For the record, the list is topped by West Virginia, with odds of 1 in 40. The safest state is Nevada, with a probability of 1 in 966. Nationally, the average is 1 in 139.<\/p>\n
Cowboy State Daily talked to some Wyoming motorists who have crashed into wildlife (or vice versa, depending on one\u2019s perspective).\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"These](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Roadkill-five-3.31.24.jpg\")
These five deer will all struck and killed within about 100 yards of each other along Highway 189 during the winter of 2022-2023. They represent just a fraction animals killed there over the decades. (Courtesy Mike Schmid)Beware Other Traffic<\/p>\n
Michael McDill of Casper had a harrowing experience that involved a big buck deer and another driver who wasn\u2019t paying attention to the scene.<\/p>\n
McDill was westbound on the the city’s Outer Drive, just past College Drive and before the Yessness Pond turnaround.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe buck deer came charging up the right side incline so fast in front of me that I hit my brakes and laid on the horn,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI think it was running away from a dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDill said the deer jumped away from his truck but he clipped him in the rear anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe spun around in the middle of the road, and just about the time I got stopped, I was slammed into by a truck coming up behind me,\u201d McDill said. \u201cThe other driver was watching the deer and did not realize I had stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n
What happened next is not included in the odds listed in State Farm\u2019s study, which didn\u2019t document what happens when another vehicle is also involved in the collision.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The truck driver)\u00a0hit me so hard that it twisted my frame, totaling my truck and demolishing the drone of the other driver\u2019s truck,\u201d McDill said. \u201cLuckily nobody was hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what happened to the buck?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got up and trotted off the road,\u201d he recalled. \u201cProbably had a sore rear end for a couple of days.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Wyoming](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/more-dead-carcasses-4-28-23.jpg\")
Wyoming wildlife officials gathered hundreds of wildlife carcasses from along highways during the infamous winter of 2022-23. (Wyoming Game and Fish)Mother Lives, Fawn Dies<\/p>\n
Janet Cunningham said she and her husband were driving down the canyon on Highway 230 toward Laramie when a deer bounded in front of their truck.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe barely missed her, but then her fawn was following and it ran into our right front tire,\u201d she recalled. \u201cIt broke my heart to see the mother turn at the edge of the forest and look back for her baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple stopped, as did the person behind them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guy pulled the fawn off the road and told us it was dead,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cWe were thankful that it wasn\u2019t just hurt badly and suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it was nerve-rattling for the Cunninghams.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI cried most of the way to Laramie,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Even if someone hasn\u2019t experienced staring directly into the eyes of a moose they\u2019re about to hit, it\u2019s easy to understand their terror at what would happen next.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were on our way to see a (University of Wyoming)\u00a0Cowboys game,\u201d Jill Van Overbeke told Cowboy State Daily. \u201cIt was after dark in our trusty Toyota Highlander.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe walked away but the moose didn\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Wyoming](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Wyoming-roadkill-8.18.23.jpg\")
Wyoming is working on projects, most notably wildlife crossings, that could reduce the number of roadkill incidents on highway around the state, which ranks ninth in the nation in that statistic. (Wyoming Game and Fish Department via YouTube)A Turn Of The Wheel<\/p>\n
Even if someone hasn\u2019t experienced staring directly into the eyes of a moose they\u2019re about to hit, it\u2019s easy to understand their terror at what would happen next.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were on our way to see a (University of Wyoming) Cowboys game,\u201d Jill VanOverbeke told Cowboy State Daily. \u201cIt was after dark in our trusty Toyota Highlander.\u201d<\/p>\n
She remembered the moose just appeared in front of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was driving about 78 mph,\u201d VanOverbeke said. \u201cI turned the wheel a tiny bit and hit her head. The impact point was the driver\u2019s side windshield and she was killed instantly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The animal dropped onto the middle of the interstate and was hit by many more cars, with several launching into the air. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe ended up on the side of the road with the windshield smashed into a million pieces,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In addition to the moose, VanOverbeke\u2019s diamond in her wedding ring was a casualty; she said it popped out.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son, maybe 10 or 11, was asleep in the back seat,\u201d she said. \u201cHe sat up screaming his head off. My husband and I were OK, just stunned. I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn\u2019t turned that wheel \u2014 it probably would have landed in our laps.\u201d<\/p>\n
