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Auto vs Deer accident numbers

moosehunter

moosehunter

PMA Member
The DNR and hunters generally agree that over all, the number of deer in Iowa is down from what it was a few years ago. Late last summer the DNR even recommended reducing the number of bonus doe tags in many area's but Branstadt had to keep FB happy and squashed that.

I'd really like to see some recent data, or even yearly data, on auto vs deer crashes. My guess is that it's trending down but I don't know that for a fact. Anyone know where to find that?
 
Check on the IDNR site under deer information and then populations and trends for 2101. They show the deer accidents on a per million miles driven for years back as far as 1985 I think. It has definitely trended down over the last few years even though the number of cars and miles driven has increased.
 
Also look at data pre hunt and post hunt. Still quite a few deer getting hit after the hunting season is over when the deer population is at its lowest.
 
This is completely unscientific, but I too can see that deer numbers are down over a good portion of the areas that I travel through and/or spend time in the fall, BUT I have seen plenty of "car-deer sign" this year.

It seems as though the accidents are still there in too great of number, but the deer population is less.
 
I don't believe cutting deer numbers is really going to make that much of a difference in the collisions.. just means more bucks are going to have to cross more roads to find a doe.
 
I too believe the deer population is down. Without a doubt IMO. Makes sense that the bucks will move more to find does. Sat this Sat. a.m. and saw 5 different bucks and only 1 doe. It used to be the other way around. Pretty sure in my mind that the extra doe tags in some counties and depridation tags issued has done it's job.
 
I bet it's trending WAY down. If the numbers don't show it they are lop-sided as I believe most collisions are in urban areas.
 
I ask this because it was one of the major factors or arguments in reducing the herd in Iowa. If the accidents have in fact been reduced then those numbers should also be used in the elimination or reduction of tags. Don't you think !!!!!!!!
 
I have spent the afternoon researching car/deer accidents to compare to low deer numbers.One thing I have found is that state farm is leading consultant of these accidents. I want to know how one company can put these numbers on paper as a real estimate. They only know their claims,yet say you have your 2nd best chance of hitting a deer in iowa. I kind not find any numbers other than what state farm says. Every article uses them as reference to collect data. I also want to know how Iowa's deer herd has dropped every year since 2006.Yet we have went from not being in the top ten,to being #2 in the nation for deer/car accidents. The numbers don't add up. I would love to find real map of location of accidents in iowa. I would bet the vast majority are in newly developed metro areas. A deer density map I found shows higher number in the ne and se parts of the state. But all big cities in our state had more deer per acre than in the country.
 
vrod said:
I have spent the afternoon researching car/deer accidents to compare to low deer numbers.One thing I have found is that state farm is leading consultant of these accidents. I want to know how one company can put these numbers on paper as a real estimate. They only know their claims,yet say you have your 2nd best chance of hitting a deer in iowa. I kind not find any numbers other than what state farm says. Every article uses them as reference to collect data. I also want to know how Iowa's deer herd has dropped every year since 2006.Yet we have went from not being in the top ten,to being #2 in the nation for deer/car accidents. The numbers don't add up. I would love to find real map of location of accidents in iowa. I would bet the vast majority are in newly developed metro areas. A deer density map I found shows higher number in the ne and se parts of the state. But all big cities in our state had more deer per acre than in the country.
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"90% of all statistics can be made to say what you want to say 60% of the time..." or something like that. It's a shame that our lawmakers are making legislation decisions based on statistics provided by biased sources. But, if you control the data, you can control the results. I don't know how else you'd get the data without going through the insurance companies though.
 
One of the guys in our archery club is a DOT dept. head and he said their deer pickup numbers are way down. It might be easier to find these numbers than car accident numbers from insurance companies. Not sure tho.
 
I have seen DOT maps tracking deer/vehicle collisions. This was a few years ago. Perhaps they are on the DOT site? I can't remember for sure but there was a collaberative effort between the DNR and DOT to gather data on deer/vehicle interaction and deer carcass removal. That may be a thing of the past but it was a good yard stick.
 
Here, this is a link to the IDNR's report from 2010, which is the most recent. At the end of 2010 they reported that car vs. deer accidents where down 25% from 2009, also noted is that the number of vehicle miles driven increased, so they came up with a 26% reduction overall. Here is the link, type in page 16 and it is right at the top. A lof of great information here.
http://www.iowadnr.gov/Portals/idnr/uploads/Hunting/2010_logbook.pdf
 
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