Oh, deer: Longer nights mean more roadkill, but it’s not all for naught

James Ross has harvested many deer over the years – though not all of them with a gun or a bow. The Alexandria man estimates that for the past two decades, he’s taken more road-killed deer than he could count on two hands. 

Ross has made good use of a 1987 Minnesota law that allows people to harvest roadkill by contacting the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) or local road authorities, who then issue possession tags to people who want them.

“It just takes minutes when somebody shows up to get your permit,” he said. 

In 2023, according to the Department of Public Safety (DPS), about 1,200 animals were killed in car crashes, likely an undercount since all crashes aren’t necessarily reported, said DPS spokesman Eric Lightner in an email. The same year, the DNR issued 1,695 possession permits to people who wanted to take home roadkill, according to agency spokesman Joe Albert. 

That permit estimate is likely an undercount, as well, because local agencies also give out their own tags. So far in 2024, the DNR has issued about 1,149 possession permits for animals killed on the road.

According to DPS, 875 of the animal crashes in 2023 involved deer. Many of those are in the fall. “The deer become more active in the fall,” said Art Vinson, a sheriff’s deputy in Douglas County. He said crashes also increase during this season, too. 

Research shows that the week after daylight savings, there’s a 16% rise in deer collisions. That’s because deer are typically more active around dusk and dawn, they move more in the fall than at other times and people commute at dusk during this period, Ron Moen, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, said in a press release reminding Minnesotans about deer behavior in the fall. 

Taking home roadkill

With winter fast approaching, the nights are getting longer. And that means people could be bringing in more deer over the next several weeks because of an increase in collisions. 

When someone hits an animal, they can call their local sheriff’s office to get a possession permit. But if the person who hit it doesn’t want it, a sheriff’s office will go to their list to find any takers.

Ross has gotten many deer that way. 

A sheriff’s office will call individuals on the list and go down the list until someone wants the roadkill. Vinson said sometimes people will stay on the list, but won’t respond. So they keep going down the list, until they get a bite. 

Pro tip: If you want to be on this list, just call your sheriff’s office’s dispatch center. Getting a possession permit doesn’t take away from bag limits for hunting.

Vinson estimated that more than 75% of the deer that are hit on the highway are taken either by the people that hit them or through the list. “Very few deer are not actually taken and then used by somebody,” he said. 

The ones that aren’t taken are often too damaged to the point where it’ll be harder to get good meat from it. When that happens, the sheriff’s office will drag it into a ditch and leave it there or, depending on jurisdiction, the Department of Transportation or the County Highway department will pick it up and dispose of it, he said. 

Vinson said that during cooler months it’s OK for people to take a deer that’s been dead for 24 hours. But in warmer months, there’s more of a rush. “If it’s above 40 degrees, then you want to get to it relatively quickly to start the processing,” he said. 

Ross estimates that he’s taken five deer a year for the past 20 years through this system. He said it’s a quick and easy process. 

People put the deer in their freezers, just like they would with hunted deer. Or, they use it as bait for hunting coyotes, Vinson said. 

In an online forum, one user wrote that they’ve acquired other forms of roadkill, like skunks and raccoons — though they didn’t need the possession permit. 

Between 2016 and 2023, Minnesota had around 12,108 vehicle crashes with animals, 9,159 of which (75%) were with deer. During those years, the data shows that Sherburne and Stearns counties had the most crashes with deer, followed by Hennepin and Dakota counties. 

In 2023, crashes involving animals other than deer made up about 40% of total animal crashes, according to the DPS. Collisions with other animals throughout those years were most common in Dakota, Hennepin, Anoka, St. Louis, Stearns and Sherburne counties. 

“Animals like raccoons, things like that, I’ve never had anybody actually call in and ask for a permit,” Vinson said. “I mean, if somebody is into wanting to do that, then they probably just take that.” 

Vinson said in his 30 years with Douglas County, the county has given out permits for bears and moose, too. “That’s rare, but it does happen,” he said. The 875 deer hit in 2023 was down a bit from the 1,004 hit the year before, though that decrease may be from a drop in crashes being reported, wrote Lightner, the DPS spokesperson.

Ava Kian

Ava Kian is MinnPost’s Greater Minnesota reporter. Follow her on Twitter @kian_ava or email her at akian@minnpost.com.

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