Two deer cross Baldhill Road in Port Gibson. (Meredith SpencerThe Vicksburg Post)

[12/26/04]Debbie Moore didn’t see the doe until it was too late.

“I didn’t see her. I felt her,” Moore said of the animal who ran into the side of her Nissan Altima.

Although there are no comprehensive statistics kept, area law enforcement, insurance agents and body shop managers all agree that vehicle collisions with deer are a big problem in Warren County and constitute a significant threat to safety.

Warren County Undersheriff Jeff Riggs said Eagle Lake Road, U.S. 61 South around Yokena, Mississippi 3 and county roads comprise some of the area’s “hot spots.”

Moore can back up Riggs’ statement. The Port Gibson woman hit the doe on U.S. 61 South around Yokena while driving to work two weeks ago.

“It liked to have given me a heart attack,” Moore said.

Knowing the true number of deer killed by a collision with a car is impossible because not all wrecks are reported to police or insurance agencies and not all deer carcasses are found, the state has collected information about deer carcasses intermittently, said Mississippi State University deer expert Stephen Demarais.

In 1997, more than 5,000 carcasses were counted across the state by wildlife officers, Demarais said.

“That number is probably low. Most deer make it off the road and die,” he said.

A 1994 study commissioned by the Wildlife Society said there are 1.5 million deer-vehicle collisions a year, costing $1 billion. The wrecks were responsible for 29,000 injuries and 200 deaths.

Demarais said Warren County has one of the highest populations of deer in the state. As a whole, the state has between 1.5 million to 1.75 million deer, he said.

“The deer populations have been increasing pretty dramatically in the last 20 years,” Demarais said, and habitat changes may be driving more deer closer to roads.

“As we’ve expanded our highway system, the way we stabilize our highways is to plant grasses and clover,” Demarais said. “The soil stabilization procedure is basically a deer feed plot.”

There is a positive side to the problem of cars hitting deer: business booms for area body shops.

Richard Kette, body shop manager at Blackburn Motor Co., said two to three out of about about 15 jobs per week can be traced to hitting a deer.

“Right toward the end of September when these guys start going in the woods, we start to see more hits,” Kette said. The peak season continues for the rest of the fall and winter, he said.

A typical deer hit causes $2,000 to $4,000 worth of damage, Kette said. The lowest repair cost Kette has seen was $900 . If a deer goes through the windshield, the car will usually be totaled.

“All the deer hair goes all over the car,” Kette said. “You can’t ever get the hair out.”

The weight of a deer, rather than antlers, do most of the damage, he said. The speed the car was traveling also makes a difference.

When he started in the auto body repair business about 30 years ago, Kette said, accidents caused by deer were rare. He attributes the increased numbers of deer accidents to an increased deer population.

“It’s good for my business,” Kette said. “Really good.”

Deer wrecks have also boosted the bottom line of other Warren County body shops.

Randy Thorne, body shop manager at Atwood Chevrolet, said three to five of the 25 cars the body shop gets during a typical week are the result of a collision with a deer.