A hungry doe looks for food at Great Meadow along Shenandoah National Park.

Deer populations throughout the Blue Ridge continue to increase dramatically as the starving animals venture closer and closer to civilization in search of food. State police agencies report dozens of deer killed by cars and trucks every day and, in some cases, collisions with the animals injure drivers and passengers in the vehicles.

As cities and towns expand into rural areas and more and more people build homes in the country, animals like deer find their habitat is shrinking. Man’s progress can be an animal’s worst nightmare.