IT’S PRIME TIME FOR DEER COLLISIONS

John Weiss. McClatchy – Tribune Business News. 2008/11/19. Fred Richardson and Bill Burk are already seeing signs of increased deer movement. But they’re not talking about hunting. Richardson owns Richardson Auto Body in Lake City and Burk owns Chatfield Auto Body. They say they are already seeing vehicles come in banged up, dented or wrecked because the drivers hit a deer. Michelle Gappa, on the other hand, is an agency producer for Lynn Broadwater’s Farmers Insurance Co. in Rochester. The big rush of claims is still to come, she said. Deer are in their breeding season, meaning that bucks lose their typical wariness and does are moving to find bucks. Hunters know that and like to be out in the woods when the deer aren’t as wary. What is unusual this year, so far, is that hunters haven’t been seeing or shooting as many deer, though the state Department of Natural Resources said there were plenty around. Conservation officer reports from across the state, however, generally indicate a slower harvest this fall. Richardson said he gets about 50 such deer-damaged vehicles a year, about two-thirds in fall. But it’s more than mating that gives him business, he said. “It seems people are driving more and further and faster,” he said, giving them more chances to hit deer. He’s seen about the same number of damaged vehicles this year. The deer-collision time is one of his busiest, along with the first snow when drivers seem to have to relearn how to drive on slick roads, he said. Burk averages 35 to 40 deer-damaged vehicles a year. “This year it seems to be a little slower,” he said. “I haven’t seen that many deer out … but they are still hitting them.” Maybe deer are staying in corn until it’s picked; the harvest has been generally later this year. Last year he saw more damage, as deer first came out in August and the problem lasted throughout the winter and into spring and summer. “We had people constantly hitting them,” Burk said. Not this year. “(We) haven’t seen it pick up yet this fall. We’re just waiting.” When the corn comes down, however, Gappa expects claims to go up. But maybe worse is first, icy roads. “I’m still dreading that one,” Gappa said. “It’s an education every year.”