by Patrick Durkin - Tuesday, September 3, 2024
A recent Indiana study on deer-vehicle collisions found that boosting bag limits and lengthening hunting seasons near high-risk roadways can save lives and reduce accidents.
The study estimated that deer-vehicle collisions in Indiana cost society more than $2.5 billion the past two decades, but deer-vehicle accidents on risky roads in the study dropped 21% after the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) focused more hunting pressure on lands adjoining those roads. The effort saved society an estimated $823,550 in property damage and medical costs from 2018 through 2022, while selling $206,268 in special deer licenses for the state’s wildlife-management programs.
Researchers in the joint study by the Indiana DNR and Purdue University examined data from more than 300,000 deer-vehicle collisions in the state from 2003 to 2022 to see how increased hunting pressure during the 2018-2022 hunts affected accidents along 384 miles of high-risk roadways. The results, published in the May 2024 issue of Science of the Total Environment, found the extra hunting pressure didn’t cost much to implement, reduced accidents along all roadways studied, and likely would be effective in other areas where animal-vehicle accidents are common.
Researchers also used trail cameras in more than 1,000 locations during the winters of 2019, 2020 and 2021 to study how the quality and availability of food—and its proximity to developments and human activity—affected animal activity. They found that daytime deer activity wasn’t uniform across the areas studied. In fact, the rate of deer-vehicle accidents in part of northeastern Indiana was nearly twice as high as other areas, probably because deer were more active there during morning rush hours.
By focusing more hunting pressure near roadways, the program apparently caused deer to move less, use areas farther from roads or increase their nighttime activity when fewer people are driving.
Testing and Monitoring
Researchers analyzed 51 roadways covering nearly 590 miles for the study. The program then increased hunting pressure along 15 roadways while maintaining pressure “as is” on the other 36 roadways to allow accurate comparisons. Lands extending roughly a half-mile from each side of high-risk roads were included in the deer-reduction zones. Many of those properties are privately owned, and hunters needed permission to gain access.
Participating hunters bought a license that cost $24 for residents and $240 for nonresidents. On average, 1,424 hunters took part annually during the five-year study, and roughly 99% were residents. The program’s archery season started Sept. 15 rather than the standard Oct. 1 opener. Gun-hunting began the same day as the regular firearm season (first Saturday after Nov. 11), but rather than running the standard 16 days, it continued through Jan. 31.
Participants received antlerless deer tags specific to designated sites. These tags were additional to their regular deer-season tag(s). Hunters could shoot up to 10 deer, but only one could be a buck. Further, hunters had to earn that buck by first filling an antlerless tag. On average, the program’s “earn-a-buck” system annually removed 1,355 deer, 877 antlerless (65%) and 478 antlered (35%).
Zackary Delisle, the study’s lead author, said although increased hunting pressure reduced deer-vehicle collisions, it’s hard to say how much of the decline resulted from reduced deer numbers from hunting, and how much resulted from changes in deer activity caused by hunting, i.e., when and where deer moved.
Either way, increased hunting pressure near risky roads reduced deer-vehicle collisions. Researchers estimated the program prevented nearly 70 deer-vehicle collisions along the 384 miles of high-risk roadways during the five-year study, saving society an estimated $653,750 in property damage, $123,200 in prevented fatalities and $46,600 in avoided injuries.
In fact, the program worked so well that it remains in place, and the Indiana DNR hopes to expand it. Delisle, who moved to Fairbanks, Alaska, to work on Dall sheep and brown bears as an ecologist with the National Park Service, said expanding the program makes sense.
“When a program reduces deer-vehicle collisions by 20% while also making money for a wildlife agency, it’s worth keeping around, “Delisle said in a telephone interview. “Most other methods for reducing collisions cost a ton of money, whether it’s fencing, speed limits, warning signs or wildlife overpasses. Not only are those methods expensive, they don’t always work. When deer see a way through or over something, they’ll go.”
Further Savings, Rewards?
Delisle also thinks the projected savings from fewer fatalities, injuries and property damage are likely underestimates. Researchers can only work with documented deer-vehicle collision data. They don’t know how many deer-vehicle accidents go unreported. And if lone drivers die when their vehicle strikes a tree or plunges down a hill, investigators don’t know if the victims fell asleep at the wheel or swerved to miss a deer.
Meanwhile, the program also provides Indiana hunters extra time afield for a relatively inexpensive hunting license. In addition, drivers learn to appreciate how hunters can provide a public service by reducing deer-vehicle collisions.
“I grew up hunting and fishing, so I like it when hunters help other stakeholders by simply participating in recreation they’d do anyway,” Delisle said. “Anyone who drives a car is a stakeholder, and no one gets behind the wheel in hopes of hitting a deer. No matter what those drivers think of hunters, they concede this program benefits the general driving public. Who can argue against having hunters help solve an expensive problem while buying themselves more hunting opportunities and putting more meat in their freezers?”
It's too soon to know if other states will adopt similar programs, but some will probably study Indiana’s efforts. After all, deer-vehicle collisions remain a nationwide problem. Data released in September 2023 by State Farm Insurance put the odds of U.S. drivers hitting an animal at one in 127, with West Virginia drivers ranking as the most likely with 1-in-38 odds. Other states with high odds of animal-vehicle collisions were Montana, 1-in-53; Pennsylvania, 1-in-59; Michigan and Wisconsin, 1-in-60; and Iowa, 1-in-63.
The State Farm report also found the most dangerous month for animal collisions is November, followed by October and December. The same analysis found that one risky driving behavior, such as speeding or talking on a cell-phone, increased the odds of animal collisions by 23%.
Fatalities Not Rare
Although fatalities from animal-vehicle collisions aren’t common, neither are they rare. According to data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, fatalities from those collisions rose steadily nationwide during the final quarter of the 1900s, starting from 89 animal-vehicle collision deaths in 1975. Fatalities exceeded 200 for the first time in 2003 when hitting 212. In fact, fatalities from animal-vehicle collisions have surpassed 200 in eight of the past 20 years, with a high of 223 deaths in 2007.
The IIHS data also show the five states with the most animal-vehicle fatalities from 2013 through 2022 were Texas, 201; Pennsylvania, 113; Wisconsin, 107; Michigan, 103; and Ohio, 60.
About the Author
Patrick Durkin of Waupaca, Wisc., is an award-winning outdoor writer and newspaper columnist. A contributor to American Hunter and a contributing editor for the Archery Trade Association, he writes regularly for national hunting magazines, previously serving as an editor of Deer & Deer Hunting, Whitetail Hunting Strategies, National Whitetail Hunter’s Journal and Inside Archery, an archery industry trade publication, since 2014. After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1975 through 1980, Durkin earned a journalism degree at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He married his wife, Penny, in 1980, and they have three daughters and six grandchildren.