CLEVELAND — There is no doubt you’ve seen several deer in your yard or in your neighborhood in the past couple of weeks. Well, it’s breeding season for deer across northeast Ohio between now and December, with a peak in early November.
With deer activity increasing in the coming weeks and a time change, there will be a cause for concern for motorists, especially during the evening rush hour.
Deer are crepuscular, meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk. As we “fall back” this weekend, that will make the sunset coincide with the evening rush hour. With more deer and more drivers on the roadways, and less natural evening light in the coming weeks, this can cause some problems.
But what to do if you do encounter a deer in your path?
“It's somewhat situational. The biggest thing is, you know, you don't want to jam on the brakes, especially if you have somebody behind you, because obviously they may not realize that deer's crossing the road or see it. So you want to be mindful of that. You just kind of start slowing down if you see those deer up along the edge of the roadway. And then you definitely don't want to swerve. That's the worst thing you can do.” said Assistant Wildlife Management Supervisor with ODNR, Geoff Westerfield.
Why is that the worst thing?
"Most of our accidents that occur because of deer crossing the roadways is because people swerve and then either they go left to center or they go off on the other side and hit a ditch or pole or mailbox", Westerfield said.
Westerfield went on to say, “And the horn or whistle will not do anything to make a deer move more quickly; it will most likely make them pause and stay in place for a little longer.”
And for some perspective on how many more accidents involving deer happen this time of the year, from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31, those ten months will eat up about 2/3 of our deer-vehicle accidents in the state. But in just two months — November and December — will take up the rest of that last third.
In regards to concerns with the deer around your home and yards, Westerfield noted that there is not much concern.
"The biggest thing this time of year, part of the breeding season, is that those bucks will rub on trees," said Westerfield. "So if they have particular trees that are very important to them or especially if they're younger, because the bucks can snap those off if they're rubbing on them, best to get either some fencing around them or T posts, just a common T post you get at the hardware store. Pounding those in the ground around the tree does a great job of keeping those deer from rubbing on it."
Did you know, if you hit a deer or see a deer get hit, and you'd like to take the deer for meat, you are able to? You'll need to contact a police officer, police department, or they can reach out to ODNR at 1-800 Wildlife and ask for a carcass receipt.
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