Are you seeing more deer in Michiana right now? An expert explains. 

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- Have you noticed more deer around the area? ABC57's Jordan Tolbert spoke to State Deer Biologist Joe Caudell, PhD, with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. 

Right now, he says it's peak breeding season for deer.

"The breeding season is kind of like a really steep hill. So, what happens is, in October, it starts to ramp up, and then as we get to November, we're up near the peak, and then into December, it slides off again. But right now, kind of this first week, second week of November, is really the peak of this season, and so we're in it right now, and this is when most of our collisions actually happen in Indiana," said Caudell. 

He says the deer you may see near roads could be bucks searching for does that are receptive to being bred. 

"What that does, is that causes the bucks to kind of wander around in new places, maybe places they're unfamiliar with, crossing roads. Of course, they're really on the search for these does. And so they're less aware, they're not paying quite as much attention, and that's why this time of year, we actually see our deer-vehicle collisions go up substantially compared to other times of the year, but it's primarily due to that breeding cycle of the bucks and then being out just looking for does," said Caudell. 

Caudell says deer are most active during dawn and dusk, around the time when many are commuting to or from work, so drivers need to be hyper-aware.

"A lot of times, drivers will know, 'Hey, I've seen deer, dead deer on the side of the road in this area before'. Keep that in mind. And then when you're driving through those areas like, just be hyper-aware. Be, you know, scanning with your eyes, turn your high beams on, you know, flick them down when of course, people are coming. But really, you know, use those high beams on and off to really look for deer as you're driving around," said Caudell. 

Additionally, Caudell says, when there are trees or other cover on one side and fields of crops on the other, deer will often cross at those spots. 

And Lt. Duwayne Robinson with the Michigan State Police explains what to do if you see a deer in the road. 

"We ask people, don't try to swerve to miss them, because you could lose control of your car. Just brake controlled. And if you have to hit the deer, just hit the deer and then contact the police to make the report, but for your safety and the safety of others, do not try to swerve to avoid contact with a deer or any other animal that's out there," said Robinson. 

ABC57 asked Caudell if there is an overpopulation issue when it comes to the whitetail deer. 

"It being overpopulated or anything like that really depends on our point of view. So somebody who is driving and hits a deer, they're automatically just too many deer, but from the deer standpoint, you know, their populations actually grow to a certain point and then stabilize," said Caudell. "During hunting season, hunters will bring that population down somewhat, and that can actually help reduce collisions. Or sometimes we have a disease event called EHD that sometimes also reduces those collisions. But you know, it even when populations become lower, we still have a fair number of deer-vehicle collisions. And so, thinking about the deer population, the higher it is, the more collisions we have. If it's a little bit lower, we'll have lower collisions. But it's not necessarily, at least in most of our areas of Indiana, not necessarily overpopulated." 

Between October 1 and November 1, St. Joseph County Police officers responded to 43 deer-related crashes, which is up from 9 during the previous month. They did not report any serious injuries or deaths.

ABC57 asked the Elkhart County Sheriff's Office how many deer-related collisions happened between October 1st and November 1st. They had 43 total collisions reported. 42 of those resulted in property damage, and one resulted in injury. 

Of the 43 collisions, 25 happened between midnight and 8:00 am, 15 between 6:30 pm and midnight, and 3 between 2:30 pm and 4:30 pm. 

This data is only from the Elkhart County Sheriff's Office and does not include Elkhart or Goshen Police Department data.