June marks a busy time of year when it comes to deer activity, according to the DNR, as females search for a place to give birth, along with young deer that are ushered out by their mothers. Wildlife Biologist Kay Brockman-Maderas says it often creates a lot of issues.
“The yearlings get booted from the doe when she has new fawns, so then the yearlings start running around not knowing what to do and they can get into cities, towns and cause a lot of problems,” she explained.
Problems only magnify, Brockman-Maderas explains, when curious members of the public try to chase or get close to the young deer.
“If you do see one in town, don’t chase it, it’s going to make things worse,” she stated. “They’ll eventually make their way out of town and sometimes police departments will coax them out, but when the chase is on and people want to take photos and see the deer, they crash through store windows and get into bad situations.”
These bad situations also include the roadways, as over the past five years June has been one of the worst months when it comes to driver injuries in deer crashes.
Last year, 21 people were injured in deer accidents in Waupaca County, 11 were injured in Shawano County, while Outagamie County had 16 injuries and one fatality, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.