Patrol keeps list of residents wanting roadkill-deer meat

In some areas, the meat is donated to shelters and needy families.
MEDINA, Ohio (AP) -- Reservations are required on the Ohio State Highway Patrol's roadkill call list, which allows people to claim deer carcasses and use the meat.
In several northern Ohio counties, the patrol maintains a list of residents who want deer that are killed in car crashes. Recipients must be county residents and must be willing to come out day or night, at any hour, to pick up the remains.
If your car hits the deer, you get first crack at the carcass.
Lt. Greg Westover, commander of the patrol's post in Medina, is starting a list there after transferring from Elyria, where troopers keep a list. Residents of Canton and Erie and Ottawa counties also can request a deer.
Westover sees the service as a way to help people who are short of grocery money. It also helps the Ohio Department of Transportation, which normally has to rid highways of carcasses.
People are called in the order in which they are on the list. They have only one chance to respond.
Normal temperatures require that the animal be picked up within a couple hours of its death, but in subfreezing temperatures, the deer meat will be good for a couple of days, Westover said.
Deer are most active in October, November and December, Westover said. At least 3,394 deer died on roads in Cuyahoga and its six surrounding counties last year, according to the patrol's Web site.
Other methods
The Geauga County sheriff's office harvests meat from deer killed in traffic accidents and donates it to St. Herman of Alaska Greek Orthodox Monastery, a shelter in Cleveland. In years past, they've provided up to 3,000 pounds of venison.
For 20 years, Chuck Pfeister, a Wadsworth businessman and school board member, has picked up dead deer, processed the meat and passed it along to needy families.
"I'm probably one of the few people in these parts who can ride around with a deer on my rack and not get stopped," Pfeister said.
"Everybody knows I do it. I don't like to see the meat go to waste. It's just my way of giving back."