As a woman who abhors hunting, the thought of having a criminal record for deer poaching was frightening thing.  This came about from my  insistence on having a dead deer as part of my main character’s development in the script. I wanted to show  the insensitivity of his relatives who forced him to go hunting, and made him ride in the back of the truck with their fresh kill.   In Arizona, where I live, it’s quite common for deer and elk to be hit by cars.  My plan was to contact the state Highway department and have them notify me when an accident happened so that I could use the deer in the film.   It was a bit more complicated then that.  I had to obtain a scientific collection permit in order to be able to get the deer and in the end was supposed to return the animal to a forestry official who collected carcasses for trapping eagles. 

“I had to obtain a scientific collection permit in order to be able to get the deer and in the end was supposed to return the animal to a forestry official who collected carcasses for trapping eagles.”

 After I received the permit, I waited to see if an deer would make the sacrifice to be in our film.   The timing was critical; we had a one-week window. The beautiful buck magically appeared at the perfect time.  My producer,  the director of photography and myself got the call at 10:00 on a Saturday night.  We drove 45 minutes from Sedona to Flagstaff, AZ to collect the buck.  My adventurous DP,  Zach  Brutsche’,  knew that we would have to gut the animal in order to keep him from rotting, and he volunteered to do it.   It was quite a scene on the side of the road as we worked with this animal.   Even though production wasn’t set to begin for another week,  for obvious reasons, we had to shoot this scene fast.   My fabulous, supportive producer, Peter Finch, managed to make it happen.  We were able to pull together an entire set in less than 12 hours complete with cast, crew, and enough junk to turn create an environment that looked like a rural slum.    After shooting the scene, we tried to contact the official to return the dead deer.  She was out of town and didn't return the call.   She had previously told me to just dump the buck on the side of the road somewhere, but that felt weird to me.   Just leave it on the road in Sedona?  I couldn’t do it.

“She had previously told me to just dump the buck on the side of the road somewhere, but that felt weird to me.   Just leave it on the road in Sedona?  I couldn’t do it.”    

What I did do, turned out to be a mistake.  Some of the crew knew a community of flower children who lived close to the land.  They gave the animal to these people who barbecued it, made purses from the testicles and used every other part of the buck as well.  I thought it was a good thing, that the state would be pleased.  Little did I know.  
Three days later the official called wanting her carcass.   It was gone of course.   The state was far from happy. Possessing a deer carcass is apparently a crime.  They made me return everything I could find, which was some hide that the community still had.  The state said if I could get the head back, they would let it go.  The head was no where to be found.  It seems some guy who lives in the forest without a phone or even an address had taken it.  I was in trouble. “The head was no where to be found.  It seems some guy who lives in the forest without a phone or even an address had taken it.  I was in trouble.”     I was issued a citation and forced to appear in court twice before I finally convinced them that it was really a comedy of errors, I didn’t knowingly poach the deer.   They finally put me on 6 months probation.   And I’m now  a free girl.   As for roadkill in future movies?  Never again.