Manitoba Public Insurance warns motorists we've entered the time of year when most wildlife collisions occur in Manitoba.

Brian Smiley says October, 2011 saw 1300 collisions involving wildlife and vehicles, while November had 1500. By comparison, the months of February and May had only 600 collisions. Most of those wildlife collisions involved deer.

Smiley says last year MPI released a list of the top five wildlife collision areas in the province. He notes Eastman, which includes Steinbach, Lac du Bonnet, Pine Falls and Birds Hill ranked number one.

"We don't expect that to change this year," notes Smiley. "The Eastman region is probably going to be the worst for wildlife collisions again." And Smiley says according to Manitoba Conservation, there is a fairly healthy deer population in Manitoba.

Smiley notes the worst stretch of day for collisions is from dusk to dawn. That's when deer are feeding and moving from one region to another.

"Motorists need to be very, very alert," he says. "Scan the ditches, scan the shoulders of the roads for what we call eye glare." Smiley notes typically when you see one deer, there's usually a second or third nearby.

Smiley says if a deer crosses your path, do not swerve or attempt to change lanes.

"Apply the brake pedal but drive through the animal," says Smiley. "To change lanes puts you and your passengers in jeopardy."

Wildlife collisions in the province result in $25-30 million dollars in damages to vehicles each year.