LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Getting a drive-through meal could
take on new meaning in Michigan if legislation is approved making it
easier to take home road kill.
Sen. Darwin Booher, R-Evart, is
sponsoring a bill to simplify the road kill claiming process and allow
more people to keep dead animals for food, bait or pelts. It unanimously
passed the Senate last month.
"All of us are disgusted by looking
at deer lying on the side of the road for weeks until they rot right
out," Booher said in a telephone interview while driving. "The only
thing that distracts me anymore is that I look along the road" and see
animal carcasses, he added.
The lifelong hunter said he’s hit 11
deer with his car since joining the Legislature in 2004, but hasn’t kept
any. It can take hours for officials to deliver a salvage tag needed
under current law, he said.
But the Michigan Department of Natural
Resources says the legislation would create a legal loophole for
poachers and could particularly endanger wild turkeys. The department
said it’s working with lawmakers on the bill, and wants to require
hunting licenses and species cap limits.
"We’re trying to find the
right balance between streamlining the process and also not opening any
windows for illegal poaching of game," said Trevor VanDyke, DNR
legislative affairs director.
Booher, who grew up eating squirrel
pot pies, said state licensing laws are impractical for road kill. He
said his bill would help utilize already-dead animals and would save
money for municipalities that would have fewer carcasses to clean up.
"It’s government getting out of the way of people using something that’s already hit and dead laying
on the road," Booher said.
VanDyke
said the state doesn’t have data on road kill claims because local
officials don’t have to report salvage tag issuances. About 15 states
have laws related to road kill, according to the National Conference of
State Legislatures.
The legislation, now under consideration in
the House, would let someone take small game that was killed by a car if
they kept a written record. The driver would have first dibs, but the
law wouldn’t apply to someone who intentionally hit an animal.
Only
licensed hunters can currently keep small game during open season.
Hunting licenses allow a "bag limit" of five rabbits or two male
pheasant per day, for example.
If someone claimed bigger game such
as deer, they could notify officials either by phone or online, instead
of waiting for a police or conservation officer to deliver a salvage
tag.
But DNR says the bill would create a loophole for poachers
who could falsely claim they killed a small animal with a car to avoid
species limits.
"A blunt object to the head looks similar to a
tire," VanDyke said. "The concern is now they’ll say, ‘Well no, I’m well
over my bag limit, but these seven are from a car.’"
Booher said the worry is unfounded.
"I
don’t agree with that at all," he said. "Those that are poaching are
poaching now. This isn’t going to change one thing. These are animals
that are already hit on the road."
Booher added that if the law becomes a problem, "I’ll introduce the bill to fix it."
VanDyke
said turkeys especially would be threatened under the bill, because
they tend to congregate in groups near roads and don’t seriously damage
cars. A hunter is allowed to kill one wild turkey per season, he said.
"We don’t want someone to take out a whole flock and us not know about it," he said.
Environmental groups share concerns about poaching but are largely neutral on the bill.
"Will
this take care of the problem, alleviate the burden on road commissions
to move these carcasses? Probably not very much," said James Clift,
policy director for the Michigan Environmental Council. "You’ve got to
hit the deer the right way in order to be useable."
Matt Evans, legislative affairs manager for Michigan United Conservation Clubs, said the bill is
unnecessary.
"We haven’t seen problems with the current system," he said. "We haven’t had complaints
from any of our members."
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