It's mating season for deer, making it a dangerous time for Long Island drivers

It's rutting season, and AAA Northeast is warning drivers to be careful out there — especially in rural Suffolk County.

The annual deer mating season is one of the most hazardous times for drivers in the Northeast. One Long Island town, Southold, leads New York State in deer-related crashes between 2021 and 2024, AAA said in a statement Wednesday.

The number of Long Island crashes involving deer rose 75% over eight years to the highest level on record, Newsday reported earlier this year. While most of the crashes occur in Suffolk County, Nassau County's North Shore communities have also seen an uptick.

Nationally, statistics available from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found more than 1.5 million crashes involved live animals from 2020-2024, its most-recent statistical data available. Of those, NHTSA found more than 150,000 of those crashes resulted in injuries to drivers and passengers. A total of 948 of those incidents were fatal to humans, NHTSA found.

The New York City-based Insurance Information Institute, an industry association that compiles statistical data for the media, researchers and general public related to insurance, found U.S. drivers filed about 1.65 million "animal collision insurance claims" nationwide from July 2025 to June 2026.

The AAA said more than 40% of all deer-strike incidents occurred between September and December, prime rutting — or, mating — season for wild hoofed animals: deer, elk and moose.

Between 2021 and 2024 the AAA said the Town of Southold recorded 790 crashes involving deer strikes by drivers, while 599 were recorded in Town of Brookhaven and 526 were tallied in the Town of Southampton. The three towns were among the top 10 municipalities in the state for deer strikes in that time period, AAA said.

Deer-related crashes

Nassau and Suffolk counties did not crack the top 10 for deer crashes in the state. Monroe County led that list, with 5,450 crashes between 2021 and 2024, followed by St. Lawrence (5,192), Orange (5,124), Oneida (5.019), Ontario (4,699), Jefferson (4,493), Erie (3,987), Onondaga (3,661), Steuben (3,472) and Livingston (3.461). Overall statistics for Nassau and Suffolk were not immediately available on Wednesday.

According to NHTSA and the AAA, New York saw a record 32,537 deer-related crashes in 2024, a 4% increase over 2023.

Statistics also found more than 20% of all deer crashes occurred in November, with drivers almost 2½ times more likely to be involved in a deer-related crash in November than any other month.

The peak risk period for deer strikes is early morning and late-afternoon / early-evening, AAA said.

Peak crash time frames are between 6 and 10 a.m. and between 3 and 7 p.m.

AAA Northeast senior manager for public affairs Robert Sinclair Jr. said the natural inclination of drivers confronted with a deer in the road was to take evasive action to avoid a crash.

The advice of experts? Don't overreact.

"If you're in an area where deer are prevalent — wooded areas, areas where you know there's wildlife — watch the side of the road, be aware," Sinclair said. "Especially, at dawn and dusk. Especially, at dusk, which is prime time for deer. ... And the big thing is do not swerve. If you swerve, you hit a tree, you hit a pole, you hit a car — maybe you even have a head-on collision."

Terrible as this sounds, Sinclair said: "Most times, it's better to just hit the deer."

And, Sinclair said, don't brake hard, either. "You hit the brakes hard and it causes the front end of the car to dive. That can allow a deer to roll up onto your hood and through the windshield. And that can kill you."

As he said: "The best advice is just slow down. Be aware. Pay attention."

Newsday's Peter Gill contributed to this story.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a Newsday reporter since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press, Society of the Silurians and National Headliner Awards for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing. He is the author of “Swee'pea,” about New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. His debut crime novel, “For Nothing Is Hidden,” rooted in 1950s Long Island, was released in October 2025.