A Deer in the Headlights!

Deer! They are everywhere!

Last night I left work in Bethlehem about 9 pm. I was getting on 22 West from Schoenersville Road. On the entrance ramp, I round a curve and there standing right in the middle of my lane is a beautiful deer. We stared at each other and I thought  to myself what an odd place for a deer. But that seems to be the norm anymore. Deer are everywhere! The deer jumped over the guardrail and I continued on my way. I head up 309 toward my home in Schnecksville. In the passing lane, I have to quickly change lanes to avoid driving over a dead deer lying across the road.  They are everywhere!

I read that Pennsylvania has, by far, the most deer/car collisions. Close to 130,000 last year alone.  The article went on to explain about the amount of photoreceptors in a deer’s eye and how they literally freeze in the headlights.  The worst months for deer/car collisions are December, January, and February. I have been lucky, in my fifty years of driving, to have never hit a deer. I know, I probably shouldn’t have said that!

Deer are beautiful creatures. There is no doubt about that. But they do create havoc. They destroy farmers crops. They eat up back yard gardens. They love ornamental plants. A novel I read recently described them as beautiful vermin!

A few weeks ago I decided to try to count the deer I see in fields on my way home from dropping off Emma at her mom’s place. From Target on Cedar Crest to the end of Cedar Crest in Ironton, about 7 miles, I counted over 50 deer!

Maybe it’s just that I  now live in a more rural area, but it seems like the deer population is getting out of control. Maybe it’s because fewer people hunt. Hunting is a dying sport, like bowling and golf. Maybe they are just more concentrated in certain areas because of the increase in housing developments.  Maybe the beautiful  Lehigh Valley nights are making male deer much more amorous!!

Whatever the reason is, be careful out there!