As the temperature starts to rise above zero every now and then, the snow will start to melt more regularly...which means animals are going to be on the move.

Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, Darrell Crabbe

"Deer have a natural instinct, as do moose and everything else, to try to identify the easiest path to travel, quite often that means right on grid roads or the side of highways and that's also where a lot of advanced melting occurs. We do see a bit of a spike in animal collisions at this time of year."

Crabbe says dawn and dusk are when animals are more active, and that obviously, they're tougher to notice at night.

"There's lots of signage in Saskatchewan notifying people of deer crossings in the next 10km or whatever it may be. We've become so used to those that people just don't take as much time or heed those messages as much as they should. People should take a few more minutes and be a bit more cautious in those high-density areas."

Once things start to melt a little bit more and we get into spring, Crabbe says animals like deer and moose should start to become less mobile once they start having fawns and calves.

If you find yourself in a situation where a collision with an animal is unavoidable, aim your vehicle to the spot where the animal came from in order to increase the chances of only receiving a glancing blow rather than a head-on collision. Also let up on the brake slightly before the collision, which causes the front end to lift slightly and reduces the chance of the animal coming through the windshield.