Mule Deer Migration Spring 2017
Oregon Department of Transport has designated April 1st through May 22nd as this year’s Mule Deer Spring Migration period. Deer will be on the move toward the alpine meadows of the Cascades as temperature rise and their food sources green up. Deer migration patterns are ancient and cross the roads we use and, they move in herds.
What this means to you:
SLOW DOWN if you see deer on the roadside.
Save a deer, your car and you.
References:
http://www.ktvz.com/news/central-oregon/deer-car-collisions-on-the-rise-in-oregon/68401861
Excerpt: “We estimate we lose 1,000 deer a year on Central Oregon roads just by motor vehicles, and that’s huge,” Corey Heath, a biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in Bend, said Friday.
https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/COMM/Pages/nr15100502.aspx
Excerpt: “The national cost per claim for hitting a deer rose 6 percent to more than $4,100 from about $3,900 in 2014, State Farm says.”
See a 2015 ODFW study on this issue including a map and statistics of high risk areas.
https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/REGION4/Documents/CoeEtal-2015WildlifeSocietyBulletin.pdf