GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The joke goes, when you tell a Michigander “watch for deer,” it really means “I love you.”
In reality, there is a lot of truth to that.
According to the Michigan State Police, more than 58,000 car crashes involved deer in 2022, and within the last week, we saw two of them in West Michigan: one in Holland and the other in Climax Township.
There are a ton of factors that contribute to these crashes, but experts say right now, the main reason is "the rut."
"I think like a third of all deer-vehicle collisions for the year occur in October and November,” says Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Deer Biologist Chad Stewart.
"The rut" is the one-time-of-the-year breeding season for deer.
"What that means is that deer start becoming a lot more active for longer periods of time, and they're covering a lot more ground,” added Stewart. “So when they're more active and covering broader areas, they're crossing more roads."
But, this isn’t the only reason we see an uptick in crashes involving deer this time of the year.
Chad says there is a lot of deer here in Michigan and that’s not going to change anytime soon.
"The main way we manage deer is through hunting,” said Chad. “And since 2000, we've lost nearly a quarter of a million hunters. So, what that means is, it's getting harder and harder to manage our deer resource."
So what can you do, besides buying a hunting license?When driving, stay alert, awake and sober along with following the speed limit. Pay attention to deer-crossing signs and scan the sides of the road, especially at dawn and dusk. And don’t veer for deer.
"The reason for that is you could cause a lot more damage to your car or potentially hurt yourself or someone else by shifting out of your lane,” Chad said. “So, while it's never great to hit a deer, sometimes that’s a better alternative than hitting a car in oncoming traffic or a telephone pole or something like that."
9500 Watch for Deer All Year Brochure by WXMI on Scribd
