Elk NetworkSemi Hits, Kills 17 Elk in Southeast Idaho

General | March 16, 2023

Seventeen elk died after a semi-truck struck a herd on a remote roadway in southeast Idaho. The animals were in the middle of Idaho Highway 33 eating hay from a nearby haystack when the truck, hauling cattle, came upon them.

“There was probably 50 to 100 head in the road. He got 17 of them,” Brian Mays, who lives in the area, told EastIdahoNews.

The Butte County Sheriff’s Office reports several elk were already dead when deputies arrived while others had to be put down. A spokesman for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game said families salvaged most of the meat.

“It’s legal to salvage roadkill in the state of Idaho. You have to report it within 24 hours,” James Brower, IDFG spokesman, told EastIdahoNews. “Elk meat is very good, and the economy being the way it is, people are all about getting some free, fresh meat in the freezer.”

The incident happened near Howe, a small town about 60 miles west of Idaho Falls.

(Photo credit: Idaho Department of Fish and Game)