Roadkill for food? One state now has an app for that

People looking to kill on the road to put some extra protein on their table are getting tech help in Wyoming in the form of a recently released app that makes it easier to claim carcasses on the road.

The state’s recently enacted system replaces one that had required a gamekeeper to provide a tag before a resident could claim a wildcard death. Residents can now use an app to search for food on non-interstate highways.

People can use their Android and Apple devices to get permission to rescue deer, elk, antelope, elk, wild bison or wild turkey after unintentional collisions of wildlife vehicles, state officials announced in February. But first they have to document the animal and check the rules, with grizzly bears, some gray wolves and endangered species out of bounds.

“Anyone who collects road deaths must receive Game and Fish clearance prior to collection. This can be done through the Wyoming 511 app, even without mobile service,” the Department of Hunting said. and Wyoming Fish in a press release.

To obtain electronic permission, Wyoming residents must agree to take the entire animal and dispose of its inedible parts properly. Officials also urge residents to consider safety by picking up dead on the road in broad daylight and parking off the road. Road deaths cannot be picked up on interstate highways, construction sites, or in national parks such as Yellowstone and Grand Teton.

In authorizing about $ 17,000 to develop the system in December, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission assured hunting chief Rick King that the funding “was not for cookbooks,” according to RawlinsTimes.

According to Wide Open Eats, 30 states currently allow residents to take home food.

Wyoming has been working to curb the number of dead animals on Wyoming roads each year, and officials hope to use the data collected by the app to choose locations for wildlife crossing signs.

The app gets the approval of Wyoming resident Marta Casey, who, though she had never hunted before, liked the idea of ​​using the deer that put her car in the body. “It’s always been important to me to understand where our food comes from,” Casey told the Associated Press.