As some Montanans see it, when it comes to the thousands of animal carcasses that litter the state's roads and highways each year, there is only one logical thing to do: Eat them.

Under a state law that goes into effect in November, people who come across dead deer, elk, moose and antelope - or strike them with their vehicles - may haul the animals home for dinner.

"If there is some good stuff there, why not use it, rather than throw it away?" said Steve Lavin, who introduced the legislation. "If someone has suffered damage to their vehicle, why not let them use that animal for some food?"

Mr. Lavin, who is also a captain with the Montana Highway Patrol, was inspired to draft the bill after years of responding to accidents in which animals had been struck by cars or trucks.

Sonny Lawson picks up deer killed on roads in South Carolina and makes burgers. He said it was a shame to waste the dead animals he sees. Stephen Morton for The New York Times

Under a previous state law, Mr. Lavin was required by a previous law to tell people who had hit a deer or elk that they could not keep it. In some instances, he would take the dead animals to a local food bank, he said.

Now anyone who wants to gather roadkill may, with a free permit.

"You have to take the animal in its entirety," said Ron Aasheim, spokesman for the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department, which is currently accepting public comment on how the new law will be administered. "And you have to dispose of it."

More than a dozen states have similar provisions. In Colorado, people can take the edible portions of roadkill if they get permission from the state's Division of Parks and Wildlife. "The goal is to make sure that meat doesn't go to waste, while making sure people don't poach with their vehicles," said Randy Hampton, a division spokesman.

Sonny Lawson, who lives in South Carolina, voiced his support for the Montana law. He hunts in Montana and said it was a shame to waste the countless dead animals he sees along the highway.

Each year back home, Mr. Lawson collects three or four dead deer from the roadside, carving off the meat for venison steaks and burgers. "We do it all the time," he said. "You wouldn't know the difference."

A 2010 Georgia law allows people there to take home dead bears - as well as other animals - after they inform law enforcement officials or a state wildlife conservation officer.

Eating roadkill has long been mythologized in American cultural lore, from John McPhee's 1973 essay "Travels In Georgia," to Barth, the slovenly chef on the Nickelodeon show "You Can't Do That on Television," who served repulsive-looking roadkill burgers to unsuspecting patrons.

Sandor Katz, a culinary author, touched on roadkill harvesting in his 2006 book, "The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements." Mr. Katz said that during his travels, some people he encountered who ate roadkill identified themselves as primitive enthusiasts.

"I've met people in every part of the country who do it," he said, adding that he had sampled everything from bear to squirrel and "lots of deer."

"It's just like any other meal," he said. "It's all about how you prepare it."

But cooking roadkill stews and steaks is not a simple matter. The meat must be fresh and not too bruised, said Nick Bennett, owner of Montana Mobile Meats, a mobile wild game processing company. "If there's meat that's consumable, there's no reason not to consume it; it's just fine," he said.

Roadkill cuisine has become the focus of a cook-off and autumn festival in West Virginia. Twenty years ago, it drew several thousand people, said David Cain, the cook-off's organizer. Now, as many as 20,000 attend, he said.

Competitors do not use roadkill, but rather animals typically found by the roadside. Last year's menu included possum stew, venison teriyaki and the winner: "Stuffed bear-ron-a-soar-us with groundhog gravy."

"They once cooked a rattlesnake in some kind of a gravy type stuff and they had the whole rattlesnake in there," said David Cain, the organizer. "That was tough for me, but we got through it."

The New York Times

(China Daily 09/29/2013 page10)