When 78-year-old Jeanette Jerls heard a thump and felt a slight jar to her home at 3700 Halls Ferry Road Friday morning, she assumed it was the men who had collected her garbage and headed up the street.

Just to be sure, she peered out her front door to discover that a baby deer had crashed into the railing on her front porch.

&#8220I went on the porch and Forrest, a friend who’s helping my son put up my mailbox, said a deer just hit the banister – he jumped out of the bushes and ran into the house,” Jerls said.

The less than 1-year-old button buck, which was thought to have been sleeping in bushes across the street from Jerls’ home, ran across the street after hearing the Waste Management truck around 8:30 a.m., said friend and witness Forrest Sink.

Vicksburg police officers Roy Hall and Wayne Lynch said the young buck crushed its windpipe and burst its head on the railing.

Jerls has seen deer on her property before, but the Friday morning incident was a first.

&#8220My husband used to have a garden and (deer) used to eat up his garden every year,” she said. &#8220I didn’t want the little thing to die. I think they’re beautiful.”

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has reported that about 1.5 million deer are hit by drivers of vehicles each year in the United States. These accidents kill hundreds of thousands of deer and more than 100 motorists. No numbers were available for other accidental deaths to deer.