Mule Deer Fanatic

Road kill woes

State takes a closer look at animal-vehicle collisions

By Matt Christensen
 

It’s a question that, surprisingly, comes up every year.

“If I hit a deer with my truck,” someone inevitably asks the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, “can I take it home with me?”

The answer is no, which means hundreds of animals struck by vehicles are left to rot in Idaho’s roadside ditches each year. Neither Fish and Game nor the Idaho Transportation Department routinely remove road kill.

“In many cases with a dead critter, we merely drag it into the barrow pit,” said Randy Smith, a regional wildlife manager with Fish and Game’s Magic Valley office. “Scavengers typically clean them up in short order.”

State agencies also don’t track how many animals are struck by vehicles each year, though that’s changing, said Nathan Jerke, an ITD spokesman.

Blaine County and ITD have partnered with Montana State University in a $64,000 study to find out how many animals are being killed along 26-miles of Idaho Highway 75, a stretch of roadway some suspect is road kill central.

The study could help elected officials and transportation experts better manage roadways to keep drivers and animals safer.

Preliminary results of the study, which ends in March, show animals are struck in some areas more than others. For example, more elk have been killed at one point between reference post 118.5 and 119 than any other. More live elk are also spotted at that point than other reference posts, which may indicate it’s a popular spot for animals to cross the road.

“This is a pretty substantial issue,” Smith said.

Besides high insurance costs to drivers, animal-vehicle collisions dent the populations of struggling species, especially mule deer.

Fish and Game urges motorists to resist the temptation to harvest car-killed big game, and call their regional Fish and Game office or sheriff’s department to report the kill.

“An animal thumped by a car may look pretty good on the outside,” Smith said. “But when you get to skinning it, you’ll notice the meat isn’t very good for eating.”

ITD has its own advice: Pull your car off the road, drag the carcass off the highway and contact the police.