# What are the road kill laws in UT?



## MN transplant

Back in MN if I hit a deer, I had to call the dNr and they would issue me a free roadkill tag, and I got to keep the meat. I heard that if you hit an animal in UT that if the dWr finds out...you get a 'destruction of wildlife ticket' and you don't get to keep the animal. Any light shed on this situation would be appreciated.


----------



## Dark Cloud

If it's like MN let us know, I will go buy a $200 car and start filling the freezer every winter. :mrgreen: I have heard the same thing, you will be issued a ticket. If you want meat call the animal control in the city you live in next time you see a deer get hit and they might be able to hook you up. It used to be that way a while backbut don't know if they still do it.


----------



## MN transplant

there were some years we had more meat from cars than rifles/bows in my family. meat is meat, doesn't matter how it died.


----------



## MN transplant

I just kinda feel guilty leaving a perfectly good animal on the road. I would hope that it would at least make it to a homeless shelter. depending on how fresh it was of course.


----------



## TEX-O-BOB

I know first hand what will happen to you if you hit a deer and take the meat without going through the proper channels. My "wildlife crime" portfolio has just such a violation in it. :evil: 

I won't bore all of you with the details of my fiasco. But I will tell you what I should have done.

If you hit a deer with your car you are to call the highway patrol day or night and have an officer come out and investigate the deed. If you want the meat he can then dispatch the DWR to the scene and THEY will either choose to take the animal from you, or give the animal to you. If it is a huge buck, you're NOT going to get it. Don't even try. If you don't fallow procedure on this issue and are caught, you will get a ticket for unlawful possession of a big game animal. A class B misdemeanor. (a felony if it's a trophy buck) Some officers will let you prove that you didn't poach the animal with a weapon and lower it to a class A misdemeanor. This conviction will carry a jail sentence of two years and a $2000 fine. The judge will likely suspend the jail time and lower the fine to around $200. If you're nice and completely compliant. As mentioned above, I have first hand experience with this...


----------



## bigelk08

I don't know what the laws are concerning road kill, but it might depend on the DWR officer that responds to the incident.
I know of two incidences in Davis County where a raod kill was reported to the DWR and an officer issued a tag that allowed the individuals to keep the animals they hit. one of them was a 28" buck. 
2 years ago one of my crews was doing some work in the hills above Bountiful when a doe got caught up on a rod iron fence and broke a back leg. After the DWR and local police arrived and put the animal down, a tag was issued to a cunstruction crew working on a nearby home and they enjoyed fresh venison for a few days.
whatever you do, make sure you contact the DWR before doing anything with road kill.


----------



## Chaser

Dark Cloud said:


> If it's like MN let us know, I will go buy a $200 car and start filling the freezer every winter.


This is probably the exact reason the laws are different.

Tex, if you have the time, I would like to hear the story. Perhaps on another thread?


----------



## bwhntr

The laws are about the same in Utah. The highway patrol can put you in contact with the DWR and they will issue you a permit number for the meat. They can issue it over the phone. The only time they might not is if it is a trophy animal.


----------



## Bears Butt

Before I had enough income not to worry about food for the table, I put my name on the local police list to pick up road kills. They would call me whenever they had an animal down. I had to go to the site, pick up the animal and take it out of the way someplace and gut it. Then the next day a DWR person would show up and inspect the animal to make sure it wasn't shot. He would issue me a salvage tag and the animal was all mine. Most of them were does, but meat was meat.
Just a few weeks ago a friend of mine hit a small deer and killed it. She reported it to the UHP, but didn't stick around for them to arrive (she had to get to work). Later in the day, her husband contacted the UHP and DWR and all agreed that he could salvage that deer. I have the liver in my freezer right now. Sharing is good.


----------



## TEX-O-BOB

Chaser said:


> Dark Cloud said:
> 
> 
> 
> If it's like MN let us know, I will go buy a $200 car and start filling the freezer every winter.
> 
> 
> 
> This is probably the exact reason the laws are different.
> 
> Tex, if you have the time, I would like to hear the story. Perhaps on another thread?
Click to expand...

A long time ago when I was young...

I hit a deer, late at night, kept the meat, got turned in by a nosy neighbor, got a ticket, had to prove I didn't shoot it, had to surrender all the meat, went to court, got a $200 fine and a years probation.

NOT worth it!


----------



## shootemup

if you hit a deer in the state of utah call the dwr they will send out an officer who will check out the scene, you will wait for a while though for them to come out. after he looks at the scene just ask him if you may have the deer. IF it is a buck he will cut the antlers off and take them. if he says you can have the animal he will then fill out a form he will put in your drivers licence info and such and will give you a pink slip of paper that you must have as long as you have any part of the animal it is your permit to have it. I will say the amount of trama caused by a car is a ton and it is hard to get much meat off of the animal. I would not recommend taking the animal for that reason.


----------



## Bears Butt

Over many years, I have probably processed 7 or 8 road kill deer and not once did I lose as much as 10 pounds of meat. The worst one was hit by a semi. The road looked terrible at the scene, but I only lost part of the truck-side front shoulder.
If I had to wait more than a few hours to get permission or not, I would just leave it.


----------



## shootemup

the typical wait is usually around and hour sometimes you get lucky and someone is in the area. I work is the wildlife industry and in my experiance there has been alot of trama maybe the deer on the property i work on are just wimpy ha ha.


----------



## clean pass through

Considering I deal with the results of road kill situations on a regular occurance due to my line of work. You can call the local DWR Conservation officer for what ever county you live in and get on a list for those who want a "Waisting Permit." When a deer gets hit and is salvageable you will get called from a Trooper or a DWR officer seeing if you would be interested in the deer, Elk, Moose or whatever. 

Any and all antlers stay with the DWR.

By the way if you hit a deer you can get cited for it and be charged a fee from the DWR for hitting the deer. It usually does not happen 99% of the time but it is possible. Every car deer crash if documented like a regular accident report. I hope this clairifies it. 

P.S. If you are interested get on the list there are alot of animals that are hit and could be used but are not.


----------



## hunter_orange13

what does the dwr do with the antlers? do they have a storage shed full by now? haha


----------

