Fall is a great for many things: cooler weather, fall leaves, football Saturdays; maybe the only thing bad about fall is the increased risk of a collision with a deer on our roads and highways. I wrecked my first car as a seventeen year old coming home from a friends house one night when a deer on the side of the road thought his best move was to go left into the road instead of going right back into the trees. I was also in the car with my family on our way back from a baseball game when a deer jumped out in front of us. Thankfully we all walked away unscathed, the deer in both situations…. Not so much.
UGA researchers have completed a county-by county study of when motorists should be more aware of deer traffic. The study compiled records from 2005-2012 of deer-vehicle collisions, 45,811 from across the state. They combined this information with breeding data and produced this map which provides the peak dates per county. Deer are most active in Cherokee County from November 10th-16th. https://www.georgiawildlife.com/rut-map
Deer are most active from dusk to dawn so motorists should be extra cautious during these hours. If you thought chewed up hostas was annoying try being a seventeen year old without a car for a month!
