Kill or roadkill?
 

Hi, can anyone here settle a debate? I'm not a deerhunter, but an angler, so I'm not sure about this.

Driving from Chicagoland to Lexington for the Breeder's Cup, Saturday 3 am in southern IN, a guy in a pickup zoomed past us with four hooves pointing straight up from just inside the tailgate. He had a couple large appliances or toolboxes in the truck, and there was a small space that apparently was just the perfect size for an upside-down dead deer.

I think it had to be road kill, as a recently shot deer wouldn't be stiff as a board yet and we'd passed several dead deer by the side of the highway. (Plus, nobody would pay all the money it takes to stuff a whole deer, only to jam it upside down in the back of a pickup full of heavy objects and drive it down the highway at 90 miles an hour in the middle of the night.)

My friends don't think anyone would pick up roadkill, but I've known people who said you can pick up a dead deer by the road and "use" it if it's not too old.

Who's right?

If I am, do you think his wife was happy or infuriated when the truck pulled into the driveway? Temps were above freezing...

RE: Kill or roadkill?
 

it is possible to pick up fresh road kill, liek if it is still warm. there are some legal issues, depending on the state.

but based on your story you cant say it ahd to be roadkill. it could have just as easily been harvested while hunting.
you say it was 3am? if that deer was shot during daylight hours, it would be "stiff as a board".

RE: Kill or roadkill?
 

Could have been a decoy.

RE: Kill or roadkill?
 

Definitely a real deer, not a decoy, unless they make decoys with real fur and position the legs so close together that the thing could never stand.

I don't know -- seems like a poacher would do more to hide the evidence and anybody out bowhunting for deer would have cleared some room in the truck for the expected kill.

Maybe given the low temp, he figured a deer killed on the road that day would technically be fresh enough to use for taxidermy?

I hope he wasn't planning to eat it, anyway!

RE: Kill or roadkill?
 

Last year I went into town to go to Wal-Mart and saw a pickup witha trailer loaded down with hunting stuff and the back of the pickup full of stuff as well as a couple of dead deer and they looked as stiff as you are describing. Why people would haul dead deer around that long is beyond me, but I have seen it.

RE: Kill or roadkill?
 

Well I have seen decoys w/ not real fur but some kinda materail. They look very real. So if the truck was going 90 mph or so lol then it is possible that it was a decoy.

RE: Kill or roadkill?
 

ya off the side of the road in washingtonone time when we where road hunting (it is legal in washington) and we jumped out of the truck i ran off the road and was looking at a buck a really big 2X2 its 3 point restiriction there has to have 3 points on one side and thought it looked weird it turned out to be a fish and game decoy they costa ton of money adn really move there head up and down, side to side, and twitch there tail

RE: Kill or roadkill?
 

There could be a thousand different situations one could make up for what you saw. I know a number of people that have taken road kill. If it was illegal I don't think he would be driving around with it exposed.

RE: Kill or roadkill?
 

On a trip to Columbus , Oh. for my youngest sister's high school graduation we saw a semi clip a nice buck , killing it instantly . As we passed the spot a pick up that was a few hundred yards behind us suddenly swerved to the side of the road , two guys got out and hoisted the deer into the bed and then took off . Yes , if the carcass is freshly killed and not too torn up the meat is perfectly safe to eat . In most states you're supposed to report it to the local sheriff's office so that the carcass can be recorded and a tempory transportation tag can be issued .

RE: Kill or roadkill?
 

Nothing wrong with fresh road kill. But if it was stiff as you said, either he shot it earlier on and hadn't got it home yet, or that person doesn't know proper roadkill etiquite.