With hunting season firing up and darkness falling earlier, October is when “deer in the headlights” is less a cliché and more of a reality for Northwest motorists and insurance companies.

But a new study by a national auto insurer suggests that Oregon and Washington drivers do better than most U.S. motorists when it comes to reacting to wildlife darting out of the woods and onto the road.

Using claims data from around the U.S.,

ranked Oregon 35th on its annual report on “deer-vehicle collision frequency.” (Yep, insurance companies crunch numbers on pretty much every way a vehicle can get damaged.) That’s unchanged from last year’s analysis.

Washington did even better, landing 44th.

The odds of your vehicle colliding with a deer in Oregon are one in 323,

. (PDF) West Virginia was at the top of the list, with motorists facing a one in 53 chance of hitting a deer.

In Washington, the odds are one in 494.

Hawaii leads the states where deer-vehicle collisions are least likely to happen (the odds are one in 6,267). According to the State Farm study, the odds of a Hawaiian driver colliding with a deer are about equal to the odds of them being a practicing nudist.

In the Northwest, “this is the time of year when hunters start to flush deer out of the woods,” said Brad Hilliard, a State Farm spokesman in Oregon. “We see an increase in claims.”

Although most claims for such collisions are understandably filed in the state’s rural areas, Hilliard said many still come in from urban areas such as Portland, Beaverton and Eugene.

Portland transportation officials say there are 27 deer crossing signs in the state's largest city.

Oregon’s strong showing on the list speaks to the efforts of state and city officials to place amber warning signs in areas where deer roam, Hilliard said. Indeed, the state, he said, has as large a deer population as many of the states with the highest rates of collisions.

For the third consecutive year, the number of deer-vehicle collisions in the U.S. has dropped, State Farm said.

But even as the number of collisions fell, the cost of repairs climbed. The average property damage cost of these incidents during the final half of 2010 and the first half of 2011 was $3,171, up 2.2 percent from the year before, State Farm reported.

The company used claims data in conjunction with state licensed driver counts from the Federal Highway Administration.

State Farm estimates that 1.09 million collisions between deer and vehicles occurred in the U.S. between July 1, 2010 and June 30 of this year. That’s 9 percent less than three years ago and 7 percent less than one year ago, Hilliard said.

The states in which at least 2,500 deer-vehicle collisions occur per year -- Michigan, West Virginia, Connecticut, Louisiana and Arkansas -- experienced the largest one-year percentage declines. Michigan, second on the list, actually saw 23,000 fewer cases.

In Oregon, “drivers – and deer – will be glad to know collisions here are down 12 percent, with 8,809 during the 12-month window,” Hilliard said.

Oregon has more than 2.8 million licensed drivers.

State Farm’s data show that November, the heart of the deer migration and mating season, is when encounters on the roads are most likely. More than 18 percent of all collisions take place during those 30 days, with a vehicle hitting a deer once every 13 seconds, the study estimates.

“Deer-vehicle collisions are three times more likely to occur on a day in November than they are on any day between February 1 and August 31,” State Farm said in a statement. “October is the second most likely month for a crash involving a deer and a vehicle. December is third.”

More from State Farm:

Here some tips on how to avoid hitting a deer:

Be aware of posted deer crossing signs.

Remember that deer are most active between 6 and 9 p.m.

Use high beam headlamps as much as possible at night to illuminate the areas from which deer will enter roadways.

Keep in mind that deer generally travel in herds – if you see one, there is a strong possibility others are nearby.

Do not rely on car-mounted deer whistles.