Arkansas motorists are expected to hit nearly 25,000 deer this season, with a majority of the crashes occurring in November and December, an insurance company and officials around the state said.
"It's almost a daily occurrence," said Lawrence County Office of Emergency Services coordinator Buddy Williams of the collisions in the northeast Arkansas county. "Sometimes, our deputies work two or three in one night."
Hunting season and deer mating season both began recently and have caused deer to be more mobile. Also, the time change earlier this month has commuters driving home when it's dark and when more deer are out.
"This is the deer's most active time of the year," said Ralph Meeker, the assistant deer program coordinator with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. "The deer are moving more, and they are hit more."
According to State Farm, a national insurance company that monitors deer-car "confrontations," Arkansas drivers have a one in 107 chance of hitting a deer on the state's roadways.
Arkansas dropped from ninth to 13th on the company's list of projected deer-car crashes this year. West Virginia ranks first on the list, with motorists there facing a one in 39 chance of hitting an animal.
Deer are more apt to live in rural, wooded areas such as Lawrence, Cleveland, Newton and Drew counties because there are fewer people and less encroachment on the animals' habitat.
But deer do show up in populated areas.
Recently, a Jonesboro police officer struck a deer while patrolling North Church Street in a residential area of the Craighead County town.
In October, a 16-year-old Paragould girl was injured when her car hit a deer on Johnson Avenue, a busy street near the Arkansas State University campus in Jonesboro. The deer crashed through the car's window, and its antler impaled the girl's cheek.
Several Arkansas towns, including Fort Smith, Russellville, Heber Springs, Horseshoe Bend, Cherokee Village, Bull Shoals, Fairfield Bay and Lakeview, hold urban hunts between Sept. 6 and Jan. 31 because the areas are overpopulated with deer.
"Typically, the herd is heavier in the southern part of the state," said State Farm spokesman Gary Stephenson of Little Rock. "But accidents can happen anywhere. Every county in Arkansas will have a collision this year."
Kathy Verkler of Black Rock was traveling to her job in Hardy on Nov. 6 when she struck a deer while crossing a bridge on U.S. 63.
"I saw deer on both sides of the road," she said. "I had no choice. I couldn't whip to the right, and a semi was coming on the left. I grabbed the wheel with both hands and hit it. It happened so quickly."
The crash caused about $4,000 worth of damage to her 2014 Ford Escape.
Bob Raulston, owner of Bob's Auto Body in Jasper, said his workers repair at least three cars a week that have struck deer.
"They range in damage from $1,500 to $10,000," he said. "It'll slow down again as soon as hunting season ends."
Meeker advised drivers to be aware that deer are more prevalent at dusk and dawn, and to slow down and pay more attention during those hours.
Construction sites are also apt to see more deer. Workers plant rye grass along the highway to help reduce erosion. Deer graze on the grass often on the edges of roads, Meeker said.
He said people shouldn't put stock in the "deer whistles" sold to motorists. The claim that air from the moving vehicle makes a shrill noise in the whistle to scare deer is unfounded, he said.
"Deer aren't affected by that," he said. "Body shops repair cars with whistles on them, too."
Williams said brighter headlights in newer-model vehicles may also lead to more crashes.
"You've heard of the 'deer in the headlights,'" Williams said. "But the newer lights seem to hold the deer better. It's almost like it hypnotizes them more."
A motorist should call police if he hits a deer. That will result in a police report that can be used when filing an insurance claim, Stephenson said. If the deer is killed and the motorist wants to keep it, he should contact the Game and Fish Commission, Stephenson said.
"The biggest thing is to slow down," Stephenson said. "The natural reflex is to swerve when you see a deer, but that's when crashes lead to human injuries.
"Slow down, know deer travel in groups and be more aware," he said. "They are absolutely everywhere, now."
State Desk on 11/24/2014