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Since YouAsked: Grille-to-grill roadkill bill still a year away Sunday Oct 29, 2017 at 12:01 AM So what's up with all the dead deer on the sides of roads lately? I thought it was legal to keep roadkill now in Oregon. Are people not taking advantage of this or don't they know about it? — Carl, Jacksonville It's not that Oregonians are suddenly shy about the state's new meals under wheels program of allowing motorists to salvage the big-game animals they hit, Carl. It's that the new program created this summer by the Oregon Legislature doesn't go into effect until 2019. Michelle Dennehy, spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, says there has been quite a bit of confusion recently about when the new rules will roll out. In fact, Oregon State Police troopers have reported arriving on the scene of several roadkill crashes involving deer and elk in which the motorists have asked if they could harvest their bumper crop, according to Dennehy. Calls and questions about the roadkill rules were expected to peak, because fall is prime time for vehicles hitting deer and elk, which are in their annual migration times and in their breeding seasons, called "ruts," Dennehy says. Fewer daylight hours also likely contribute to the accidents, she says. The Oregon Department of Transportation reported 1,052 vehicle crashes involving big-game animals in October 2016 and 1,160 in November of 2016, according to ODFW. However, just 377 were reported statewide last December, statistics show. When possible, state police, wildlife biologists and/or ODOT employees attempt to salvage the meat from roadkill and donate it to local food banks. Those will all be legal table fare for the driving public beginning Jan. 1, 2019. The bill that created this opportunity, Senate Bill 372, included a provision that allowed ODFW until that time to draft rules that allow roadkill salvage while also discouraging people from trying to hit deer and elk simply to salvage the meat. The draft rules must be adopted by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission before they go into effect. — Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected]. We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.