Wrecks involving deer jump 12 percent

Vehicle crashes in North Carolina involving deer jumped 12 percent last year to 19,277, officials said Wednesday.

Deer were cited in 8.6 percent of all wrecks statewide, up from 7.8 percent in 2006, according to the UNC Highway Safety Research Center. Wake County topped the list with 1,129 deer-related crashes, followed by Guilford, Rockingham, Duplin and Pitt counties.

Eleven of the crashes resulted in fatalities last year, up from three the year before, officials said.

Almost half of deer-related crashes occurred between October and December, when the animals are particularly restless and agitated because it's both mating season and hunting season, officials said.

They urged extra caution in the early morning and early evening, noting almost 80 percent of deer-related crashes last year occurred between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.