Well, ol’ Tink Nathan won’t be heading to Austin in the Texas House of Representatives.

Nathan was running for the House GOP seat in District 53, which is Bexar County north of San Antonio. One of his campaign promises was to introduce a bill to legalize the pickup and use of roadkill. That, of course, got him some pretty good national attention and media exposure.

But it wasn’t enough to sway voters. As of 11 p.m. CST last night and with 99 percent of precincts reporting, the Associated Press reported that Nathan got just 343 votes. More than 24,100 were cast by voters for for five candidates vying for the seat. Andrew Murr was declared the winner, with 9,892 votes or 41 percent. He easily outdistanced the runner-up.

So, Nathan will stick with selling deer urine, spray attractants, cover scents and accessories. We think that’s a better gig than politics, anyway.

(Original Story)
Roadkill comes in all shapes and sizes, from pancake-flat and unidentifiable critters that may resemble a bad cooking school chef’s attempt at a crepe to still steamin’ deer lying in a ditch near the vehicle that just slammed into them.

The latter is one of the hazards of driving in areas with high deer populations, of course. Whether a city neighborhood where hunting is prohibited or frowned upon by folks who “like the pretty deer” or out on rural roads, hitting a deer with your truck or car is a bad deal.

Several years ago I was going to Mississippi for a duck hunt and the woman in front of me hit a deer. I knew it was a woman because I could see her through the rear window. When the deer crossed the road she never tapped the brakes, never checked up, nothing. Glass and plastic flew from her right front quarter-panel and headlight, which I figure was destroyed. The deer turned a flip in the air and landed in a ditch.

She never stopped. I stopped to see if the deer was dead or I needed to put it down. There was no deer. No blood. No evidence of it crawling away. No nothing. Dangest thing. They’re tough.

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Tink Nathan is running for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives. He lives in Kerr County, near San Antonio, is 72 years old, is conservative, and has made roadkill part of his platform. He’s also the founder of the successful Tink’s lineup of hunting scents and attractants.

“Why should buzzards be the only ones to benefit from the frequent animal-car collisions that occur by the thousands on Texas roads? That meat goes to waste,” Nathan told the San Antonio Express-News. “Why not utilize it?”

Picking up roadkill in Texas is illegal because of health concerns. Some other states allow consumption of roadkill, including Illinois, Montana and Tennessee.

According to the Dallas Observer, picking up roadkill is currently illegal due to health and safety reasons.

Get Rid Of Your Stinkin’ Odor When You’re Hunting

Although taking care of the vehicle would be the pressing need, it seems stupid to leave a dead deer on the side of the road if you hit one and it dies. If you’re able to do so, load that baby up and take it home to process. What’s the difference between killing one with a .308 from a tree stand and hitting one with your truck? They’re both dead.

Maybe Nathan will strike a nerve or two with voters in his district.