Deer are generally pretty cool to observe in nature as long as they're not damaging crops... or windshields. Today's AP article appearing in the Journal Sentinel mentions June as being the first or second-worst month for deer crashes in the last four or five years. There were almost 18,000 deer / vehicle crashes reported last year in the state - 655 in Waukesha County.
One of the reasons deer crashes are so numerous in June is the yearlings are starting to wander away from their mothers. Didn't the mothers teach them to stop and look both ways when crossing streets before sending them out on their own?
I had to wonder who taught or didn't teach the young dear I saw crossing Moreland at Michigan against the light over the weekend. I wondered, if the 12 or 13 year old was allowed to ride his bike away from home, why wasn't he first taught the safest way to cross a street?
A short while later I saw another young dear on a bike by the Mobil station on Summit, not far from Moreland and Michigan. He was wearing the same kind of shirt as the first kid and I wondered if it could be him. When he crossed in front of my moving car, barely looking, I knew it must be the same one.
Like many deer, this dear on a bike was now travelling with another. The second was even more careless and within about 15 feet of being run over. Like deer in the headlights, he froze when he realized how close I was. Not the safest.
Now that summer is starting and school is ending I urge everyone to not only watch out for deer but also for dear. It also would be nice if parents taught their dears the correct way to cross busy intersections before they wander away from their mothers.
****** 6/8 addition ******
Saw a young deer by Grandview Park early this morning. Lost sight of it as it headed up Easy Street. I see deer in the city on rare occasion, but have you ever seen a road-kill deer in the City of Waukesha? There was one about four or five years ago, an adult, just a block from the hospital's emergency department.
