Deer

Deer are becoming large urban rats! There are a zillion more deer now than when Columbus landed. Something must be done to control the size of the herds that are building up in the urban areas. These animals are a real menace to the driver. They also eat your expensive landscaping plants.

Dangerous to cars, for sure. When I was in my mid-teens, my family moved away from the urban/suburban area around Paterson, NJ, to more rural climes after my father got transferred. It was only about 30 or so miles away from where I had grown up, but to me it might as well have been Mars. Let's just say I wasn't used to rural living (in actuality, it wasn't as rural as I supposed, but coming from Paterson, it sure seemed rural). I had just gotten my driver's license, and had been able to buy a used (and supremely battered) Audi that had a tendency to break down at the drop of a hat. A friend and I were driving down a dark road one night, and we had 2 6-packs of beer with us. We weren't at all drunk, but we both had open beers in our hands (this was before MADD came along and the police really cracked down on any kind of drinking and driving; I wasn't one to drive drunk, but once or twice between the time I started driving and the time MADD began wielding their political influence...an... Read more

Where I live, these things are becoming an increasing road hazard, even in moderately dense suburban areas. A few years ago I narrowly missed one on a freeway exit ramp, and did nail one of the coyotes that was chasing it. At least I got one of the target vermin.

In the past 100 years 128 people were Killed by Grizzly and black bears. In the past 100 years 14 people were killed by Mountain Lions. Bees kill about 53 people Yearly. But the big killer is...Deer, killing an estimated 130 people every year. Granted their method of killing us seems to be Kamakazi attacks on our cars. The big problem is overpopulation. Deer are breeding like Jack rabbits and so are we. There is not enough room for the both of us. One thing that people are going to have to do is start building up rather than out. Another thing that people are going to have to do is start gloving up more. Contraceptives (though not always effective) do work the Majority of the time. As for deer, I say we take the same approach. Fire Island, New York and Gaithersburg, Maryland both have had a lot of success in reducing the deer population via Contraception. A vaccine, shot at deer through a dart gun blocks the egg Fertilization. Though there has been success with this method, realistic... Read more

In New England they are a constant on the side of the roads, dead and alive. We had the deer whistles on all of our cars - one is silent that only the deer can hear, and one humans can hear once the car gets up to around 40mph. They seem to work well and never had a deer cross my path on the road. I did hit a dead deer once going about 70 and seemed to have the hangtime of the valet who took out Cameron's Dad's Ferrari 250GT for a joyride in Ferris Bueller's day off.

I feel sorry for the deer because they are running out of places to go.  There are homes and businesses where they used to live.  Their natural habitats are gone.

Ever see a deer go after a hunter? Its quite funny...

HistoryFan have you ever hit a deer with your car? Deer are dangerous to man simply for the fact that we humans have encroached on there territory and at the same time too too many animal lovers stop the attempts to cull the deer herd in suburban areas where humans and deer come together.

I need concrete proof that deers are dangerous to humans. Usually the wild deer that I've seen just run off in the opposite direction.

Holy smokes I had no idea the deer-car collisions was that high! Now you see why we need people to hunt those deer? Keep the population down and at the same time, give someone out there some venison to eat. I do believe however a lot of those deaths could be avoided if the people weren't spreading out into the deer's habitat, however.

Think deer aren't dangerous? The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that white-tailed deer kill around 130 Americans each year simply by causing car accidents. In 1994, these predator deer had a banner year, causing 211 human deaths in car wrecks. There are about 1.5 million deer/vehicle collisions annually, resulting in 29,000 human injuries and more than $1 billion in insurance claims in addition to the death toll. Deer also carry the ticks that transmit Lyme disease to about 13,000 people each year. Let's hear it for the deadly deer!