Deer Season, A Dangerous Time For Oklahoma Drivers

It's deer mating season, and that means it's a dangerous time for Oklahoma drivers.

A police dash cam caught a deer jumping over a cop car. In that case, the deer hopped the car, but not all drivers are so lucky.

Jason Baker got a big buck; actually, his wife Holly got it, but not with a gun or a bow, she got it with her car and now it's totaled.

11/25/2014 Related Story: Driver Not Hurt When Car Hits Deer On Tulsa Highway

"He just jumped out in front of me," Holly said. "I saw his antlers just flash in the headlights, and then, crash."

She and her family were on 169, driving to Oologah after her daughter's basketball game in Catoosa.

Just before she reached the bridge over the Four Mile Creek, out of the darkness a deer jumped out of the median in front of her car.

"It happened so quickly," she said. “He was a big deer. He was a ten-point, probably 160-175 pound buck."

She hit the brakes, and managed to stay in her lane.

Thankfully the Bakers weren't hurt, but the deer died.

Holly said she knew deer-vehicle collisions happened, but didn't know that one in every 200 drivers will hit a deer on an Oklahoma road this year.

"Well, you know, before last Tuesday I probably would've said they're not really that high, but I've never hit anything now except a deer," she said.

We saw three deer, right along the highway, near where Holly's crash happened.

The Insurance Information Institute said deer-vehicle collisions result in 200 deaths each year.

Geico has some guidelines that might help drivers avoid collisions:

• Deer are most active at dusk and dawn and rarely travel alone.
• The center lane is your safest bet for avoiding a deer collision.
• If you see a deer, brake and don't swerve.
• Honking could scare a deer out of the road.

If you do hit a deer, and it's still alive, it could be confused, injured and dangerous, so do not approach the deer.