They were long gone. Each year sees thousands of such scenarios across the commonwealth. Complicating the count are animals that bound away apparently unscathed. The state has long struggled to control its flourishing herds. According to the Game Commission's Jerry Feaser, the population stands at 1.5 million, not including Philadelphia and the suburban counties of Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and Allegheny.
Suburban sprawl compounds the trend by creating the type of wood's edge habitat whitetails love.
Deer encounters are legion. In a Chester County incident reported years ago, a deer leaped atop a motorcyclist, killing him. Auto insurance trends reflect the whitetail problem. The Erie Insurance Group processed 14,377 deer -related claims last year, a 12 percent increase from 1998, said rate analyst Darrin Birtciel. Based on the number of policies in each county, he added, Pennsylvania's five heaviest hitters were Potter, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Fulton and Huntingdon.