About this time last year, Alan Bergo, the forager and onetime chef of Minneapolis' late, lamented Lucia's, was driving near his home in Menomonie, Wis., when a yearling buck bounded in front of his car. Bergo hit the brakes — and the deer, which bounced off his bumper.
Fall is prime roadkill season. Among the more than 1 million vehicle collisions with large animals on U.S. roads each year, the great majority involve deer — though Minnesota drivers have hit everything from bears to mountain lions. State Farm calculates local drivers' risk of having an animal-involved insurance claim at 1 in 70, 11th highest among the states.
Roadkill often ends up eaten by scavengers or disposed of by maintenance crews. But for people like Bergo, the silver lining of animals killed by cars is their no-cost, free-range meat. Heaven's manna, for the modern era.
