Mutilated, skinned deer carcasses dumped under shed in backyard on March 7, 2010.

Apparently there is nothing illegal about bringing home mutilated deer and dumping them in your backyard in Quitman, Mississippi, to lay out exposed to rot and decay.

Recently two mutilated deer appeared in my neighbor's backyard under a shed. One of the deer was skinned and the other looked like it had its neck chewed upon by wild animals. There were exposed bones, flesh, and body parts, not to mention the smell of death and pestilence this would bring within days were no action taken to remove the carcasses.

The large spot light seen in this photograph is of the type used to illegally hunt deer at night. When the light spots a deer, the deer's eyes gleam back and it can easily be killed by hunters standing on the back of a pickup truck.

Now don't get me wrong, I've seen all sorts of dead animals. After all I've lived and worked in places like Yellowstone National Park where it is not uncommon to see an elk, bison, or deer carcasses in the wilderness. In fact, while hiking in the back country rangers advise you to stay away from recently killed animals to avoid possible bear attacks. However, going out into my backyard and discovering the stench of rotting and mutilated deer in my neighbor's yard is rather shocking.

I reported the incident to the local police and they sent two officers out to investigate. After inspecting the mutilated deer carcasses they told me the were allegedly road kills that were brought home. Why someone would bring road kills home and leave the mutilated, decaying carcasses exposed under an open shed in their backyard seems a bit bizarre to me? They certainly should cover them with black plastic to avoid attracting flies, rats and other carrion feasting animals.

City police were called to investigate as the rotting deer carcasses were an unsightly disturbance to the peace! The police were told that the deer carcasses were road kills. However, the search light begs the question whether or not the deer were killed by hunting out-of-season using the search light to blind deer and then shooting them.

After taking a look-see at the mutilated, skinned deer, the two investigating officers said there was nothing illegal about bringing road kills home. I guess for some people its quite normal to throw dead animals out in the backyard to rot. But where I come from you treat even dead animals with more respect, giving them a burial, or when hunting, properly disposing of carcasses in the forest or fields. Or you take them to a butcher to process the meat or to a taxidermist to process the body parts if you want to have the heads mounted as a trophy. You don't litter your backyard with a pile of fleshly killed deer.

I realize Quitman, Mississippi, is a small county town. But I think in 2010 that it should be illegal to permit the disposal of deer or the discarding of deer carcasses to rot and decay in people's backyards where they may be a nuisance to neighbors. I personally do not want to look over my fence and see or smell rotting, mutilated deer carcasses in my neighbor's yard. I don't want to see wide eyed, gastly mutilated deer laying in my neighbor's yard or deer carcasses that have been skinned to the bone laying in my neighbor's yard. To see such dead bodies of animals, mutilated, skinned and left to rot is disgusting and makes me sick to the stomach!

According to the Mississippi Department of wildlife, gun deer season in Mississippi ran from Nov. 21 through Dec. 1. Hence to find mutilated deer carcasses three months later along side a search light begs the question if any illegal hunting of deer out-of-season was being done?

I have no objection to people hunting legally during deer season and properly treating the remains of the deer they shoot. If you want to legally hunt and kill dear for food or trophies that is within the law. But I do have a problem with my neighbor bringing home alleged road kills and just dumping them in their backyard to rot. If the dead deer are being kept for their skins or trophies, they should at least be wrapped in black plastic to avoid attracting flies, carrion beetles, rodents, or God only knows what other vermin. Plus wrapping the carcasses in black plastic would avoid shocking the neighbors.

To some people it is sacrilegious to mutilate deer or other animals and to not treat animals properly in life or in death. American Indians, for example, would hunt and kill animals and make use of all their body parts for food, clothing, or ornamentation. But to just kill without reason was regarded as a horrible outrage, especially when the bison were practically hunted to the brink of extinction by the white man. I realize my neighbors may not have done anything illegal by dumping mutilated deer in their backyard, but I think the City of Quitman needs to look at its laws in this regard and make such disposal or treatment of animals and animal carcasses illegal within City limits in the future.

Such disgusting and gross disposal of deer and treatment of deer carcasses simply is not what one wants to see happening in a small town which needs to attract business and industry. What people are permitted to do inside City limits should not always be the same as what they are permitted to do outside the City limits on farms and in more rural areas. Certainly dumping mutilated deer carcasses in one's backyard, exposed and in plain view, is NOT an activity which should be permitted within City limits!

I therefore urge the mayor of Quitman, Eddie Fulton, and the Board of Aldermen to take this matter under consideration and adopt a law which prohibits the improper disposal, dumping or maintenance of mutilated deer carcasses in backyards within City limits.

It was learned on March 8, 2010, that the deer seen in the above photographs may have indeed been killed in an accident involving the vehicle shown below. This type of accident is not uncommon in Mississippi. To save lives of both people and deer it is recommended that people install a deer whistle upon their vehicle. A deer whistle emits a high pitch sound that alarms deer to approaching vehicles so that they will run and get out of the road, so as not to be struck and result in an accident.

On March 8, 2010, it was learned that the deers shown in the grusome photos above may have indeed been killed in an accident which caused damage to the above shown vehicle. It is not uncommon for deer to freeze in the road when bright headlights are seen. However, this is not the recommended method for hunting deer, and certainly bringing the carcasses home and dumping them in the backyard is not recommended as the disgusting sight may shock neighbors and prompt a call to police, which is exactly what happened in this case.

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