Click to enlarge. Map courtesy of State Farm

Your odds of hitting a deer in California is 1 in 1,046. If you’re driving through West Virginia, it’s 1 in 42. If you’re in Hawaii, it’s 1 in 13,011.

That’s according to a study put together by State Farm Insurance last month.

And the California number is the statewide average. And while this is Wine Country, it’s also deer country here, so the odds of hitting a deer here likely are greater than statewide. CLICK HERE to read past story about defensive driving on North Coast rural roads.

State Farm notes that while the number of miles driven over the past five years increased 2 percent in the U.S., the number of deer-vehicle collisions jumped 10 times as much, to a 21.1 percent increase. For the entire country, 2.3 million such collisions occurred between July 2008 and last June, State Farm estimated.

The average property damage in a deer-vehicle collision was $3,103.

With deer mating season under way on the North Coast — a time when collisions with deer typically are more likely — the study’s numbers should make drivers extra alert.

To read more about the State Farm report, CLICK HERE.