CAPE LED COUNTY TO DEER-RELATED TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS

More deer were struck by vehicles last year in rural areas statewide, but locally, Cape Gardeau had more deer-related accidents than Cape Girardeau County.

Cape Girardeau, which had 32 deer-related traffic accidents, ranked seventh among Missouri cities. Cape Girardeau County ranked 13th among the state's counties. The county recorded 81 accidents involving deer, the report said.

There were more than 4,000 deer-related traffic accidents in the state last year.

No other county in Southeast Missouri was among those at the top of the list. Worth County, near the Missouri-Iowa border, reported only one accident during 1997.

With only 39 deer-related accidents reported, Ste. Genevieve County tied for 32nd place among the state's 115 counties. Butler and Perry counties also tied, along with Lawrence County, for 41st with 31 accidents.

Scott County had 15 deer-related traffic accidents, Stoddard County 14, Mississippi County nine and Bollinger County five, the report said.

Statewide statistics show that nearly 31 percent of the accidents occurred on Fridays and Saturdays, with the vast majority -- 85.5 percent -- occurring between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Nearly half of the accidents, an estimated 47 percent, occurred from October through December, with the largest proportion in November. The peak occurred in mid-November.

The Missouri Department of Conservation attributed the increased numbers in the fall months to the beginning of rutting or mating season. As rutting season begins, the deer movement increases, meaning more deer move across roadways.

Deer hunting season may have caused an increase in roadway crossing as well, the conservation department said.

There are also many deer-traffic accidents reported during the spring. Yearling fawns leaving their mothers just before the arrival of newborns is likely the cause of the increase, the conservation department said.

A spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol said law enforcement agencies or the conservation department should be notified when an accident involving a deer occurs.

Reports on accidents, especially those accidents in which deer are killed, can help the Department of Conservation track the state's deer population. When an accident occurs, a report is filed with conservation agents to let the department know the site of the accident and the disposition of the deer.

When a deer is killed in an accident, the driver of the vehicle may decide to keep the deer for meat. But if a driver keeps the deer, a permit from the conservation department is needed to ensure the animal was killed legally.

A conservation agent or a highway patrolman must determine that the deer has been killed from an accident involving a motor vehicle and not by other means. There are incidents each year in which people shoot deer and try to pass them off as having been struck by a vehicle, the highway patrol spokesman said.

More than 78 percent of the accidents occurred in rural areas.