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You can take Montana roadkill with a free permit
September 10, 2025/
Have you ever driven past roadkill and wondered who is responsible for cleaning that up?
By: Madelyn Heath
In Montana, you must obtain a free Vehicle-Killed Wildlife Salvage Permit to legally take roadkill
. The permit is required only for deer, elk, moose, and antelope killed in a vehicle collision.
How to get a salvage permit
- Online: Apply for a permit on the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) website. You have up to 24 hours to get this permit after taking possession of the animal.
- From law enforcement: In the event of a collision, a responding peace officer can issue a permit at the scene.
- Print the permit: A hard copy of the permit is required. An electronic version on a mobile device is not acceptable.
What you can and cannot salvage
- Permitted animals: You can only take road-killed deer, elk, moose, and antelope.
- Illegal to salvage: It is illegal to take any other animals, including furbearers (like bobcats or mink), large predators (like bears, mountain lions, or wolves), bighorn sheep, or raptors (like eagles).
- Nongame animals: You can take nongame animals, such as coyotes and raccoons, without a permit.
- Injured animals: You may not kill an injured animal for the purpose of salvage. Only a law enforcement officer can decide to euthanize an injured animal at a collision scene so it can be salvaged.
Conditions for salvaging roadkill
- Take the entire animal: You must remove the entire carcass from the roadway. You may field-dress the animal on-site, but all inedible parts, including entrails, must be removed from the area for disposal. This prevents attracting predators and scavengers to the road.
- Safe disposal: Any unusable animal parts or meat deemed unfit for human consumption must be disposed of at a legal disposal site, such as a landfill.
- Personal consumption only: The meat is for human consumption and may not be sold or used as bait.
- Safe removal: When picking up the animal, you must comply with all highway safety regulations. Park your vehicle off the road and out of the line of traffic. You assume all risk when retrieving the animal from the highway.
- Inspection: FWP reserves the right to inspect the salvaged animal and the site where it was picked up.
