It’s no secret that Montana is full of wildlife, but a new study by State Farm Insurance shows that the rate of car crashes involving animals is going up and that drivers in Montana are more likely to hit a deer than drivers in 48 other states.

"Montana kind of always sticks in the top ten, but this year they moved form third place last year to second place this year," said Statewide Insurance spokesman Angela Thorpe. "That's a 19 percent climb in the likelihood that they'll collide with a deer, moose or elk."

The data for the study is collected from insurance claims in each state. Montana ranked third in the study last year, when just one out of 75 drivers were expected to collide with an animal. Now the odds are worse.

"When we look at the odds, that means that about one in every 63 cars in Montana will collide with wildlife. As far as the sheer number of claims, last year there were about 11,000 estimated claims, but this year it has climbed to 12,200 claims."

Though the news may be bad for Montana drivers, West Virginia still reigns supreme when it comes to the dangers of deer on the highway: drivers there have a 1 in 44 chance of colliding with a deer.

Traditionally, October, November and December see the most animal collision claims filed.

In positive news, now that Montana has new roadkill harvesting rules at least all of that meat won't go to waste.

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Screen Shot Courtesy of State Farm Insurance
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