Watch for those love sick deer

By Robert Burns

When it comes to avoiding deer collisions in November, it’s not the one you see crossing the road that’s likely to get you, according to a wildlife expert.

“It’s the one that’s chasing her,” said Dr. Billy Higginbotham, Texas AgriLife Extension Service fisheries and wildlife specialist.

Throughout the year, there’s always risk from collisions with deer on Texas highways, Higginbotham said. Deer behavior is more erratic during the peak of the breeding season, November through December, depending upon the region of the state.

“A doe may look both ways when she’s crossing the road, but the buck-in-love that’s chasing her may not,” Higginbotham said.
He said that some may find the concept of love-struck bucks humorous, but the results of deer-vehicle collisions are not.
Collisions that result in a human fatality are up 50 percent since 2000.