Missouri House committee to vote Thursday on deer legislation

A mid-Missouri lawmaker says a bill is needed requiring the state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to remove and bury dead deer found on roads or highways large enough to impede traffic.

A Missouri House committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on a bill from State Rep. Kent Haden (R-Mexico). Under Haden’s one-page House Bill 404, MoDOT would remove the deer and their expenses would be paid for by the Missouri Department of Conservation, which would be required to bury the deer on Conservation land three feet deep. Representative Haden notes both agencies are overseen by commissions and don’t report directly to the governor.

“What happens when you’ve got two commissions and neither one of them will do what’s right. Who is going to referee this food fight among two agencies? And again neither one wanted to expend their money to pick up the deer,” Haden tells 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri.”

Haden tells listeners that urban and rural lawmakers want the issue to be addressed.

“The reason it’s written the way it is is that Conservation by the (state) Constitution is responsible for deer. And by the (Missouri) Supreme Court, that they own the deer in essence. But they appear to think that once they hit my car they’re not their deer anymore,” says Haden.

Click here to listen to the full “Wake Up Mid-Missouri” interview with Representative Haden.