To make matters worse, VanOverbeke said they missed the game.<\/p>\n
Mother Coyote Took The Deer<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s an example of someone doing a good deed only to be at the wrong place at the wrong time:<\/p>\n
Melissa Connely was at her home in Casper when she got a call from her sister, whose car broke down in Medicine Bow. On the way to pick her up, Connely came to Bates Hole, where she knew from experience there were a lot of deer, so she slowed down.<\/p>\n
\u201cSure enough, around the bend, a herd was standing and there was no way to avoid them. I slammed on the brakes and hit a doe,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n
Connely said the damage was a caved grill and a busted headlight. The deer flipped over the hood and took out the side mirror before leaving the scene of the accident.<\/p>\n
She said her two young girls and sister, who were traveling with her, were shaken. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know what to say to calm the girls,\u201d Connely said, so she made up a story.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told them that mommy coyote would take the deer to feed her puppies,\u201d she said. \u201cThat seemed to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
She worried about what would happen if she hit another deer and broke the second headlight. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was so sad (thinking) if the deer was killed,\u201d Connely said. \u201cIt took years for me to drive at night again, and I still think of it every time I drive that stretch of road. I will never lose that sad memory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Close Call<\/p>\n
In the case of Chesie Lee of Riverton, it was the animal that struck her \u2014 a gray area because State Farm does not list the odds of an animal colliding with a vehicle as opposed to vice versa.<\/p>\n
Lee was driving on Wyoming Highway 135, on her way to Riverton from Laramie.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw an antelope on the left side of the road that was beginning to cross the road in front of me,\u201d she remembers. \u201cI pulled over and came to a complete stop. I braced myself as it knocked my sideview mirror across the road when it made a 180-degree turn, avoiding collision with my car door. I don\u2019t know if it was injured.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee wasn\u2019t able to reattach the mirror\u00a0but otherwise came through the incident unscathed. That paled, she said, \u201cto the shock of seeing it headed right toward me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deer Most Often Hit<\/p>\n
In its study, State Farm noted the industry processed 1.7 million claims involving animal collections nationally from July 2024 to June 2025. That\u2019s about a 100,000 drop from the previous year.<\/p>\n
About 1.1 million of the claims involved hitting deer. Autumn is the peak season for such accidents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As Cowboy State Daily has previously reported, the end of daylight savings time is deadly for deer<\/a>, and the number of deer getting hit on America\u2019s highways jumps by 16% the week after clocks are moved back an hour and leaves more people driving in the twilight and dark<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wyoming Game and Fish Department spokeswoman Amanda Fry said wildlife crossings, which are projects funded by her department, the Wyoming Department of Transportation, and wildlife and community groups, significantly lower the number of vehicle-wildlife collisions.<\/p>\n \u201cThose are incredibly effective,\u201d Fry said of wildlife crossings. \u201cUnderpasses and overpasses, coupled with wildlife-proof fencing, can reduce crashes by 80 to 90% and allow wildlife to cross roads and get to their seasonal ranges.\u201d<\/p>\n Proper fencing and additional gates can help wildlife cross roads more quickly and avoid conflicts with traffic, she added, and reducing vegetation on the side of roads can make wildlife more visible to drivers.<\/p>\n Roadkill Can Be Taken<\/p>\n But what if you have a collision and a big-game animal is dead? Is it legal to take roadkill?<\/p>\n It is under Wyoming law, but there are requirements and restrictions.<\/p>\n You need approval from Wyoming Game and Fish before collecting roadkill deer, elk, pronghorn, moose, wild bison or wild turkey from vehicle collisions. You can request approval on an incident-by-incident basis through the 511 WYO ROADS mobile app.<\/p>\n But collecting roadkill wildlife can be dangerous. Game and Fish urges motorists to avoid collecting roadkill if traffic is on the highway. The entire animal must be taken and the inedible portions must be properly disposed of in an approved landfill.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t collect roadkill within construction areas or national parks in Wyoming.<\/p>\n Parking off the road is required, and you must turn on your vehicle\u2019s emergency flashers. Field dressing is not allowed on the roadway.<\/p>\n Kerry Drake can be reached at: Kerry@CowboyStateDaily.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collisions between cars and wildlife are notoriously bad for all involved, though sometimes lucky drivers walk away without…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[85,46,141,386],"class_list":["post-549611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}