How Much Roadkill Have Montanans Picked Up?
Our friend Ron Aasheim with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks gave us some roadkill collection figures. Ron says there has been quite a bit of interest lately on the total numbers since 2013.
That's when the Montana law went into effect that allows people to collect roadkilled animals. Of course these are numbers from people who actually followed the rules and did report their find. You have to assume that some don't, so the numbers may be a little low, but here are a couple of them.
FWP's latest count shows 2,286 animals have been picked up since 2013. Ron said he was really surprised by the number of moose: 86! That does seem like a lot, doesn't it? Also, as you would expect, whitetail deer lead the way at 1,667. As a comparison, the latest Montana Department of Highways numbers available for that same time period are just over 7,000 animals picked up.
If you are a picker-upper, please make sure you follow proper procedures, okay? DB