WALKER, Michigan — Thousands of white-tailed deer roam Kent County. There’s only one deer sheriff.

On the opening day of firearm deer season in Michigan, Andy Albertson beat up hunters in the middle of the morning. He had already loaded sixteen of them into the backseat of his custom Kent County Highway Commission truck. But he didn’t shoot them. They were probably all dead within hours of being hit by cars.

“I’ve said it a million times, it’s a weird way to make a living,” Albertson said. “I collect dead animals.”

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In 2023, Kent County led the state in deer-related crashes, a title widely accepted. While local leaders are currently working to manage the deer population, send out surveys and form a task force, Albertson sees the damage to (and to) the state mammal.

“I don’t think there is any other solution other than putting cages on every road we drive on,” he said. “I know we’re trying to find a sensible solution, but people need to go to work. Deer do what deer do. We’re at a severe crossroads right now.”

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Albertson has harvested deer for nearly all of his 21 years on the Kent County Road Commission. At first he was a general worker, initially doing deer duty on the side. This turned into a full-time career as more and more began piling up on the county’s highways and rural roads. He received the title of deer sheriff.

“Someone asked me if doing deer work was punishment for the day,” Albertson said, recalling a past conversation. “I said, ‘No, I do this every day.'”

When the leaves fall from the trees and white-tailed deer come into rut in Michigan, Albertson can harvest about 15 to 25 carcasses a day. Charting his route, he scribbles the locations of deer-related accidents on sticky notes stuck to his windshield and crosses them out as he pauses. When the truck fills with the smell of hooves, meat and decay, he dumps the deer in the landfill. Another member of the highway commission is doing the same thing, working in another part of the county.

Idling frequently on the side of a busy road is a bloody task and dangerous, but Albertson does it anyway. “Public service with a capital letter,” he says.

Over the years the deer sheriff has filled out the stat sheet. Thousands of corpses every year. It crossed the 40,000 mark a while ago. He wants to remove 50,000 people from Kent County roads before he retires. Of course he deserved his title.

“You don’t know whether to laugh or cry. When you scratch your head, you think, ‘I can’t believe this is what I’m doing, and I can’t believe I’ve done so much,'” Albertson said. “I’m making fun of my hunting buddies. I’ll leave them all behind by nine o’clock on opening day.”

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