Minnesota State Patrol sees uptick in deer collisions
CHIPPEWA COUNTY, Minn. – A driver in western Minnesota is lucky they weren't seriously injured after hitting a deer.
The Chippewa County Sheriff's Department posted pictures on their website, showing a large buck going through the windshield.
Lt. Gordon Shank Shank with the Minnesota State Patrol knows all too well what a full-grown deer can do to a fast-moving vehicle.
"I was going to an emergency call and I hit a deer going over 100 mph. So for me, I've been through this," Shank said.
He hurt his arm in that collision, but feels lucky it wasn't worse.
"It's a significant crash. I think that just the sheer weight of that animal," he said.
A white-tailed buck can weigh up to 300 pounds, and they are on the move during the fall and early winter. While the driver of the collision in Chippewa County was lucky, many of these crashes lead to injuries and totaled vehicles.
"Unfortunately, we have seen a significant number of deer crashes," Shank said. "We've had over 6,000 from 2016 to 2020, and they resulted in 18 deaths."
Reasons for the crashes may have to do with shorter days, and even fewer deer harvested by hunters leading to a higher population.
Shank said another potential reason for the uptick is that there were fewer vehicles on the road in 2020 and 2021, during the pandemic. Now, more motorists are back on the roadways.
"One thing we don't ask drivers to do, unless you're in a motorcycle, is swerve," he said.
But Shank understands that swerving is the initial reaction for most drivers. Deer are an unpredictable animal, and encountering one on the road can lead to an unpredictable outcome – which Shank said is yet another reason not to drive distracted.
"They're animals, so we can't really say what they're gonna do each time because each time they do something different," Shank said. "It's quick, and deer are unpredictable."
A spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said that the deer population is up, while the number of deer harvested during the hunting season is down 7% from last year.
