Deer-on-the-Road

Deer-on-the-Road, a photo by DeliveryMaxx on Flickr.

Via Flickr:


Wildlife biologists and researchers estimate that vehicles may kill as many deer in Utah every year as hunters do.

(During the 2009 hunting season, hunters took about 23,000 deer.)

But it's the part of the population cars take that makes the difference.


Hunters take mostly bucks. But cars mostly kill the deer that are the key to the future growth of Utah's deer herds — does and fawns.

Fortunately, new and innovative road structures are helping reduce the number of deer that are hit and killed by cars in the state.

A proposal to pave a road through the Book Cliffs in eastern Utah is a good example of two things: the effect roads can have on deer, and steps transportation officials and wildlife biologists are taking to help deer out.