It's that time of year when AAA says nearly half of all deer crashes happen on the road.

Jeanette Fornal, of Yaphank, says she's careful to steer clear of deer.

"There is never one, always three or four. They go in packs and people don't realize that," she said.

AAA says the number of cars hitting deer on Long Island is the highest it's been since 2018.

There were 172 recorded animal crashes in Nassau last year, and 1,555 in Suffolk.

"Suffolk County is third highest in the state as far as number of deer hits are concerned," said Robert Sinclair Jr., with AAA Northeast.

As News 12 reported in August, Long Island's deer population is growing.

October to December is mating season for the animal.

"Instinct is making them act hyper and a little crazy and they be tend to act erratically like bounding out into traffic with no good reason," said Sinclair.

Some tips from AAA when you're driving during deer mating season: be on the lookout at dusk when you're likely to see the most deer, scan the shoulders of the roads for any animals and don't swerve or brake hard to avoid hitting a deer.

"Brake gently. If hitting it is inevitable, hit it. Don't swerve or anything like that you can cause a worse problem," said Sinclair.

"Depending on how big the deer is will determine how much damage, I mean I've seen cars totaled," said Rich Sayres, owner of Holbrook MTA Auto Service.

Sayres says insurance can cover some of the cost of hitting a deer, and the total bill can run from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

"Average windshield should be $300 to thousands of dollars because they have all the cameras in them now," said Sayres.

"Now it might be $1,500 to $3,000 to get that repair because of modern technology," said Sinclair.