In Aroostook County, Deer Vehicle Collisions Increase This Time Of Year  

By Shawn Haskell, MDIFW Wildlife Biologist We all like to see deer…until you are swerving your vehicle to avoid striking that one you just now see.  Sometimes they seem to almost want to kill themselves by running into the side of a vehicle.  Yes, we could probably all stand to pay attention more to our outdoor surroundings while driving, but it is not always our fault.  However, sometimes it probably is. IFW’s biologists work closely with game wardens, local police departments, concerned members of the public, and MaineDOT to mitigate the severity of deer-vehicle collisions.  This can be done with some seasonal and permanent signage and by clearing roadside vegetation back, so that motorists can better see large animals approaching roadways.  We hope to have an underpass installed here in Aroostook County at one chronic location of high deer, moose, and bear strikes. Many typically think of November as a month fraught with deer-vehicle collisions during the breeding period that has bucks moving locally much more than other times of year, and this is so for southern and central Maine. In northern Maine, we expect roadkills and injured deer to increase in spring when deer break out of deer wintering areas, or deeryards.  You know when this is about to happen because you’ll see dozens of deer feeding and loafing in a field where the warming sun has first exposed a slope from snow.  One could call these ‘deer springing areas’.  From recent studies of collared deer in Aroostook County we know that deer can travel 20–30 miles straight-line from deeryards to summer ranges, some of which are in Canada. [caption id="attachment_2814" align="alignleft" width="583"] This figure represents an index of deer vehicle collisions in winter, although the timing of this information request excludes the months of March and April. If MDOT records 100 deer-vehicle collisions, these will have occurred on numbered highways, and this could easily represent less than 10% of deer actually hit in Aroostook County during that time. Nobody has a good sense of the actual number, but we do know that many road-killed deer are picked up within minutes of being struck and are never recorded by MDOT, wardens, or police officers as such. Law enforcement personnel have game possession tags for those who choose to salvage road-killed bear, deer, moose, or turkey.[/caption] In Aroostook County, deer-vehicle collisions spike in winter, and those have increased dramatically in the past few years (see Figure), perhaps due to an increased deer population.  From a deer’s perspective of yarding behavior, some of our winters can last almost 5 months long, as was true of last winter. Thaw/freeze or brief rain events that seem to be getting more regular in January and February often create hard-top snow conditions that will support deer.  Expect to see more deer crossing roads when these conditions exist during winter.  White-tailed deer are the oldest living species of deer in the world, and they know how to take advantage of such opportunities.  Sometimes when these crusts let them feed 2 or 3 feet higher than usual, this can be beneficial for them in an otherwise overbrowsed deeryard, but the improved mobility also carries risk when crossing more roads while looking for new feeding opportunities. As is always the case, the Department urges drivers to be alert, use caution in areas where deer are known to cross roads and pay special attention to signs calling attention to these seasonal hazards.