South Dakota Among Top States to Hit a Deer with Your Car

We are getting closer and closer to the time of year when you will be much more likely to run into deer, figuratively and literally, with your car.

According to a study by Farmers Insurance, South Dakota is among the fifteen states with the biggest spike in colliding with animals in the fall, ranking #12 on the list at a rate of 50 percent.

The whitetail deer is a big reason for this. The mating season is on from October to December, usually peaking in mid to late November. But also contributing to the increase of deer running around is that they are crupuscular, meaning that they are most active around dawn and dusk. When rush hour happens around sundown in the late fall and winter, there are a lot more cars on the roads, especially in wooded areas where deer hang out during the day and near food and water sources they are traveling to in the morning and evening.

Iowa sees the second-highest increase in collisions at 65 percent and Minnesota was sixth with a 56 percent increase.