Area RCMP officers are reminding residents and visitors to be cautious of wildlife, specifically deer, on rural roads and highways at this time of year.
“It's a reality of living in Central Alberta, near the foothills, that we have a lot of deer in Mountain View County and that people need to drive accordingly,” said Cpl. Warren Wright from the Didsbury RCMP detachment.
Striking a deer can cause extensive damage to vehicles, injuries to occupants, as well as suffering to the deer.
Drivers should always keep the thought of wildlife on the roads in the back of their minds, in order to avoid this, he said.
“Some of the peak times for striking deer are at dawn or at sunset and at night,” Wright said.
In the area encompassing Didsbury, Carstairs, Cremona and Water Valley, there have been 143 reported vehicle collisions involving deer since September, he said.
This includes 15 in September, 20 in October, 38 in November, 28 in December, 15 in January, 13 in February, eight in March and six in April.
“It does peak around November when it is hunting season, everybody's looking for their tag and the deer are on the move,” he said. “It always peaks at November, every year.”
Hitting a deer can, in some cases, cause death, he said.
However, it is less likely that deer will come over the hood and through the windshield, than it is for larger wildlife such as elk, moose or wild horses.
“Deer typically just cause front-end or side damage to vehicles,” he said.
If a driver does collide with a deer, they are advised to check if the deer is killed or if it is suffering.
“If it's suffering you can certainly call the RCMP and we will attend and dispatch the animal in a humane way,” he said.
The driver is also advised to contact the RCMP if they feel that the damage to the vehicle is extensive and it is mechanically unsafe to proceed.
Another thing to be aware of when on the roads is that deer come in numbers, he said.
“Always use the one plus one rule, where there's one, there's another one,” he said. “But don't just be satisfied that there's two; there might be three or four.”
Deer are currently active in the county because the snow is melting and greens are sprouting, he said.
“Any time you head out onto rural roads and highways there is a reasonable expectation that wildlife are going to be around, deer specifically,” he said.
“That's one of the reasons why the speed limits are enforced to a certain degree. We want to keep you at a reasonable and safe speed if you have to make an emergency stop to avoid a deer collision.”
Mountain View County Reeve Bruce Beattie says although he does not believe a cull of deer in the district is needed, motorists should be aware of the potential danger of collisions.
“It (collisions) is a reflection of the deer population and the time of year, with them moving more,” said Beattie. “I don't know if there are more deer around than we've seen in the past.
“I haven't seen any statistics about that, but there are a lot of deer around and if you take the deer population and add it to the number of cars in the area, and I'm sure they are up, people need to be aware. Certainly at those times when the deer are moving, at dawn and dusk, you really have to watch for them.”
