Florida, private property
Dead Deer Removal
FWC puts the average adult buck in Florida at 115 pounds and says North Florida bucks can reach 190 or more, so a dead deer in a yard or pasture comes down to lifting and hauling. None of the Florida city or county pickups this site has read offers to fetch one from a back pasture.
Before you pay anyone. Ask how it died. FWC wants a deer that was sick, abnormally thin or dead of no obvious cause reported to its chronic wasting disease hotline, 866-293-9282, with the location. In the Lower Keys, a dead Key deer goes to FWC dispatch on 888-404-3922, option 1. Make either call before the carcass is moved.
What this covers
- A deer lying in a yard, pasture, citrus grove or at the edge of a woodlot
- A road-struck deer that made it onto private ground before it went down
- One wedged against a fence, down in a ditch on your land, or under palmettos
- Fawns and yearlings as well as grown bucks and does
- Rural lots and hobby farms where the carcass lies well back from the drive
Where the limit is
A deer on the pavement or shoulder of a public road goes to the city, county or FDOT, whichever maintains it. A Key deer is reported to FWC before anyone decides what happens to it. A deer in a canal, pond or retention lake is a water recovery that not every operator takes on, so mention it first.
On a deer, access mostly means getting a vehicle near it. Say whether a truck can reach the spot on firm ground, whether there is a gate and how wide it is, and whether the ground is loose sand or soaked after rain.
Florida's published pickup services are written around roads. Tampa's Solid Waste Department collects small dead animals from city rights-of-way, Fort Myers collects dead domestic animals from its own rights-of-way, and Collier County sends deceased wildlife on public roadways to its Road Maintenance Division. All three also state that their crews stay off private property, so a deer in your back pasture is outside every one of them.
How a call goes
- Tell us where the deer is lying, roughly how big it is, and whether a vehicle hit it or you found it dead with no sign of injury.
- If it is on a public road, or it is a Key deer, or it is the kind of death FWC asks to hear about, you get that number first and removal waits until after that call.
- For a deer on your own land, the question is whether any operator can take it at your address. Calls route by ZIP where an operator covers the address, so that gets answered while you are on the phone.
- An operator who takes it on agrees the price with you, then handles the lift, the haul and the disposal route.
Questions about this animal
Will the county pick up a dead deer from my yard?
Rarely. In Tampa, the city ordinance on dead animals only reaches one under fifty pounds and less than two feet at the shoulder, which rules out a grown deer, and its Solid Waste Department says it cannot retrieve carcasses from private property at all. A few Florida jurisdictions publish a wider service, and this site's county pages say which, so read yours before paying anyone.
A car hit the deer and it died on my lawn. Is that the road department's problem?
Once it is on your side of the property line, it is generally yours; Miami-Dade, for one, puts dead animals on private property on the owner. If it is still on the road or the shoulder, it goes to the road owner. Fort Myers says the state or county Department of Transportation collects dead animals on state and county roads, and Miami-Dade gives *347 as the FDOT number for I-95, I-195, I-395, SR 826 and SR 970 in that county.
What is the CWD hotline, and do I have to call it?
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal brain disease of deer, and FWC confirmed Florida's first case in 2023 in a road-killed doe in Holmes County. FWC asks anyone who finds a deer that is sick, abnormally thin or dead of unknown causes to call 866-CWD-WATCH (866-293-9282) and give its location. FWC frames it as a request, and the call is worth making before the deer is hauled off.
I live in the Lower Keys. What changes?
Key deer are a federally endangered subspecies that FWC says lives only from Big Pine Key to Sugarloaf Key, and vehicle strikes are now their main cause of death. The Fish and Wildlife Service asks that a dead or seriously injured Key deer be reported to FWC's Wildlife Hotline dispatch at 888-404-FWCC (3922), option 1. Call there first and let FWC say what happens to the carcass.
Can I bury a deer on my own land?
Florida's carcass-disposal statute, section 823.041, is written for domestic animals such as livestock, pets and poultry, so a wild deer sits outside it. FWC's CWD material also notes that the disease's prions can persist in soil for years after a carcass breaks down, which is a reason to talk through disposal on the call before digging. Your county may have its own rule.
How does a deer that size get moved?
Usually on a sled or heavy tarp, then up a ramp or on a winch into a truck bed or trailer. Tell the operator roughly how many yards the carcass lies from the nearest spot a truck can get to.
Not sure this is the right page? Who removes a dead animal in Florida works through the public and private split, and the county pages give the published position where you live.