News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The deer are moving in big numbers through the Sisters country - and many of them are dying on the highways, victims of collisions with cars.
Aside from being bad for the deer, a collision with a 100-pounds-plus animal at 60 miles per hour can be devastating to an automobile.
Whistles on your bumper won't warn deer away, according to Cory Heath of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
"(Drivers) can slow down and they can stay alert," Heath said. "That's the only thing we've found effective."
Sisters naturalist Jim Anderson doesn't hold out much hope that warning drivers will get them to slow down.
"The only reason they slow down is when they hit one and they wonder how that happened," Anderson said. "The only way to eliminate useless mule deer fatalities is to do what they do in Wyoming - fence them out and build big culverts so the deer can get from one side to the other."
But in a state where a recent gas tax increase is earmarked for basic road repair, fencing and culverts are not in the immediate picture.
That means drivers had better pay attention, particularly at dusk and dawn, which is when, according to Heath, activity is at its height.
Deer never learn to avoid traffic the way they learn to avoid hunters, Heath said.
"They can't avoid highways because they bisect their migration corridors," he said.
The migration period should last through about mid-June, Heath said.
But the end of migration won't necessarily mean an end to deer traffic on the highway.
According to Anderson, there are a lot of resident deer in the area as well as those just passing through. Lawns and gardens in forest subdivisions are part of the reason the deer hang around.
"A lot of them will stay resident because there is food available to them," Anderson said.
So drivers are wise to keep an eye out - now and through the summer.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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