Love is in the air: it’s rutting time again!

Ah the smell of does in heat.  Nothing like it to get a male deer in the mood for love and this results in bucks and does moving about the landscape more than ever. This means, there is an increased possibility of hitting a deer with your automobile about this time of year when love is in the air. People hitting deer on the roads happens over a million times a year in this country and last year, more than 3,000 individuals reported hitting a deer in Kentucky. How do you avoid hitting a deer and causing thousands of dollars of damage to your vehicle? One of the great inventions of the past 30 years has been the “deer whistle.”  This device, when attached to an automobile, emits an audible sound that scares deer away or at least that is the theory.  The real question is: Should I purchase one to avoid hitting a deer?  The short answer is to please send me the $10 -15 you would spend on the deer whistle for my European vacation fund because the results will be the same as if you purchased one and placed it on your auto.  Just kidding, don’t send me money. But the real answer is they do not work so save yourself some money.  These were tried in Europe over 25 years ago and several good studies from Finland and Switzerland show no efficacy.  In the United States a number of state agencies have tried them in Utah, Georgia, and Wisconsin and found them to be ineffective.  A final study in Connecticut, using physics and sound principles, indicated their effectiveness was questionable.  The one study that did show they worked and for which several companies tout for their efficacy from research done by “an independent research” agency was never published and it was nothing more than mounting the devices on snowmobilea and driving through the woods and seeing if the deer ran away.  Guess what, they did, but probably not from the sound of the deer whistle, more likely from the sound of the noisy snowmobile.  At any rate, the best method of protecting you and your vehicle from hitting a deer is to be vigilant and slow down when driving at dusk or night this time of year, pay attention to the deer crossing signs (they are there for a reason),  if you see one deer along the road, there are bound to be others so be alert, if you do see one “caught in the headlights” apply the brakes but do not try to swerve away as you could lose control of the vehicle and hit another vehicle, go off the road and hit an obstacle, or something worse.  If you do hit a deer, contact law enforcement immediately to report the collision.