7B
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2016
Tempted by a dead deer on the roadside? Think twice
Peter Murphy, regional
spokesman for the Oregon
Department of Transportation,
said the period between early
October and mid-November is
the deadliest time of year for
local deer venturing onto the
road in Central Oregon.
Deer that make their home
near Bend and in the Cas-
cades during summer often
move toward Christmas Valley
for the winter, Murphy said,
necessitating trips through
populated areas and across
busy highways. For whatever
reason, far fewer tend to be
struck by vehicles when mak-
ing the return trip in the spring.
By SCOTT HAMMERS
The Bulletin
BEND — With the season
of feasting and family dinners
on the horizon, it’s a safe bet
one dish will be missing from
most menus — roadkill.
Oregon bans the harvest-
ing of most animals you might
strike with your car yet still
consider eating, unlike nearly a
third of states, where the fend-
er-to-frying pan journey is one
possible path for the victim of
an unforeseen collision.
In Oregon, game animals
killed by a vehicle cannot be
harvested, by the driver or any-
one else. Antlers from deer or
elk killed by a vehicle can-
not be harvested either. The
law, according to the Oregon
Department of Fish & Wildlife
website, is intended to discour-
age individuals from “hunting”
with their vehicle.
On the other hand, any
motorist who kills a nonpro-
tected animal — or just hap-
pens to find it along the road
— is free to take it home. Qual-
ifying species include coyote,
skunk, nutria, opossum, bad-
ger, porcupine and weasel,
and anything else that can be
hunted without a license or tag,
reports The (Bend) Bulletin.
There’s also a third cate-
gory that applies to individu-
als licensed to trap animals for
Tighter rules
Natalie St. John/EO Media Group
A family of deer hid under the canopy near Cape Disappointment State Park during the
October storms. In Oregon, game animals killed by a vehicle cannot be harvested.
their fur. They can take home
bobcat, gray fox and red fox,
marten, muskrat, mink, rac-
coon, river otter and beaver,
but only when such animals
are in season.
Dates back decades
Cory Heath, wildlife biol-
ogist with the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish & Wildlife, said
Oregon’s laws on harvesting
roadkill date back decades.
In large part, the rules against
keeping game animals killed
by vehicles are designed to
deter illegal or out-of-sea-
son hunting, he said. By ban-
ning the collection of roadkill,
poachers can’t cover up their
activity by claiming to have
struck the animal accidentally,
Heath said.
Heath said a scattering of
Oregonians are caught ille-
gally harvesting roadkill every
year, though often, not for the
meat.
“In many cases, they are
people taking antlers off buck
deer and bull elk, people taking
bear paws off roadkilled bears,
things like that,” he said.
Harvesting of the smaller
animals in the nonprotected
category is quite rare, Heath
said.
“You see what the critters
look like after they get run
over on the road, and most of
them are probably not in a very
usable condition,” he said.
Oregon’s rules on keeping
what you run over are tighter
than in many states, including
Washington, which adopted a
roadkill salvage law that went
into effect in July.
Under the Washington law,
drivers who strike and kill a
deer or elk can take it home,
and have 24 hours to obtain a
salvage permit — a deer or elk
tag does not suffice. Drivers
are further forbidden from kill-
ing an animal injured in a colli-
sion for the purpose of harvest-
ing the meat or antlers.
Whether you should or
would want to eat an animal
killed by a vehicle is another
question.
Bob Mehan, owner at Cin-
der Butte Meat Co. in Red-
mond, said it’s common
when processing legitimately
hunted deer and elk to dis-
card the “blood shot” portion
of the meat, the tissues that are
bruised and damaged by the
path of a bullet. Bruising on an
animal struck by a car would
likely be much more exten-
sive, he said.
Mehan said an injured ani-
mal will generate a surge of
adrenaline, which can degrade
the taste of its meat and is often
cited as among the drawbacks
of consuming roadkill.
Still, Mehan said he’d
expect a similar adrenaline
surge would be taking place
when a hunter wounds an ani-
mal, then tracks it for hours
before delivering the fatal shot.
Perhaps, he said, the excite-
ment of harvesting one’s own
meal allows a successful hunter
to ignore any off flavors.
Murphy said ODOT has
tried and failed to find takers
for animals killed along the
road. Wildlife rescue facilities
that keep animals that might
otherwise enjoy a carcass have
turned down ODOT, he said,
for fear of potentially introduc-
ing disease. Instead, carcasses
collected by ODOT are typi-
cally dragged a distance away
from the road, he said, and left
to scavengers to do the rest.
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35078 Ross Lane, Astoria
35019 Hwy 101 Business, Astoria
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$320,000
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503-440-7474
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503-338-8554
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34691 Hwy 101 Business, Astoria
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NEW LISTING
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503-338-0552
$67,500
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503-338-0552
503-325-6848
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2626 Grand Avenue, Astoria
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503-338-0552
503-325-6848
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2657 Hwy 101 N. #31, Seaside
NEW LISTING
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$149,000
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503-440-7474
Windermere/Pacifi c Land Co.
2657 Hwy 101 N. #39, Seaside
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503-338-0552
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1100 SE Willow Drive, Warrenton
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503-338-0552
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$150,000
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503-338-0552
$235,000
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