Columbus business owner shares tips for avoiding deer while driving

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - The co-owner of Huntin’ and Hookin’ in Columbus says it’s not just deer season.

“It’s the height of deer season when they’re in rut,” says Cliff Robertson. Which means it’s time for deer to start mating. “They’re out all-night, all-day bucks chasing doe’s,” says Robertson. But they are trying to avoid hitting a deer while driving could cost you or someone else’s life.

“We do know that the number one species that kills people is deer in collisions,” says Wildlife Biologist Tina Johannsen with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. So, experts urge you to slow down and watch the roadways carefully. And recently, the Georgia Department of Transportation or G-DOT is changing some of its H-O-V signs to read don’t veer for deer.

“The only thing that really works, is being alert and slowing down, and that’s why the department of transportation is trying to get that word out too,” says Johannsen. That word is causing drivers to warn others to not veer and instead take the damage to your car like this one or this one. “Your best bet would be just to hit it, it doesn’t sound real good, but the consequences of doing something else of running off the road, flipping your car, veering or hitting another car beside you or another car head on, if far worse than hitting that deer will probably do,” says Robertson.

So the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division shares these five tips: be alert, don’t veer for a deer, slow down if you hit a deer, do not approach the animal, and finally, wear your seat belt. As for the myth that a deer will come through your windshield.

“It’s very rare that one will come through your windshield, a lot of damage to your car but you would be alive,” says Robertson.

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