By ERIC MEYER

Staff writer

The warning may have come a couple of days too late for a deputy sheriff, but state officials are urging drivers to be especially wary of deer the next several weeks.

In Marion County, wrecks involving deer set a record in the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, according to computer analysis of reports published in this newspaper’s For the Record page:

Marion County
deer CRASHES

from October to September

2020-’21 121

2021-’22 153

2022-’23 149

2023-’24 147

2024-’25 156

With the arrival of mating season, which will peak next month, the number of deer crashes each week is expected to soar.

Over the past five years, deer strikes in Marion County are nearly twice as likely to happen from October through December as in any other quarter of the year.

BY QUARTER

January, February, March 154

April, May, June 137

July, August, September 132

October, November, December 279

The most recent crash in the county involved sheriff’s deputy Clayton Philpott. He hit a deer with his patrol vehicle at 10:23 p.m. Saturday on Eagle Rd. north of 130th Rd.

It was Philpott’s third run-in with a deer in 19 months.

He hit one 15 months ago while speeding to a wreck near 160th and Nighthawk Rds. and hit another, but did not report it for nine hours, four months before that while speeding on Cedar St. near Kellison St. in Marion to another wreck.

He was driving a different vehicle in each of the accidents.

Deer strikes accounted for 41.7% of all reported traffic accidents in the county over the past five years — a slightly higher percentage than the 39% of accidents they accounted for statewide last year.

Although no fatalities and few injuries were reported in the county, five people were killed, and 674 were injured statewide in deer wrecks last year.

Nationwide, Kansas recorded the fourth highest percentage of animal-related highway fatalities between 2018 and 2023, according to DeHoyos Accident Attorneys, a Houston-based personal injury law firm.

Serious crashes are most likely to occur when drivers swerve to avoid a deer, according to Kansas Highway Patrol lieutenant Chad Crittenden.

He recommends braking firmly but staying in your lane if you encounter a deer. Leaving your lane can cause you to veer into oncoming traffic, run off the road, or hit objects and overturn.

No locations or times of day are safe, according to Levi Jaster, big game program coordinator for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

Even in areas with few deer, seasonal changes and mating can bring deer onto roads day or night.

Jaster urges drivers to slow down and remain especially alert around dawn and dusk and when driving through wooded areas or areas near water sources.

Deer rarely travel alone. If you see one, be mindful that others you don’t see might be nearby.

Crittenden urges drivers to use high-beam headlights whenever allowed. Light reflecting from the eyes of deer may be drivers’ best way to see them.

The financial toll of hitting a deer can be considerable.

According to AAA Kansas, the average insurance claim for a deer strike last year was $8,430, more than double what it was five years ago.

Drivers with only state-mandated liability coverage pay the entire bill themselves.

Deer crashes must be reported to police, state troopers, or sheriff’s deputies if anyone is injured or damages are likely to total $1,000 or more.