Status of Roadkill Bill

December 3, 2020

Question: I was wondering what the status of the law/regulations are that was passed about a year ago making it legal for folks who have hit and killed wildlife with their car to harvest the meat. I have found that some news stories say it’s legal, and others are saying the implementing regulations are still being promulgated. (Aaron)

Answer: At this time, it is still illegal to pick up roadkill for any purpose in the state of California. The bill you’re referring to is SB 395 (Archuleta, Chapter 869, Statutes of 2019), which authorized the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission), upon funding by the Legislature, to establish a pilot program to issue wildlife salvage permits to pick up wild game meat that was accidentally killed as the result of a vehicle collision.

The program established by the bill has not yet been funded by the Legislature through the California budget process. The Commission cannot develop the regulations, and CDFW cannot implement the program, until the bill is funded. Once funding is provided, both the Commission and CDFW are prepared to start the regulation process.

CDFW did not have an official position on SB 395. If you support or oppose funding the bill, you can reach out to your state representative to provide feedback.

promulgated.....that's a big word..

Montana statutes have permitted people to pick up animals hit and killed by vehicles since 2013.  It's a great law! I always carry some plastic tarp, rubber gloves, and other gear for picking up road killed animals, and I have picked up and processed a whole bunch of deer, and on one lucky occasion two elk.  See https://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=14677.0.

It's an indication of how popular this statute has been that in recent years it has become much harder to collect road killed animals because so many people are doing it.  Last year I was driving at night and saw a deer lying down in a pull-off along the highway with its head up.  It clearly had just been hit.  I turned around as quickly as I could, but by the time I got back to the pull-off, a couple who had been driving right behind the vehicle which hit the deer had already made it back to the pull-off and claimed the deer. We stood there and watched the deer expire, and then they threw it in their car and drove off.

Animals which get hit on highways can be pretty badly damaged, although I once picked up a deer which had been hit on the head by a car at highway speed, breaking off an antler, killing it instantly, and damaging almost no meat at all.  See https://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=17673.0.  The best place to get road killed animals is inside a town, because they tend to get hit at much lower speeds.  I have told all my friends to give me a call if they see a recently road-killed animal so I can zoom over there and try to grab it before somebody else does.

Deer here in Northern California are loaded with ticks and fleas.  You really, REALLY don't want to just toss one into your car.  As the body cools, they will jump ship and climb onto you.  Maybe with a pick up truck, but even then.....  Really think about what you are gonna do with the waste as well.  Unless you live somewhere with property to bury these, you can not just toss them into the weekly trash can and you can't just dump them somewhere out in urban areas.  Processing a large game animal, especially one with has massive trauma, not a simple bullet wound, is not easy.  Small game isn't quite as hard, a fawn for example, but just try to hoist a 120+ pound sack of dead, oozing, flea and tick filled floppy carcass and you'll soon see.  They stink if gut is ripped open as well.  They will leak all that gut juice as well. 

And here I was, hoping to find out who Roadkill Bill is...

On this subject though, like lthe best thing you can do is field dress/ cut out the good or bad stuff at time of pick-up (just move things as far away as practical from the road). I scored a nearly perfect mule deer in Idaho this year and did just that. Got some funny looks from people driving by.

On this subject though, like the best thing you can do is field dress/ cut out the good or bad stuff at time of pick-up (just move things as far away as practical from the road). I scored a nearly perfect mule deer in Idaho this year and did just that. Got some funny looks from people driving by.

In Montana, if you take an animal killed by a vehicle, you have to take the whole thing, guts and all.  You can't field dress it or take the best undamaged meat by the side of the road.  The Legislature and the Montana Department of Fish Wildlife & Parks don't want guts and carcasses left along roads, attracting eagles, bears, and other scavengers, and leaving a mess for people who live in the area. 

When you find a roadkilled animal, the first thing you need to do is evaluate how damaged it is.  Some animals which get hit at highway speeds are a gross mess and un-salvageable.  In other situations you may only lose one quarter to vehicle damage. If you're really lucky, you may only lose a small amount of meat.

The second thing you need to do is evaluate how long ago it got hit, and estimate the condition of the meat.  In warm weather, the meat in an un-skinned and un-gutted animal can go bad very quickly.  In cold weather, even an un-skinned and un-gutted animal may cool down or freeze before the meat goes bad.

The third thing you need to do is decide how quickly you'll be able to gut, skin, and quarter the critter and get the meat into a cooler.  There's no point in going to the trouble of throwing an animal into your vehicle if its meat would go bad before you will have a chance to process it.  I've had to pass up some pretty nice looking roadkilled animals because I was going someplace and wouldn't be able to process them promptly.

You also need to decide if you can physically load the animal into your vehicle.  Throwing an average sized un-gutted deer into a vehicle is fairly easy.  Throwing a big deer into a vehicle can be harder.  Getting an un-gutted elk into a vehicle is a big challenge.  A year or so ago I came across three guys who had hit a moose and disabled their pickup.  I don't know any three guys who could lift an un-gutted moose into the back of a pickup, but they had called for a flatbed wrecker, and said they were going to ask the wrecker driver to winch the moose onto the flatbed behind the pickup.  I don't know how that worked out.