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Show "Highway Mortality" Thins Out Herd Each year in the spring and fall Utah's deer ;. population migrate between winter and summer ranges, crossing small roads as well as major highways. And , each year, hundreds of deer are killed in the process. It's called "Highway mortality" in game management venacular but whatever it's called the result is the loss of large , numbers, of eec each,.year , :jdue; ; ? to"i vehiclendeer 5 J . Stcrfllislons. The potential lossT4' I"' of human life is, of course, the largest concern but the . loss of wildlife, both real and potential, is a real concern to game managers. "In the 1977-78 fiscal year the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources recorded 1,962 deer killed on Utah highways," high-ways," reported Chris Chaffin, regional information in-formation officer for the Division.- "That was a particularly bad year for highway kills but the number of deer killed was not a whole lot higher than several years during the 1970's," Chaffin said. For example 1800 deer were killed on highways in 1972 -1973 and 1683 highway mortalities were recorded in 1970 1971. Highway mortality among Utah's deer population increases in-creases significantly during the times of the year when deer cross highways moving to new ranges or when they come to roadsides to feed. This latter situation typically occurs during spring months when heat absorbed by the roads extends ex-tends into roadside shoulders and produces "green-up" of roadside grasses much sooner than in the foothills. Since deer utilize grasses in the early spring, roadway green-up attracts them to busy highways high-ways and puts them in direct conflict with fast moving vehicles. Chaffin reports that many HIGHWAY CLAIMS DEER. Thousands of deer are killed on Utah highways each year through vehicle-deer collisions. Accidents Ac-cidents increase significantly in the spring when deer feed on roadside grasses and as deer move to and from winter and summer sum-mer ranges. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources conservation officer, Garth Carter, examines a fatality. as the number of deer found ont he highways. Chaffin urged motorists to drive cautiously in deer areas at all tiems, but particularly during the spring when deer are feeding along roadsides. accidents are unavoidable but that some could be eliminated if motorists would pay attention to road signs that identify deer areas. "If drivers would slow down just a little and pay a little more attention to the shoulders of the road in deer areas they could avoid hitting deer that spook when car lights and fast moving vehicles approach them. Since deer usually feed at dawn and again at dusk, it is frequently impossible to see them until your car is very close." Chaffin said. The information officer also said that deer find their way onto roads and even the freeway in spite of very intense and costly J fencing projects to keep them out. Chaffin also pointed out that the numbers of road kills recorded in Division records is not totally indicative in-dicative of the total number of deer killed each year by vehicles. Chaffin said that the numbers num-bers of recorded highway mortalities i indicate only the deer picked up b y conservation officers or other state employees. It does not give any indication of the deer that are hit by cars and wander 50 yards or a mile off the , roadway then die. One research biologist with the Division says that this second die-off of deer could be as much as three to five times as much |