By JARED ORZOLEK

orzolek@crescent-news.com

Fall is a busy time for local body shops as deer moving through area fields and woods often come in contact with moving vehicles.

These repairs costs motorists or their insurance companies an average of $2,500-$5,000, according to local repair experts.

At Integrity Auto Body on U.S. 24, Defiance, shop owner Jim Hermiller said he is handling close to 10 cars damaged by deer each week.

"It's our bread and butter this time of year. We will bring in, on any given day, up to four (vehicles)," Hermiller said.

"Some people hit two deer at a time and some people hit a real big one. I'd say the numbers are down a little bit this year from normal."

Hermiller said he remembers one Ford car damaged by a deer 20 years ago where a large buck rammed his head right through the driver's side door.

"(The deer) knocked all the windows out of it," Hermiller said.

Despite some instances of oddly damaged cars, most deer cause more mundane damage to vehicles.

"Most of the time, it's just a fender, a headlight, a hood and maybe a grill," said Fritz Koch, shop foreman at Batt and Stevens body shop in Jewell.

Koch has completed body work on vehicles for 30 years and said Batt and Stevens handles two or three vehicles damaged by deer each week during peak season.

"If they hit the deer straight on the front, it can take a radiator out."

Koch said startled deer can also run into the car, striking the side of the vehicle.

"The worst case is the glass is busted out and you need to replace a door. Generally, it's not enough to set the airbag off."

Kock said he remembers one instance where a deer damaged a vehicle in an unusual manner.

"One time, a deer hit the door and blew out the glass and filled the car full of hair. We had to spend a lot of time cleaning the interior out," Koch said.

In a study recently conducted by State Farm Insurance, the odds of a motorist striking a deer in Ohio are 1 in 153. In West Virginia, drivers face odds of 1 in 45, the greatest in any state, while Michigan is second at 1 in 75.

At the Snyder Chevrolet body shop in Napoleon, manager Randy Schwab said he takes care of about four cars damaged by deer each week during peak season.

"This is the deer hit season. The deer go into breeding season and when they do that they get goofy and run into cars," Schwab said.

Schwab remembers one instance where a deer ended up inside a sport utility vehicle following a collision.

"Last year, I looked at a Jeep where the deer went all the way through the windshield into the vehicle," Schwab said, who noted that that vehicle was totaled by the insurance company.

Schwab said sometimes other vehicles sustain above-average damage when involved in deer-related accidents.

"When it's a really hard hit on the deer, the damage can go up to $7,000," Snyder said.

According to the Ohio Insurance Institute (OII), most deer-vehicle collisions occur during deer breeding season, which runs from October to January.

Last November, there were 5,850 collisions in Ohio -- the highest number for any month in 2007.

Peak hours for these crashes are between 5 p.m. and 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. to 8 a.m.

OII also indicates there were 1,765 reported crashes involving cars and deer in Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Williams, Paulding and Putnam counties last year. In 2006, the number was 1,642 and in 2005 the total was 1,426.