In the last few weeks “rutting” deer — that is, deer looking to mate — have come out of the woodwork and onto island roads. Problem is that the males in particular have thrown all caution to wind and pay little attention to approaching vehicles. As a result, there have been more than half a dozen car-on-deer accidents this fall (and those are just the ones that have been reported to police).

The rut can last anywhere from one to three months, normally starting as the days get shorter. The deer are hardwired to begin mating so that newborns arrive in the spring.

Here is the police list to date (each resulted in the demise of the deer involved):

September 19: a moped driver encountered a group of deer at the foot of airport hill, hitting one of them. A deer was killed, and the driver sustained serious injury.

October 7: a doe was killed in a collision with a car on West Side Road.

October 27: a car driving south on Corn Neck Road hit a deer near the intersection with Beach Avenue around 10 a.m., causing damage to the front end of the car and “destroying the fan belt.”

October 30: a dead doe was found on Corn Neck Road, the result of an auto collision.

November 7: near the intersection of West Side and Center roads, a deer ran in front of a vehicle at about 5 p.m., resulting in a collision that damaged the vehicle’s front grill, both headlights, and left a dent in the hood.

November 7: a buck was found on Corn Neck Road, the result of an automobile accident.

November 16: while collecting deer data at the police station, another call came in from Corn Neck Road: a car hit a deer hit near Mitchell Farm.

State culpability?

The Times was asked this week if the state was at all liable for deer damage to vehicles. According to state Attorney General spokesman Mike Healey, though the accidents occur on state roads, the state is not liable — rather, the accidents are akin to “acts of God.” Deer are wild — “not law-bound,” says Healey.

He refers to a 1994 case where an airline unsuccessfully sued the state after one of its planes collided with a deer on the island’s airport runway. That case traveled all the way to the state Supreme Court, but the airline lost its appeal. The collision happened October 22, 1985.

— Peter Voskam