Licking County, Ohio
Dead deer removal in Newark and Licking County
One question comes before every other one: is the deer on your property, or on a road? The answer, and whether the property is inside the Newark city limits, decides whether this costs you anything at all.
Or send the details and get a callback.
Licking County has a lot of edge: fields meet berms, and driveways meet state routes. Where the carcass came to rest against that line decides who you call, and inside the Newark city limits there is a second line on top of it, because ordinance 618.14 reaches private lots there and reaches nothing at all a mile further out. The ordinance-first breakdown sets out the same split for every other animal.
Work out whose deer it is first
If it is in the road rather than on your land, the authority that maintains that road is the one to call, and it is worth calling them before you pay anybody.
| Where the deer is | Who to call | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A city street inside Newark | Newark Police non-emergency, 740-670-7200 | The city routes reports of a deceased animal in the roadway there. |
| A county road in Licking County | Licking County Engineer, 740-670-5350 | The engineer’s highway department states it is responsible for 412 miles of county highway and 434 bridges. |
| A township road | The township trustees | Ohio Revised Code 5535.01: the board of township trustees maintains township roads. |
| A state route or I-70 | ODOT District 5 | District 5 covers Licking County. A carcass in a live traffic lane is a road hazard and worth reporting urgently. |
| Your land, your field, your driveway | You | This is the private job outside the city limits; inside them, 618.14(a) puts a deer on a private lot with the Division of Streets first. |
Sources: City of Newark Public Safety page; Licking County Engineer Highway Department; Ohio Revised Code 5535.01 on classes of highway. Confirm anything that matters, because arrangements change.
The awkward case is a deer that has come to rest partly on the berm and partly on your grass. In practice, whoever you call will ask exactly where the line falls, so pace it out before you pick up the phone. It saves a round trip.
When it is genuinely yours
Outside the Newark city limits, a deer that died well inside a property line is the owner’s to deal with, and Newark’s ordinance is not standing behind you; whether a village or township offers anything of its own is worth one call to them before you assume either way. Ohio Revised Code 941.14 allows burial, but requires at least four feet of cover over the body, which for a full-grown whitetail is a hole most people are not equipped to dig. Inside Newark city limits, burying it in your own ground is prohibited outright by ordinance 618.14(c).
That closed disposal route is the practical reason a deer is harder to deal with yourself than a smaller animal. Finding one was never the hard part.
What the job turns on
Weight and access, in that order. A deer near a driveway or a field gate is a manageable job. The same deer in a wooded gully, down a bank, in standing water, or three hundred yards from anywhere a vehicle can reach is a different afternoon, and that difference is most of the price. Say which one you have when you call.
Time matters too. A deer that went down last night and a deer that has been in a warm field for a week are not comparable pieces of work. What moves the quote covers the rest.
Before you move it yourself
Dragging a deer out to the berm so the road crew takes it is a common instinct and a bad one. It puts you in the traffic lane, and Newark’s ordinance 618.14(d) already says no one may leave a dead animal they had possession of lying on a public ground or street. Call whoever owns the road instead.
Useful to have ready
- How far from a driveway, gate or field entrance it is lying.
- Whether a truck can get within reach of it, or whether it has to be dragged.
- Roughly how long it has been there.
- Whether the ground is soft, steep or under water.
Smaller animals, same logic
Everything above about property lines applies to a raccoon or a groundhog as well, and outside pickup is the page for those. If the deer is not the problem and you have a smell coming from somewhere in the house, that is a different job entirely.