Birthing Season Sets Deer On Collision Course With Vehicles
June 08-- Jim Hatch has spent the past 16 years driving trucks across the country. He has lost count of the number of deer he has struck along the way.
"I've hit a lot of deer, and there's not much you can do about it," said Hatch, 52, of West View. If a driver stops or tries to swerve, he said, "you could kill someone."
Of the seasons when deer become a problem for Pennsylvania drivers, one is reaching its peak.
Vehicle collisions with deer spike twice a year, said Jeannine Fleegle, a deer biologist for the Pennsylvania Game Commission. One is in the fall, when the rut -- the deer breeding season -- prompts white-tails to be on the move.
The other is right now.
"This is a peak dispersal period for yearlings. And it's because of the fawning period," Fleegle said.
About 90 percent of adult female white-tailed deer -- those classified as older than 1 year -- will give birth by June 27. As the mothers care for their fawns, they'll urge their yearlings -- last year's fawns -- to move on.
"These yearlings are moving into new territories, and they're crossing unfamiliar roads, and unfortunately not all of them make it," Fleegle said.
From January through April, PennDOT District 11 cleaned up 485 deer from state roads in Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties, compared with 450 last year.
Pennsylvania ranks fifth among all states for deer-vehicle collisions, according to 2012-13 data from the Insurance Information Institute. From July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2014, contractors removed 10,500 statewide. They have tallied 7,600 this fiscal year.
Vanessa Wallace, 26, of Fox Chapel said she has seen deer "everywhere" on her route to her job at a landscaping company in Gibsonia. Crossing deer cannot be trusted, she said.
"They have no judgment. They just go for it," she said, noting that her parents have hit one.
J.J. Potasiewicz, 44, of Ben Avon said his neighbors struck a deer in late May. He said he often sees the animals on Camp Horne Road.
"It seems like they're always on the road," he said.
In some areas, he said, he's seen the same carcass along the road for multiple days.
"It doesn't seem like there's enough effort to clean them," he said.
In fiscal year 2013, PennDOT District 11 spent $131,889 to clean up deer in Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties. That number increased to $133,252 in 2014.
The district's cleanup contract with Louis Calandrella expires in 2016, according to state records. He could not be reached for comment. The contract, the result of a request-for-qualifications bidding process, indicates that PennDOT can withhold payment if deer are not hauled away within 24 hours of notification.
In Butler County, PennDOT District 10 reported 1,738 deer cleaned up from July through April. In Armstrong County, 1,115 were cleaned up.
Local governments are responsible for their networks, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has a maintenance crew for its highways.
Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo said deer removal is based on regional practices. One process, which involves a chemical-laden "deer pit" for carcasses, is being phased out across the system, he said. Another option is to move the deer from the road's shoulder into the forest to "allow nature to take its course," DeFebo said.
PennDOT statistics from 2014 show nearly half of all reportable deer-vehicle accidents in the past five years occurred in October and November, the mating season.
Phil Levy, 60, of Avalon said he was a passenger in a vehicle that struck a deer on Route 422 last year. The car was totaled.
"You always see the dead ones on the side of the road, but you never think about how they got there," he said.
Melissa Daniels is a Trib Total Media staff writer. Reach her at [email protected]. Staff writer Bob Frye contributed to this story. Reach him at [email protected].
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