Salvaging Roadkill - updates?

[Rainier10]

I am a numbers geek so these kind of stats are always fun to look at for me.  I wish they would have broken down the doe/cow and buck/bull categories into seperate categories and the antler point section as well.

"BY SEX

833 does and cows, and 691 bucks and bulls.

43 were marked down as unknown sex.

BY ANTLER POINTS

230 spikes
141 two-points
81 three-points
59 four-points
32 five-points
17 six-points
4 seven-points.

A bull elk reported by an Auburn resident was written up as having “25” points."

25 point bull elk. 

I wish the antler point was broken out by species...

My guess is that information is actually available through a "request for information" through the WDFW if someone wanted to make the request.  I have done it for other stuff before but just don't have time right now to make the request.

[O. hemionus]

I thought I remember there being a different thread where guys were sharing stories of salvaging roadkill now that the salvage rule is in effect...did it get moved somewhere in the forum update, or am I just remembering wrong? If you have a better place for this post, let me know or go ahead and move it if you can.

Went on a quick afternoon bear hunt up the canyon from the house, and was on my way home around 9:30 when I came around a sharp corner where deer routinely cross. As I was rounding the corner, there was a woman in orange scrubs (no it was not an orange jumpsuit) walking back up the road with a young (14?) girl with her. I stopped and asked the family if they needed any assistance and if everything was alright, and they told me they had just hit I deer. Well I looked down the road about 20 yards and sure enough, there was a dandy buck laying in the middle of my lane. I looked at the mom and daughter and said, in a somewhat sheepish tone, "Are yall going to, uh, eat that?" The mother chuckled and said that they were both vegetarians. At this point I could see jackpot signs rolling across my eyes. I then subsequently asked, "Well, do you mind if I take it then?" They were more than happy to give it to me, and even helped me load it in my rig! I had a tarp with me for that remote chance that I would come across a bear while hunting, and fortunately used the tarp to line the inside of my wife's Grand Cherokee. She was out of town, so I didn't need to ask permission to put a dead deer in it, right? Anyway, I wish I had driven my truck that night, but the Jeep got by without so much as a drop of blood or deer urine touching the upholstery. Upon dressing the deer, I found that it had been hit in the ribs/abdominal cavity somewhere and ruptured some internal organs, but the meat was perfectly intact. In all, after de-boning and processing the deer, it yielded 28 lbs of meat (there was maybe 3 lbs or less in waste due to contact with rumen contents). I was a little surprised I didn't get more meat, but the buck wasn't huge - 2.5 - 3.5 year old buck (probably the latter). Sure tastes good though! Ground most of it up into burger, and turned the backstraps into steak, stew meat, and fajita meat. For anyone looking for a meat grinder, I have been extremely impressed with my foreign-made $80 Sunmile grinder. It grinds the meat as fast as I can feed it, and has more than paid for itself grinding Alabama deer and hogs, and now WA roadkill deer. I moved back to WA before hunting season had started in Alabama, and got up here after it had ended in WA, so my freezer has been pretty much empty for the past 9 months. This salvaged deer was such a blessing!

[O. hemionus]

If someone could rotate that last picture, that would be great. Thanks! 

[jmscon]

That's a nice pile of ground deer!

I keep seeing deer on the highway on Whidbey, hope it's making it into someone's freezer, I'm never on my way home!

[O. hemionus]

jmscon, send me a PM next time you see a dead deer on Whidbey if you don't mind. My dad lives in Coupeville and would love to grab a salvage deer.

[csaaphill]

 

[NOCK NOCK]

    Just last Friday  we drove by a doe that a state patrol was getting ready to put down,  headed out for a weekend at Lake Roosevelt so nothing I could do about it 

[Okanagan]

IF I were going to salvage roadkill it would have to be very freshly killed, and I'd check by feel and observation whether major muscle groups were bruised, pelvis broken, etc. and pass on a badly damaged carcass.

IF I were going to salvage roadkill, I'd zip the hide open down the backbone and take outer straps from pelvis to maybe back of ears, shoulders and hams and then the tenderloins, skipping any that were internally bruised and bloodshot.  Hang or drape the pieces and let them drip awhile if possible though the gutless method results in juicier meat not as well drained IME but it is fine to eat. 

The law says the entire carcass and entrails must be removed from the right of way so I'd drag the remaining carcass off the right of way and only take edible meat, with the gutless and boneless approach.