A Minnesota Train Has Struck and Killed Dozens of Deer

A local deer farmer has tried to make people aware of the train-deer collisions by posting videos. Photo by Kenneth Sponsler.

A train in northern Minnesota has struck and killed about 100 deer that were feeding on corn spilled for roughly 80 miles along the railway.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said an accidental spillage of corn stretched from Thief River Falls to the Canadian border. According to the DNR, accidents like this happen all the time.

Naturally, the spilled corn attracts deer to the tracks. As the train approaches, deer try to outrun it down the tracks rather than jump into deep snow along the railway. Train strikes on deer occasionally happen anyway, but the food along the tracks has made the situation much worse.

Steve Porter, of Steve Porter’s Trophy Whitetails, told WDAY that he’s received calls about deer getting killed by trains along the tracks for several weeks.

“One guy called me and said there are three dead deer along the tracks,” he said. “And then I started hearing more and more reports of more deer getting hit by the train — more than usual.”

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Porter has posted videos about the situation in which he said the number of dead deer is in the dozens, if not more than 100. The DNR said it has not seen more dead deer this year compared to the past several winters.

“Yeah, we see deer get hit by trains, but the deer aren't typically fed on the railroad tracks at the hardest time of year when they are starving,” Porter said.

Although little can be done, Porter wanted to make people in the region aware of what’s happening.

“People are interested in white-tailed deer,” Porter said. “They love them, right? They love their white-tailed deer. They like feeding them, they enjoy it, they plant food plots, they're watching deer — it's kind of a shame.”