Sad Ending

I hit a deer tonight on the way home from my parents' house. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that the deer hit me. Poor thing. Once it was done tangling with the car it was obviously badly injured, but it limped off to the side of the road. Then another car went by, frightening it, and it tried to run away. Running is hard to do when your back legs don't work anymore, poor thing. I'd never hit a deer before, and I was still on my parents' street (it's in the city, but heavily wooded in their neighborhood), so I called them first. Then, as the deer continued to struggle, I realized that it needed to be put down, and so I called the police. They were pretty quick to arrive, but by the time they got there it was all over for the deer anyway.

The officer kindly checked my car over. He didn't find any more damage than I had found, but his flashlight was bigger, and I appreciated it. Then he asked me if I wanted the deer.

Uh... I wouldn't have a clue what to do with a dead deer. I know that somehow people take them from cute furry animals to ground meat in the freezer all the time, especially since it's deer season right now, but I haven't a clue. We made some phone calls, hoping to find someone who would do the work for part of the deer and I learned some things. Apparently it would have needed to be "processed" tonight, so that it didn't go bad. Additionally, apparently the bruising from that sort of impact ruins the meat. Also, the people there at the scene said that it was a small deer. So the bruising would likely have messed up most or all of the meat. I wished that I had some way to do something with the hide at least, so that it wouldn't all go to waste, but again, I have No.Idea.Whatsoever what to do or how to even start. And I couldn't very well google it right there in the street! Plus, I have a talk to give in church in the morning (that's ready), and I'm a Sunday School teacher (that lesson's NOT ready) and Monkey was there with me. So the police are going to dispose of the body. Apparently it's not that uncommon: the officer knew of another hit deer out in the county earilier today, and he told us how he'd been at a scene where someone had hit the deer, but it had stayed in the street, and then the guy behind them hit it too, so the one deer did in two cars.

Monkey knew we'd hit it; in addition to hearing and feeling the thumps I think he overheard my phone call to the police, though I was out of the car with the doors shut. His Aunt Maulbeere came over and kept him company while I was talking to the officers. When it was all done, he wanted to see the deer, so I let him out of the car, though we didn't go very close. Basically just enough to see that it was laying on the ground and not moving, but that was enough to satisfy. We talked about how the deer had gone home to Jesus on the way home, and how it wasn't hurting anymore. It was comforting to me too.

There's nothing I could have done: I never saw the deer, and all the thumping was behind me. The officer thought that it'd hit head first, and been "knocked loopy" so it shouldn't have been in much pain. And really, it was all over pretty quickly.

Still, it makes me sad. I don't like hitting deer.