How much of Deer herd do we lose to road kill?

[leech~~]

Just about every weekend I'm heading north either up 10 to 371, hwy 25 or 169 to the Brainerd area. 

It's amazing how much road kill I am seeing on just these roads every weekend.  I can only imagine what the total number state wide of the Deer herd we are losing each year to road kill?  Just guessing but I would guess it could be at least a 1/4 of the herd? 

It makes you sick when it's hard to find one during Deer season! 

Wonder if the DNR keep track of the reported number at least?   

Edited August 24, 2022 by leech~~

[mntatonka]

Highway dept might keep track.  I doubt it's anywhere near 1/4 of the herd.  It's probably statistically insignificant in much of the state.  It certainly hasn't in most of the southeast.  Road kill, predator, disease, and hunter harvest has hardly put a dent in the population there.

[leech~~]

31 minutes ago, mntatonka said:

Highway dept might keep track.  I doubt it's anywhere near 1/4 of the herd.  It's probably statistically insignificant in much of the state.  It certainly hasn't in most of the southeast.  Road kill, predator, disease, and hunter harvest has hardly put a dent in the population there.

 

I hope your right my friend. The SE is a interesting area. I turkey hunted all over down there and would hardly see a Deer in the woods. But when you would drive the roads at sun down the valleys would be full of them!  

 

It still would be interesting to know what the number of road kill waste is? I must have saw 50 splattered spotted fawns this summer. 

[Wanderer]

Happens every year.  We usually have about 3 per year within a mile of our driveway.

 

One might actually gauge the health of the herd by the amount of road kill in an area.

[leech~~]

16 minutes ago, Wanderer said:

Happens every year.  We usually have about 3 per year within a mile of our driveway.

 

One might actually gauge the health of the herd by the amount of road kill in an area.

Or what was the health of the herd, before it got smashed!

[Wanderer]

1 hour ago, leech~~ said:

Or what was the health of the herd, before it got smashed!

More. 

[BobT]

On 8/24/2022 at 11:36 AM, Wanderer said:

Happens every year.  We usually have about 3 per year within a mile of our driveway.

 

One might actually gauge the health of the herd by the amount of road kill in an area.

Health of a herd is not necessarily related to size of the herd. Size of the herd along with traffic intensity in an area may play a big part. It also seems people are less cautious when seeing deer along the roadways and do not slow down in case the deer decides to bolt across or if one does to watch for that second one. 

[Sammie]

On 8/24/2022 at 5:32 AM, leech~~ said:

Just about every weekend I'm heading north either up 10 to 371, hwy 25 or 169 to the Brainerd area. 

It's amazing how much road kill I am seeing on just these roads every weekend.  I can only imagine what the total number state wide of the Deer herd we are losing each year to road kill?  Just guessing but I would guess it could be at least a 1/4 of the herd? 

It makes you sick when it's hard to find one during Deer season! 

Wonder if the DNR keep track of the reported number at least?   

Highway dept might keep track.  I doubt it's anywhere near 1/4 of the herd.  It's probably statistically insignificant in much of the state.  It certainly hasn't in most of the southeast.  Road kill, predator, disease, and hunter harvest has hardly put a dent in the population there

I hope your right my friend. The SE is a interesting area. I turkey hunted all over down there with my new hunting gear from https://gritroutdoors.com/hunting/ and would hardly see a Deer in the woods. But when you would drive the roads at sun down the valleys would be full of them!  

 

It still would be interesting to know what the number of road kill waste is? I must have saw 50 splattered spotted fawns this summer.

1/4 sounds way too high, probably like below 10% . That's still A LOT of roadkill in my opinion. Other thing might be is that you live in a hotspot, so over entire state it's not gonna be that high, but it's high in your specific area. Would be pretty cool to see stats though.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Sammie
typo

[leech~~]

8 hours ago, Sammie said:

1/4 sounds way too high, probably like below 10% . That's still A LOT of roadkill in my opinion. Other thing might be is that you live in a hotspot, so over entire state it's not gonna be that high, but it's high in your specific area. Would be pretty cool to see stats though.

Welcome to the forum.

Looks like your from Texas, how's the road kill situation down there?  Don't most the ranches have fences around them?  

[Mike89]

more possum and armadillos I'll bet!!!

[Sammie]

On 12/15/2022 at 7:00 PM, leech~~ said:

Welcome to the forum.

Looks like your from Texas, how's the road kill situation down there?  Don't most the ranches have fences around them?  

Not that bad in my area, but my folks(living in a rural area) have a bunch. Mostly small stuff like racoons n stuff, some yotes I was told. Surprisingly they haven't seen many deers.

[leech~~]

2 hours ago, Sammie said:

Not that bad in my area, but my folks(living in a rural area) have a bunch. Mostly small stuff like racoons n stuff, some yotes I was told. Surprisingly they haven't seen many deers.

Yeah, this post was about Deer only. Not rodent road kill. Thanks for your input from Texas.