Is It A Crime To Keep A Roadkill Deer In Louisiana?
If you live anywhere in north Louisiana outside of city limits, odds are you've noticed an increase in your wildlife sightings.
We're seeing the Spring migrations of beautiful birds not native to our part of the world. People are bush hogging areas that haven't been clipped since last fall and encountering baby rabbits and opossums.
People are reporting seeing foxes in neighborhoods. Snakes are out in nearly every dark corner you find, and we're seeing young deer, who have only recently been born, as they encounter public roadways for the very first time.
Some of those deer, or their mothers, have made an unsuccessful attempt to cross those roads and are now browsing in the oak bottoms of deer Heaven.
READ MORE: Expect Nighttime Closures of These I-20 Exit Ramps in Bossier City
Just last week, my son had a deer make the fatal mistake of darting in front of him in downtown Ashdown, Arkansas, so it could really happen anywhere. But what about the aftermath of the accident? What becomes of the deer?
The question made me curious enough to research Louisiana law on the issue. Not that it would apply to many people, but some would want to know if you were to hit a deer, would Louisiana law allow you to keep it? According to the website, deeranddeerhunting.com, that would be a big fat negative ghost rider.
Here's what they write, "in Louisiana it is illegal to pickup a roadkill deer without first having prior consent of a game warden."
So, there is a way to keep the deer, but it's entirely at the discretion of the agent you contact with Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
That seems somewhat counterintuitive to me, but I guess Louisiana lawmakers had their reasons for imposing this one. I would think that they would actually want deer that weren't too mangled to be put to good use instead of being hauled off by buzzards or coyotes.
I also found out just how big of a problem this is nationally. Deeranddeerhunting.com goes on to say that there are 1.5 million deer hit by automobiles on US roadways every year. And with the average minimum cost of $2,000 to repair these vehicles after striking a deer, that's $3 billion dollars each year in damage.
I know most people probably wouldn't want to fool with a dead deer, but you'd think that with those kinds of losses, keeping the deer would be the least of worries for Louisiana residents.
But, they didn't ask me for my opinion.