Many, many years ago I worked for the Colorado Highway Department doing highway maintenance. Our area was centered in Yampa and we went as far south as Dotsero, as far west as Kremmling and as for north as Steamboat Springs. We didn't go to the east because the Flattops Wilderness Area is just east of Yampa and there aren't any highways.

This area of CO is a major migration route in the winter for mulies and elk and a lot of them got hit by cars and trucks. Since we were on the road several times a day we knew how long a carcass had been there. We salvaged as many as we could that weren't torn up too bad. We would field dress them and call the game warden on the radio in the truck. Since it was a state radio, we could get the warden or the state patrol anytime we needed to. If we wanted to keep the animal for ourselves we would tell the warden and he would drop off a road kill certificate to our maintenance shed in Yampa. If we didn't want it or had all we could use we would stash the carcass in a snow bank and tell the warden where it was. He picked them up and the state gave to the poor folks in the area or those that were down on their luck. A lot of families were fed on roadkills in that area.

I've never understood the rationale of leaving good meat to rot on the side of the road. I'd be careful of just picking up any carcass but if it is fresh, the weather is cool or cold and it's not torn up too bad, why not? Even if only half of it is salvageable, that is still 30 lbs of burger at a minimum.