A deer crosses Prairie du Chien Road in rural Iowa City in 2002. (Gazette file photo)

Iowa drivers need be on the lookout for deer as the harvest thins the corn fields and the mating season begins.

Iowa ranks second among the states in the number of car-deer crashes. Only West Virginia has more.

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier says this is the time of year for drivers to be most watchful. State Farm, which tracks statistics on deer-related accidents, says November, October and December, in that order, are the most common months for deer accidents.

Tom Litchfield of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says corn crops make good cover for deer, and as the harvest progresses, the deer scatter. Deer are on the move mostly at dawn and dusk, but Litchfield says it could be anytime during the mating season.