meat go to waste? With so many families that could benefit from an entire deer it seemed such a sad end for the old furry fellows. So I emailed the Department of Fish and Wildlife inFrankfort.

I got an email back from a conservation officer named Mark and a number to call. 

So I did call. In fact, I called immediately. 

The conservation officer was very informative. It seems that there is a way to take that fresh meat to a processor and it’s even legal! You just simply have to call 1-800-25alert or call your local Conservation Officer or the Kentucky Dept of Fish and Wildlife and they can issue you a “Disposal Tag” for the deer. Because possessing deer meat out of season and without a hunting and tagging permit is illegal. In fact, if you have a hunting license and a tag, you can pick up freshly killed deer yourself for processing if it is during Deer Hunting season. But in order to be legal, it must have a tag. 

Most importantly, you must know what you are doing. It is imperative that the entrails be removed as soon as possible, so it is of vital importance that you know this is a fresh kill before you attempt to get a tag and process the deer. 

This roadkill retrieval is not for amateurs. But I think there are plenty of hunters out there that know what to do and maybe just need some more information on how to make it legal. 

If you hit a deer or saw one hit and killed, call the 1-800-25alert number and notify them of the time and place so they can send someone out to get it before the meat expires or report it so you can get your own disposal tag and take it for processing. 

Even if this information only gets one Roadkill deer to the dinner table, that is one deer that didn’t go to waste; One family that will have a full freezer and one less hungry belly at the end of the day. 

When I was a child, our freezer in the basement was a meat lovers paradise. Tightly wrapped, white bundles of Crappie, Bream, deer roasts, grouse, frog legs, deerburgers and home made sausage filled the shelves. 

I thought everyone lived this way. 

It wasn’t until I got older that I realized how fortunate we were and what a sportsman and provider my father was; What he hunted, we ate and nothing went to waste. He never shot tiny birds for fun or shot animals only for sport. He did it all legally and bought the tags and licenses necessary. In fact, because of people like my father, including my husband and myself who purchase fishing and hunting licenses, together we help keepKentuckybeautiful by providing funds for Wildlife Conservation. 

So the next time you see a deer hit by a vehicle, call the 1-800-25alert or your local Conservation officer and help bring dinner to the table. If not for yourself, for someone else.