Area seeing uptick in car-deer collisions

IOWA CITY - While car-deer collisions are common during the breeding season, officials say the number of crashes seems even higher so far this month.

Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said dispatch data shows law enforcement agencies have been called to 28 car-deer collisions in the month of November. Of those, eight happened between Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning, Pulkrabek said.

'To me, it seems high,” Pulkrabek said of the number of deer-involved crashes.

But, Iowa Department of Natural Resources biologist Tim Thompson, who oversees a 6-county district that includes Linn and Johnson counties, said he's not surprised by the spike in collisions with deer.

'November is the biggest month for vehicle-deer collisions,” Thompson said.

Thompson said the biggest reason for the uptick is the rut - or breeding - season. Bucks are active and pursuing does, and does that aren't ready for breeding are fleeing from bucks.

Thompson said he suspects some drivers may be 'lackadaisical” and not looking out for deer. More drivers driving after dark and the corn harvest - which takes away habitat for deer - are also factors, Thompson said.

Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner said he has not seen an unexpected amount of car-deer collisions. On Wednesday morning, he said deputies had responded to one such collision in the previous 24 hours.

'It's not uncommon when rut occurs to have multiple deer-car accidents per shift,” he said.

Both Gardner and Pulkrabek reported having deputies on patrol being hit by deer this week.

The sheriffs said they give their deputies and general public the same advice for when a deer darts in front of their vehicle: don't swerve.

'What happens, generally, when people veer for animals is bad things happen,” Pulkrabek said. 'They hit something else. They go into the ditch. Cars roll, flip. People overcorrect. We see it all the time.”

Gardner said drivers faced with hitting a deer should slow down, brace themselves for impact and maintain control of the vehicle.

'You cause even more damage, oftentimes, when you swerve for the deer as opposed to just impacting it head on,” he said.