Photo: WBZ NewsRadio Archive
AYER, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — It’s currently the middle of deer breeding season which means vehicle collisions with animals are the highest they will be for the year.
Deer breeding season takes place from October through December and during this period deer are more active, crossing busy roads and intersections during dusk to dawn.
“We’re right at the peak of the breeding season here in Massachusetts so the rut really hits it peak between Nov. 6 and Nov. 20, so this is when you’re going to have the absolute highest activity as bucks are looking to breed with females,” said Martin Feehan, a deer biologist with Mass Wildlife.
This increased activity becomes a problem as deer populations are on the rise throughout the state and beyond, leading to a potential for more collisions.
Due to deer’s eyes being so far apart they are good at picking up movement but falter when it comes to depth perception, which explains why they freeze in headlights and ultimately get hit by vehicles.
“The deer population is rising really across the entire east coast and Massachusetts,” said Feehan. “Particularly in Eastern Massachusetts the population just keeps rising because there really is so much restriction on hunting and the number of hunters are declining.”
This decline in hunters and rise in the deer population has made the state consider expanding the length of the hunting season, which for deer hunting runs from late October to New Year’s Eve.
“In every aspect we’re trying to both increase the number of hunters, as well as increase the number of deer that are taken by those hunters, so we have opportunities like our ‘Hunters Share the Harvest’ program, where hunters can then donate additional deer that they take, which really incentivizes those really successful hunters to take more deer through the season,” said Feehan.
Programs such as Hunters Share the Harvest have not only attempted to help with population control but have also helped contribute more than 60,000 meals for families in need throughout the state.
Feehan’s ultimate takeaway for this time of year is to simply, “Just slow down, make sure to really take your time at dawn and dusk.”
WBZ NewsRadio’s Jay Willett (@JayWillettWBZ) reports.