You’re More Likely to Hit a Deer This Year in Minnesota

Fall in Minnesota means many things: Football, cool days, crisp nights, and pumpkin-spiced just about everything. But it also means more car-deer collisions, and a new survey says you have a greater chance of hitting a deer this year than you did in 2014.

According to a new report from State Farm Insurance, the odds a driver here in Minnesota will hit a deer this year come at one in 81, which is up 9 percent from last year. That's quite a bit higher than the national average, which the survey says is one in 169.

BringMeTheNews notes that while that's a high number for car-deer collisions, at least Minnesota isn't home to the highest number: "Minnesota is now ranked seventh in the country for the most deer collisions, up from eighth in 2014. West Virginia tops the list of states where a collision is most likely – the odds of hitting a deer there are one in 44."

So just how many car-deer collision are there in Minnesota? According to the Department of Public Safety, there were 2,096 car-deer collisions in 2013, including 8 that resulted in fatalities. Yikes.

In the nearly 30-years I've been driving, I've unfortunately hit two deer -- including one time about 15 years ago on Christmas Eve. (And no, the deer did not have a red nose.) Fortunately, no one was injured either time, and the damage to my vehicle wasn't too great.

Here are some safety tips to keep in mind as you hit the interstates and highways of Minnesota this fall, courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Safety.