Officers find deer in trunk during traffic stop - KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar Bluff

Kalamazoo police officers on routine patrol said they encountered a suspicious person sitting in a parked vehicle behind a hotel around 2 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Officers said they had a brief conversation with the man and their attention was drawn to the car's trunk when the man unexpectedly hit the trunk release and stated, "I hit a deer, I figured you would want to see it."

The man, a Kalamazoo resident, told police he had a dead deer in the trunk which he had accidentally hit with his car on an outlying area road. The man said he wanted to use the meat from the road kill to feed his family. When officers asked to inspect the deer to see if it had been properly tagged, the man agreed.

As one officer cautiously opened the trunk, he was surprised to find the deer very much alive. 

Sensing freedom, the young deer sprang from the trunk, quickly acclimated itself with it's new surroundings and made a run for it.  The deer fled into a nearby wooded area and wasn't seen again. 

>>Click on the video at the top of this story to see the deer flee the scene<< 

Officers said the man was at a loss for words, as the deer was not as mortally wounded as he initially thought.

Authorities are reminding Michiganders that vehicle-deer crashes are a year-round problem, especially during the spring and fall as the state's estimated 2,000,000 deer are most active during these times. 

Each year there are more than 60,000 vehicle-deer crashes reported in the State of Michigan.

Copyright 2013 WNEM (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.