Vehicle Totaled After Collision With Deer in Palos

PALOS PARK, IL — A deer strike during the overnight hours Tuesday totaled a vehicle near the Palos forest preserves.

Palos Park police assisted Cook County Sheriff’s Police in a deer hit near Route 83rd Avenue and 104th Street in a heavily forested area around 1:16 a.m. in unincorporated Palos.

“The whole front end of the car was totaled,” said Chief Joe Miller, of the Palos Park Police Department. “The people lived in Palos Park and we're on their way home.”

No injuries were reported to the people in the vehicle. It is unknown if the deer died.

“They’ll often crawl into the woods and die,” Miller said

With the cooler than usual June nights, Miller said officers driving the roads are seeing increased deer traffic in heavily wooded areas, particularly during the overnight hours.

“It’s not unusual for them to be running around at that time of night, especially if temps are cooler,” the police chief told Patch. “I’ve spent a lot of time driving nights in Palos Park and I’m seeing heavy deer traffic, more than we normally do this time of year.”

The police chief said the June deer traffic is similar to peak mating season, which starts in late September and continues through December.

“Perhaps there is a larger deer population in the forest preserves, but our officers are seeing more deer in the middle of the night crossing roads,” Miller said.

Although it is not yet mating season, the male adult whitetail deer’s reproductive system is “awakened” by decreasing day length. As daylight wanes in the fall, melatonin released in the buck’s brain triggers an increase in testosterone production. This testosterone release hardens the antlers. After the antlers have hardened, the buck is capable of breeding a doe, according to the Lousiana State University AgCenter.

Meanwhile, Miller is advising motorists passing through Palos Park to stay alert for deer.

“We’re certainly noticing a lot more deer than we see in June,” he said.