Yes, folks, it's deer rutting season. Let me introduce you to robot deer. We could use a few of these around here, but not to catch poachers . . . more to make traffic slow down a bit. Here's an article from last January that is still germane, and explains a bit more about the robot deer.

Where I live, we have lots of deer, and lots of road kill deer. There is a deer hunting season, but it only lasts about a week, and permits are limited. Nobody around here hunts them, anyway. But I have had to hit the brakes many a time with a honking big two-plus ton SUV up my rear bumper to avoid hitting a deer that decided to dash across the road in front of me around dusk. I'm more worried about getting rear-ended than hitting the deer, to be perfectly honest, but I sure wouldn't want one of them sliding up over my hood, and through my windshield!

That having been said, no robot deer that stands by the roadside and merely turns its head from side to side, and wags its tail a bit would fool me. I'm not a hunter. I don't have a gun license. There's just something about a real deer's whole body language and movement that these robots can't replicate. Leg and foot movement has something to do with it. Unless the geniuses who crank out these babies can figure out how to make them prance around a little while they do the head and tail thing, I'm not buying it. But you'd be amazed at how many people get jailed for shooting them over in the Midwest.