We all know the dangers of driving after dark in the months of, roughly, October and November.  With deer season starting and the deer in rut as well, there’s a lot more of them out and a lot more of them moving than there were.

And we’ve all heard about plenty of products that purport to keep deer away, one of these we’re talking about today, the electronic deer alert system.

This one operates by sending out a series of sonic and ultrasonic pulses, audible only to deer and other animals, which in turn warns them to stay away from the road.  Being that it’s electronic, rather than wind activated, it gives an extra measure of reliability, or so it says.

The problem with devices like these is that it’s tough to prove their value.  If I offered to sell you a rock that keeps tigers away, on the basis that you don’t see any tigers near that rock, would you buy it?  That’s why I have my doubts about this one too, but if it worked, it’d be a great gadget.

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Welcome to October Second, ladies and gentlemen, and we are oh-ficially in the worst possible time for car-deer accidents.

This is when they’re at their worst, with deer hunting season pretty imminent in some places (at least bow hunting, depending on the laws in your state), and the rutting season just getting started, deer are everywhere, and they’re entirely too damn stupid to pay attention to things like you in your car.

I can personally vouch for this–one, I was out hunting walnuts last night and I saw four deer actually run by me not thirty feet from where I stood.  They are moving, and there are an ungodly lot of them, mostly owing to hunting seasons that are entirely too short and too restrictive.

So keep your eyes front when you drive, folks, and be doubly careful when you drive at night.  The deer are out and they are out in force.

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