Deer Collision Season in Florida

1 in 543, according to State Farm’s 2025-2026 analysis of animal collision claims, which ranks Florida 46th of 51 (the 50 states and the District of Columbia) and places it in the low likelihood category. The national figure is 1 in 145. That is a higher likelihood than 1 in 575 in the 2024-2025 edition.

56 from 2015 to 2024, about 5.6 a year, with 58 deaths, according to NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. That is 0.2 percent of all fatal crashes in the state, and 9th among the 50 states by count. FARS counts crashes with any animal, not deer alone.

Nationally, State Farm names November, October and December as the peak months for large animal collisions. March is the month with the most fatal animal crashes in Florida, 9 of 56 across the ten years. The deer rut in Florida runs July 22 to March 3.

The deer rut in Florida runs July 22 to March 3. That is the timing the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission publishes, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ties the autumn collision peak to the rut, when deer are most active.

About an hour. On November 7, 2027, sunset in Jacksonville moves from 6:35 PM on the Saturday to 5:35 PM on the Sunday, computed with the U.S. Naval Observatory method.

Mostly after dark. Of Florida’s 56 fatal animal crashes from 2015 to 2024, 75 percent happened in the dark and 5.4 percent at dusk or dawn, and 41 percent happened between 5 PM and midnight.

White-tailed deer live throughout Florida, and in the Lower Keys the small Key deer cross U.S. 1, where fencing and underpasses guide them.