Car-drivers rival hunters in U.S. deer slaughter

Press, 4 February 1987, Page 21

Car-drivers rival hunters in U.S. deer slaughter

By

DONALD FREDERICK,

National

Geographic News Service

Gettysburg bristles with cannons, statues, markers, observation towers — and white-tailed deer. It’s not uncommon to see the deer contentedly browsing just a few yards away from tourmobiles filled with visitors. But the gentle scene draws mixed emotions from the town’s residents. Besides treading down gardens, the deer pose a hazard to drivers. “Deer-car collisions got so bad around here that the National Park Service, which administers Gettysburg National Military Park, convinced the state to impose a 64 km/h speed limit on all roads within three miles of the town,” says Dale Sheffer, game-management chief

for Pennsylvania. Sheffer, a Gettysburg resident, says the speed limit has helped, but accidents are still common, especially among tourists, who are often unaware of the danger. Most wildlife experts agree that in protected areas around national parks and suburbs, where hunting is not allowed, deer become docile and the accident rates go up.

The hazard extends far beyond parklands. It has been estimated that from 200,000 to 350,000 deer are killed on the nation’s highways each year. The problem peaks during October and November, when bucks are on

the prowl for prospective mates, and in the spring, when young deer bom the year before strike out on their own. Hunters still lead the death pack, however. About 2.5 million deer are “legally harvested” by licensed hunters each year, according to the National Rifle Association.

Pennsylvania, with its extensive highway network and deer population of almost a million, claims more highway deer kills than any other state. In 1985, Pennsylvania officials tallied 26,180 such deaths, but unreported ones may have brought the total to almost 40,000.

There’s a human toll in many

states, too. Michigan, another state with a large deer population, reported five deer-collision fatalities in 1984. One of them was a woman who was decapitated when a deer crashed through her windshield. Ed Langenau, big-game supervisor for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, estimates that the 26,420 deerrelated accidents in the state in 1984 caused about $9O million in damages. Figures for 1985 are still being compiled, but

he thinks they will be higher. Damage to vehicles accounted for more than half the total. “An impact between a car and deer usually results in severe damage,” says Thomas G. Roberts, assistant vice-president of material damage for Government Employees Insurance. “Usually we’re talking a minimum of between $l5OO and $2300.” Michigan, like many states, tries to check the accident rate

and crop damage by promoting an active hunting season, which brings in revenues and reduces deer herds. “Our deer population mushroomed in the early 1980 s,” says Nathaniel R. Dickinson, a big-game expert with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. “We had to stop the rapid increase, so we started issuing a larger number of hunting permits.”

Attempts by states to, keep roads safe for both deer and people go far beyond hunting. Fences and underpasses erected to avoid collisions are common in many states. Deer-warning signs can be found coast to coast.

“Fences are an expensive proposition,” says Sheffer. “A good deer-proof fence has to be at least eight feet high, and it costs about $40,000 a mile just to line one side of the road. Then there’s the follow-up maintenance.”

Faced with rising costs, states are looking at less expensive ways to cope with the problem. In some places, state police, sheriff departments, and local wildlife officials are experimenting with small devices, mounted on a grille or bumper, that emit ultrasonic waves. Inaudible to the human ear, the sound waves move about 400 kilometres ahead of vehicles and supposedly

scare away animals, including dogs.

A new roadside reflector looks promising ,to some wildlife experts. Designed to alert deer to danger in low-light conditions, when most accidents occur, its prisms act as a sort of strobe light, bouncing the glare from headlights into the woods or fields. Stretches of highway lined with the devices in Washington state showed a marked downturn in deer collisions. Other states are considering the units. No matter what the precautions, deer-car confrontations will probably remain a fact of outdoor life. Drivers probably have the answer.