By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
As the temperatures begin to drop and harvest season rolls on, deer and wild animals are beginning to roam more--sometimes out onto the roadways.
MoDOT Northwest District Engineer Greg Bolon says drivers should be on the lookout for wild animals, he finds, between dusk and dawn.
"They can come out of anywhere off the side of the road and you won't see them unless you happen to catch a glimpse of their eyes," Bolon tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "But I really watch right around those two times but they're moving around whether it be for food or whether it be for mating."
Bolon says especially when you get closer to hunting season, which begins next month, deer and other wild animals tend to move around more.
Bolon says animal movement is unpredictable, especially at night.
"It's one of those that you kind of just have to look at those shoulder lines and see if you can detect any movement," Bolon explains. "But you know a lot of times what I always see is the eyes are glowing, so if I can see the eyes, I have a chance to either slow down or get out of the way, but if they're not facing at you when it's dark out it's just sometimes hard to detect."
Bolon says if you see a deer before it's in the road, its best to try to slow down, but when one is in the road Bolon says the best course of action might be to just hit the deer
"Because you don't want to run off of a steep side of a road and risk turning the vehicle over, you don't want to cross center line and go into oncoming traffic, so sometimes the best course of action is to try to just hit the deer and slow down as much as possible before that collision occurs," Bolon points out.
Bolon says if you do get into an accident involving a deer, you should only contact the Department of Transportation if the deer is in the road blocking traffic.