Every driver from Massachusetts has encountered deer on the road. When I’m driving, I see them mostly at dusk and at night. A doe and her fawns could be coming near the edge of the road out of a clearing in the woods, or a single deer could be running into the street, terrified by the oncoming headlights. Massachusetts’ drivers can expect to see deer year-round, but they’re most prevalent during Oct.-Dec.– deer mating season. In 2024, using data from 2023, AAA Northeast reported that there were 1,908 deer crashes in deer season alone. The most crashes happened in Plymouth County, a mostly suburban area in the southeast of the commonwealth.
In Massachusetts, even a single deer strike can cause thousands of dollars in vehicle damage, leaving drivers with costly repairs or insurance claims. But deer collisions aren’t just a nuisance– they can cause injury and even be deadly. According to GBH and MassDOT, 146 deer collisions in 2023 resulted in injury. Luckily, there is no data listing any deaths in the commonwealth caused by a collision with deer. Nationally though, CNN reports that about two million crashes are caused by deer annually, with about 440 resulting in human death.
It’s no surprise that Plymouth County would see a higher number of road incidents involving deer. According to MassWildlife, the county has 30 to 40 deer per square mile. That’s well above the sustainable goal of 12 to 18. Rural areas in western Massachusetts have an easier time keeping the deer population down because of a few reasons. First, most municipalities in the western part of the commonwealth have less restrictive hunting access. In many municipalities in the east, there are by-laws requiring written permission even with a hunting license. There’s also more restriction on hunting areas because of discharge setback, not being able to fire a weapon within 150 feet of a highway or 500 feet of a building. There aren’t many places in Plymouth County where you can be that far from a highway and a building. Second, predation from animals like black bears, bobcats, and coyotes help to keep deer populations down. There are no black bears in Plymouth county, they’re most prevalent in the western part of the commonwealth. Bobcats, while slowly expanding into the southeast, are mainly present in the west as well. At first, I was surprised to learn that the areas in Massachusetts with the largest concentration of deer are the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. They both have a population size of over 50 deer per square mile. But, even the southeast has coyotes, and the islands don’t have any of these predators to keep populations from growing.
No matter what the solution may be for this ever-growing problem, just be careful on the road this deer season. Scan the wooded shoulders of the road, be cautious going around curves and hills, use your high beams when possible, wear your seatbelt, and if you spot an animal before it runs into the road, make a long blast with your horn to startle it away.