The whitetailed deer "rut" - also known as breeding season - kicks off across much of Texas this month, triggering increased movement of deer as bucks pursue does, often with a reckless single-mindedness that short-circuits the animal's natural wariness.

This is good news for the state's 600,000 or so deer hunters, many of whom will head afield for the Nov. 2 opening of Texas' general deer season. Increased deer movement means increased chances of a successful hunt.

It is not good news for the state's 15.1 million licensed drivers, thousands of whom over the coming months will have their own encounters with some of the state's 3.6 million whitetails. These encounters usually turn out badly for both parties.

Concentrated window

The three months - October, November and December - during which almost all deer breeding activity occurs see the highest number of deer-motor vehicle accidents, according to information compiled and interpreted by State Farm Insurance. November, during which the whitetail rut peaks in most of the United States, accounts for almost 20 percent of the 1.22 million deer-vehicle collisions that occur each year, State Farm data show. October has the second-highest number of such accidents, with December right behind.

Nationwide, a deer-vehicle collision is three times more likely to occur during the 30 days of November than during the seven months from Feb. 1 through Aug. 31.

Using data from the Federal Highway Administration and information gleaned from insurance claims, State Farm estimates 1.22 million collisions involving deer and motor vehicles occurred nationwide between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013. Approximately 46,500 of those accidents - an average of almost 130 per day - were in Texas.

Those figures are the only estimates available on the number of deer-vehicle accidents in Texas. Neither Texas Parks and Wildlife Department nor Texas Department of Transportation collects information on road-killed deer or other wildlife. Also, a driver hitting a deer is not required to report the incident to local law enforcement.

Locale important

With deer so abundant and common in much of the state, a driver on a Texas road - be it a lightly traveled farm-to-market, an interstate carrying a constant stream of traffic or even a residential street in a suburban neighborhood - at dawn, dusk or during the night, when deer are most active, on any day of the year, stands a chance of having a deer bolt into the roadway. State Farm figures one in 325 licensed drivers in Texas will hit a deer over the coming 12 months. That places Texas 40th out of the 50 states in the likelihood of a driver hitting a deer in the coming year; West Virginia, where State Farm figures a licensed driver has a 1-in-41 chance of hitting a deer, tops the list. (Pennsylvanian has the highest total deer casualties from collision, a stunning 115,000 a year, or about 315 per day.)

The insurance company notes that the 1-in-325 figure is a statewide number that includes all 15.1 million licensed Texas drivers. In particularly deer-rich areas of the state - rural areas of the Hill County, for example - the risk is much higher; the risk for someone who drives almost exclusively inside Houston's Beltway is much lower. That risk is far from zero, though. There are several pockets of deer living - and regularly dying in collisions - inside Houston's boundaries.

Those collisions, which State Farm said resulted this past year in an average of $3,414 in damage to the vehicle, are certain to become more common over coming weeks as Texas' deer herd, the largest in the nation, becomes more active. In addition to bucks being addled/distracted by hormones, does and their fast-growing fawns are going about the urgent business of finding and devouring as much high-fat, high-nutrition food as possible to help them get through winter's hard times. That can, and often does, lead them to the edge of roadways where deer can find forbs and other forage that hasn't been grazed by cattle.

Eyes to the sides

Drivers can take precautions that reduce the chances of colliding with deer. Deer almost never stand in a road; they dart into the road from the sides. Drivers should pay attention to the margins of the road and the edges of the right-of-way; that's where the deer is most likely to come from. Slow down, especially when driving in "deer country" at dawn, dusk or at night; it's Russian roulette to drive 75 mph at night in areas where deer range. Note those "deer crossing" signs; they are there for a reason.

Even when taking all precautions, some deer collisions are inevitable; the animals come from a driver's blind spot or are so addled and spooked they dart, seemingly out of nowhere, directly in front of a vehicle. It happens.

When it does, Texas law prohibits anyone - the driver of the vehicle involved in the accident or someone who just happens upon a road-killed deer - from taking possession of the animal or any part of it.

Some states allow citizens to attempt to salvage edible venison from road-killed deer. Montana this month adopted changes in regulations that allow salvage of road-killed deer, elk, moose and antelope, with interested parties able to go online to apply for and print a permit that allows them to possess a road-killed animal. Other states allow law enforcement officials - game wardens or sheriffs department officers - to issue permits allowing someone to take a road-killed deer. Illinois officials estimate 60 percent of the 39,000 deer killed in collisions in that state are salvaged by individuals for food.

Texas regulations make no such allowances for citizens to take possession of road-killed deer.

To legally take possession of a dead deer in Texas, a person must hold a valid hunting license and deer tag, the deer has to be taken during an open hunting season for deer and has to be taken by legal means and methods. That last part - the legal means and methods - prohibits taking possession of a road-killed deer, even if it's deer season and a person has the proper licenses.

No private salvaging

Hitting a deer with a motor vehicle is not a legal mean and method for taking deer, said Lt. Johnny Longoria of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's law enforcement division's North Houston office.

Also, he noted, Texas law prohibits hunting (defined as "taking or attempting to take") deer within the right of way of a public road.

"Under the regulations, a person can't just take that (road-killed) deer, or any part of it such as the antlers," Longoria said.

The majority of road-killed deer are not reported to game wardens or law enforcement, and the deer quickly becomes inedible. In most cases, too, the damage done to the deer by the collision is so severe there is little salvageable venison.

"I've never had anybody request to take a deer that they hit," said Longoria, a 16-year veteran game warden.

In rare cases in which game wardens or other law enforcement are at the scene of a fresh road-kill and the animal is salvageable, officers have the option of donating the venison, usually to a church or other organization that feeds the homeless or others needing assistance.

And that's about the only good thing that comes from deer/vehicle collisions.