dead deer on road hit by car, who do I call?

[stalkincoues]

out hunting now and just seen a small mule deer 2 point dead on side of road hit by car, probably not more than 2 hrs old. hate to see it just go to waste. I have never been in this situation. I have heard you can call G&F but they are closed and don't have anything about this on their message or prompts. I won't tag it with my tag no matter what sized deer. glassing right now and messaging from my phone but will drive past it a bit after dark, only have about 2 hrs to figure it out. i'd take it if I could legally, but how? I won't risk getting in trouble. should I bother? thank you.

[CouesWhitetail]

If you can reach the WM for the unit, they might be able to let you have it. But I think the rule is that only the person who hits it can take it, but you never know what they might say. If you can't reach the WM directly, perhaps call the game thief line? 1-800-352-0700

 

Or call DPS and the officer might know how to get ahold of the WM for the unit.

 

Amanda

 

 

 

 

[CouesWhitetail]

If you let us know what unit, we might be able to get you the WMs phone number.

 

Amanda

 

[stalkincoues]

it's unit 41 I think? just past Gila bend. it doesn't matter all that much, just tryin to do the right thing and hate to see it waste, plus I really hate butchering animals . thanks amanda.

[elkaholic]

hello - a few yrs ago - i found a fresh road kill - i thru it in back of truck and hauled it to game and fish - i was told to haul it back out inthe desert an dump it - ! just forget it !A family I know by winslow often find elk hit - injured - dying by trains - they were told leave it alone! -

+1 on what Amanda stated - if you were in an accident with the animal then dps would write it up and you probably be able to keep it - Gary

[stalkincoues]

thanks gary, i'll just leave out for coyote bait then. figured i'd be wasting my mtime. I still have plenty of deer in the freezer from last year anyways. thanks anyways for the quick responses.

[rogeti]

Dont worry about it at all. i found a doe hit but still alive!!! Called the G&F in phoenix, that was the only number i had and he had no idea where i was. I was on the trail in 27. He couldn't get ahold of Najar so he called DPS( I seriously doubt they went up the trail just before a rain storm at 7 pm). They dont want to help and i felt so bad for the deer. I asked if i could take it and they said no the person who hit it had to sign it over to me.

[CouesWhitetail]

Personally I think the law should be changed to allow some flexibility with the WM/DPS to decide who can take it. I assume the law is set up so as to not allow poachers to say they found the deer dead, but surely a law enforcement officer can determine whether someone is just requesting the deer so it won't be wasted vs trying to take it as a poacher.

 

I hate seeing the waste and have actually thought about asking the commisson to change the current law that only allows the person who hit the deer to keep it.

 

What do you guys think?

 

Amanda

[ThomC]

As to saving the meat. After the impact with a vehicle the animal will be bruised badly with possible massive internal injuries. Most likely not much edible meat.

[bojangles]

My old roomate was a deputy sherrif for a while. He carried with him in his squad car at all times a stack of "road kill" tags. If anyone wanted a roadkill, he was authorized to give them the tag and it was valid. I wouldn't call G&F, i would call the sherrif's office. I know this is true, because we picked up a roadkill once and the sherrif gave us the valid tag. This was a few years back, but unless things have changed, that's the way they still do it. Shame on the G&F guy who told the man to dump the carcass in the desert. How wastefull!

 

Come to think of it, one of my buds got a roadkill tagged elk last october, so i know that they still use that system.

[spotit, stalkit, killit]

I agree with all of the above, why not let someone try and salvage what they can if they want to? Rather than dump it in the desert...come on

[AZLance]

very simple, get in your truck, and slowly run into the deer with the truck, obviously missing the front and hind quarters. Then get on your cell phone and call G&F or DPS and tell them that you hit the deer. They will have to issue you a salvage tag.