The South of the North offers Road Kill...at No Cost!

In Vermont, the tradition of hunting is still going strong, with men and women heading out into the woods each Fall hoping to make a good shot.
Using a gun or bow is one way to pack a freezer full of wild game. But there is another way too, one that even a vegetarian might appreciate—at least for the economy of it. It follows the maxim: waste not want not. It’s roadkill.

Each game warden in the state has a list of people to call when there is a road accident that involves a deer or moose. Once comprised of only butchers, today the list is open to anyone—anyone willing to receive a call, often in the wee hours of the morning, that will require them to scramble out of pajamas and into boots and coat and into the night to pick up the game.

“First dibs always go to the driver,” says Game Warden Justin Stedman. Or, “if it’s mangled and I wouldn’t eat it myself,” he says, “I won’t give it to someone else to eat.” Most often, though, Stedman is making a call to someone noted on his list. Once the person picks up the animal—or sometimes Stedman is able to make a home delivery—it’s either processed at home or brought to a butcher.

Butcher Bill Lake, owner of Simply Meats, in Rutland, Vermont, has seen 30 deer, three moose, and even two bear in the past year alone, each passed along to a customer from a game warden. Lake’s main business involves processing purchased beef and poultry and he also takes care of wild animals, from hunters and from customers on the roadkill distribution list.

For the wild animals, Lake must follow strict regulations, such as making sure the animal has a paper tag filled out by the game warden showing that the animal was acquired legally. “I have to make sure the animal has a bona fide tag, and it has to be attached to the deer, physically attached to the deer,” the butcher says.