Drivers beware! Deer present a moving target

Hunting season starts soon, but this is also the most dangerous time of the year for deer/car collisions.

You might not realize it, but Lake County is No. 6 on the list of Illinois counties for deer/car collisions with 553. The top one was Cook with 1,008, followed by Peoria with 642 and Madison with 630.

Last year in Illinois, there were a total of 24,212 deer/car crashes and 758 injuries, including two deaths in a single car/deer crash. The good news is the number of injuries and crashes is going down — about 100 every year for the past three years.

“Crashes involving deer are very difficult to avoid, which is why we strongly urge motorists to be alert and buckle up, and motorcyclists to wear a helmet to help prevent injury or death,” said Gary Hannig, Illinois transportation secretary.

He said safety precautions do help. A nationwide study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed that 60 percent of people killed in deer/car crashes were not wearing their seat belts. Sixty-five percent of motorcycle riders in deer/car crashes were not wearing helmets.

Illinois Department of Natural Resources director Marc Miller said that the most active times for deer are dawn and dusk, so you basically need to be alert during your commute.

“Keep a mental log of places you drive where deer are seen regularly and slow down in those areas. And if you see one deer cross the road, always assume more will follow,” he said.

Deer-hunting season in Lake County’s Chain O’ Lakes State Park (archery only) starts next Monday, and it’s nice to know they are culling some deer.

They had 39 kills last year, including 13 bucks, and 55 the year before, with 20 bucks, which are bigger animals than the does.

You have to take a doe before you are allowed to purchase a second permit for a buck. It’s called Earn a Buck. Morraine Hills in McHenry County and Volo Bog also offer archery-deer hunting.
It’s interesting that we have so many deer now since the white-tail deer had nearly become extinct in the 1800’s. Since 1982, it’s been the state animal.

Drivers are allowed to claim the deer they hit, or any other state resident can. You have to keep a record of the date the deer was claimed, the sex of the animal and location of the accident.

 If you plan to mount the deer, then you do have to call the IDNR at (217) 782-6431.

Book Club

The Liberty Prairie Conservancy is hosting a book discussion Nov. 12 with the No. 2 man at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, John Rogner.

The book is “Win-Win Ecology” by Michael Rosenzweig, who asks how the earth’s species can survive in the midst of human enterprise.

Rosenzweig offers an answer and the result has been an upheaval in the politics and practice of conservation. Dismayed by the long-term futility of current set-aside strategies to save species, Rosenzweig proposed “reconciliation ecology.”

Rogner is chair of the 230-member Chicago Wilderness consortium, and field-office supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regional office in Barrington. John is intrigued by the impact reconciliation ecology can have on the Chicago region.

The talk is from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Prairie Crossing Farmhouse in Grayslake. The fee is $13 ($8 for members of the Liberty Prairie Conservancy) and includes fresh cookies and hot apple cider.

Reservations are required; call (847) 548.5989, ext. 33, or see Web site  www.libertyprairie.org.

Raving about Ravines

The Lake County Audubon is sponsoring a “Lake County Ravine” talk next Monday at its regularly-scheduled meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the upstairs meeting room at Libertyville’s Village Hall.

You will learn about the beautiful ravines bordering Lake Michigan’s shoreline from Glencoe to Waukegan.
The ravines protect some of the region’s rarest native habitat.

Conjuring up images and aromas of the North Woods, Canada mayflower, huckleberry, white pine, and arbor vitae flourish in these sheltered pockets and nowhere else in our region.

Ken Klick, a senior restoration ecologist with the Lake County Forest Preserves, will provide an overview of the distinctive geologic forces that create our ravines, the unique plants and animals that flourish here, how urbanization affects these ravines, and how the Lake County Forest Preserves and others are restoring these one-of-a-kind habitats of our region.

Klick is the district’s lead ecologist for ravine restoration and has been with the district for 15 years. Since 1995, Ken has worked as the senior restoration ecologist for the Lake County Forest Preserve District, supervising large woodland, wetland, and prairie restoration projects throughout the District’s 26,000 acres of open space. He is an avid naturalist and enjoys birding mostly without binoculars.
 
Members of the public are welcome to attend this free, 90-minute program.

On radar

The Waukegan Sail and Power Squadron is offering a “Marine Radar Seminar” at the Waukegan Yacht Club, 199 N. Harbor Place, Waukegan, from 7-9 p.m. on Nov. 3.

This seminar explains radar functions, radar selection, operations of the radar under various conditions including setting of controls, display interpretation, basic navigation and collision avoidance using radar.
The seminar is open to the public and costs $10. For additional information, contact Mike Ludtke at (815) 575-0809 or Web site wspsxo@gmail.com.