(Oct. 20, 2016) Most injuries, and a healthy percentage of the fatalities suffered during car accidents involving whitetail deer come from drivers avoiding, rather than striking the animals as they pursue each other during mating season.
That’s, according to Brian Eyler, the deer project leader from Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources.
“It’s just getting started now — bucks are chasing does, the does are chasing bucks and love is in the air,” he said.
In the rare cases there are human fatalities from a crash involving an automobile and an animal. There also are times that motorists suffer severe injuries when the animal ricochets off one car and onto another.
More frequently, however, injuries occur for drivers when they swerve to avoid striking an animal and end up hitting a tree, another vehicle or running off the road instead.
“You’re better off bumping a deer than driving into traffic,” he said.
And forget the deer whistles on cars, Eyler said.
“We’ve got pretty good research that shows none of the deer-repelling devices work,” he said. “They might chase off a deer, but it’s just as possible they’ll run into the road. The best defense is to be aware, first and foremost.”
Deer are typically most active at night, at dusk and at dawn, he said.
Typically, and somewhat apocryphally, the whitetails’ rut begins after the first full moon in October — called a Hunter’s Moon.
“The moon doesn’t really have anything to do with it. The moon is just going through its regular cycle and the mating season begins,” Eyler said.
The Hunter’s Moon was last weekend, but Eyler said, activity will increase until about mid-November until it begins to fall off again. The annual rut is when does are most fertile.
During this time, both sexes engage in the thrill of the chase, even across roads and highways. This year could be particularly dangerous especially in the southern end of Worcester County, where recent flooding has pushed motorists off the more popular routes and onto side streets and back ways to their destinations.
“There is no gender or age discrepancy in which animals are more likely to be struck,” he said. “They’re struck in proportion to their prevalence in the existing population.
Eyler said State Farm Insurance releases annual projections of deer populations by state. According to those figures, he said, there are nearly 30,000 whitetail deer in Maryland.
“The population is stable, which means we still have a lot of deer. We’re looking at ways to bring that number down,” he said.
That’s, according to Brian Eyler, the deer project leader from Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources.
“It’s just getting started now — bucks are chasing does, the does are chasing bucks and love is in the air,” he said.
In the rare cases there are human fatalities from a crash involving an automobile and an animal. There also are times that motorists suffer severe injuries when the animal ricochets off one car and onto another.
More frequently, however, injuries occur for drivers when they swerve to avoid striking an animal and end up hitting a tree, another vehicle or running off the road instead.
“You’re better off bumping a deer than driving into traffic,” he said.
And forget the deer whistles on cars, Eyler said.
“We’ve got pretty good research that shows none of the deer-repelling devices work,” he said. “They might chase off a deer, but it’s just as possible they’ll run into the road. The best defense is to be aware, first and foremost.”
Deer are typically most active at night, at dusk and at dawn, he said.
Typically, and somewhat apocryphally, the whitetails’ rut begins after the first full moon in October — called a Hunter’s Moon.
“The moon doesn’t really have anything to do with it. The moon is just going through its regular cycle and the mating season begins,” Eyler said.
The Hunter’s Moon was last weekend, but Eyler said, activity will increase until about mid-November until it begins to fall off again. The annual rut is when does are most fertile.
During this time, both sexes engage in the thrill of the chase, even across roads and highways. This year could be particularly dangerous especially in the southern end of Worcester County, where recent flooding has pushed motorists off the more popular routes and onto side streets and back ways to their destinations.
“There is no gender or age discrepancy in which animals are more likely to be struck,” he said. “They’re struck in proportion to their prevalence in the existing population.
Eyler said State Farm Insurance releases annual projections of deer populations by state. According to those figures, he said, there are nearly 30,000 whitetail deer in Maryland.
“The population is stable, which means we still have a lot of deer. We’re looking at ways to bring that number down,” he said.