Staff writer
Deer-vehicle accidents typically rise in autumn because of the onset of mating season.
Hillsboro resident Kathryn Glanzer learned this after she struck a deer the evening of Sept. 28 after leaving Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren Church on Kanza Rd.
Drivers are asked to report hitting deer to police to document the incident. Police then find someone to clean up the deer from the side of the road, but sometimes, like with Glanzer, they find other options.
Glanzer offered the deer as meat to fellow Ebenfeld church member Brandon Voth.
“Brandon said we couldn’t have hit it more perfect,” Glanzer said. “We killed it quick, but the deer was still in great shape. It was a young buck so its meat was in perfect condition.”
After the police tagged the deer, Glanzer, along with her husband Chris, borrowed a truck from fellow Ebenfeld church member Ty Klein to take the deer to Voth’s house in Hillsboro.
Glanzer said she asked Voth if he would like the deer because she knew he hadn’t been able to hunt this year, and that he would “use every bit of that deer.”
When Voth butchered the deer, it was not anything new for Glanzer, who grew up around hunting. However, for Chris and son Paul, it was a new experience.
“Chris and Paul had never seen a deer cut up so they were in awe,” Glanzer said. “He (Paul) only thinks about hamburger and doesn’t think about how it has to be cut from an animal.”
According to Kansas Outdoors, the greatest number of deer-vehicle crashes happen in mid-November when mating season peaks.
Deer also are on the move in mid-fall seeking food and shelter as crops are harvested and leaves fall from trees and shrubs, leaving them less secure than in their summer habitats.
Though hitting a deer can be a stressful event, Glanzer was glad that something positive came out of it.
“It kind of redeems the accident in some form because the meat was at least usable for somebody,” Glanzer said. “It doesn’t feel like as big of a waste.”