Is there a connection between fall hunting season and a simultaneous increase in vehicle collisions?
The short answer is no. Deer move about more during the fall due to reproductive behavior. Seasonally, yearling bucks may travel many miles in a natural dispersal that reduces the chance of a young male interbreeding with his mother or female siblings. At about six months, bucks experience initial separations from their mothers and begin to explore new habitats. Mature bucks and does increase movement in order to find breeding partners. Deer/vehicle accidents declined by more than one half as a result of managed hunting programs in sections of Montgomery County. Lethal deer control in Lynchburg, Virginia and at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado also reduced deer/vehicle collisions.