| By Bob Weaver
Last year, Erie Insurance said vehicles are more likely to hit deer in Calhoun, Pleasants, Pocahontas and Wirt counties than in any other West Virginia counties.
The Erie, Pennsylvania-based insurer says there were more than 50 deer claims per 1,000 insured vehicles in Calhoun and each of those counties in 2007.
That was the highest rate in the state.
Still, the number of claims filed related to hitting deer has continued to decline in recent years.
Mingo County had the lowest rate with less than five deer claims per 1,000 insured vehicles.
Erie said the statewide average was 18 deer claims per 100,000.
State Farm Insurance says the chances of a West Virginia vehicle colliding with a deer over the next 12 months are the highest in the nation.
The likelihood of being audited by the IRS is 1 in 150 and the likelihood of being struck by lightning is 1 in 280,000.
State Farm said deer-vehicle collisions are more frequent during the mating season in October, November and December.
"The combination of growing deer populations and the displacement of deer habitat caused by urban sprawl is producing increasingly hazardous conditions for motorists and deer," the company said.
This year with the worst mast crop in nearly 40 years, they will be moving around more searching for food.
The need for new food sources is pushing them nearer to houses and yards.
State Farm has said the average property damage cost of the collisions was about $3,000.
There are approximately 1.5 million deer-vehicle collisions annually in the United States, causing more than 150 fatalities and $1.1 billion in property damage, says State Farm.
Car-mounted deer whistles are worthless.
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