I call it my morning dance.

I like to get to the office early. This time of year, that means driving to work in the dark. Every day I traverse these darkened roads with a wary eye. Because I know I am not alone.

It’s just me and the deer. It happened again this morning. There it was, standing there next to the road. The eyes always give them away. They usually flash in your headlights, if you’re lucky giving you enough warning to slow down and navigate around it, hopefully not spooking it into leaping right out in front of you. They really are beautiful animals. It’s just that there are too many of them.

I have been making this drive for more than 28 years, and I have lost count of the number of times I have had to swerve to avert “Bambi” and her pals as they cavort along the roads. Incredibly, I have yet to hit one of them. Neither have I run off the road or struck another car while taking evasive measures.

A lot of people have not been that lucky. The evidence of these instances also can be seen littering the sides of the road in many parts of the county. Dead deer, struck by cars.

These collisions do a number on your car, and have been known to be fatal. Deer have been known to go right through a car’s windshield, sometimes with deadly results.

Today the herd that calls Ridley Creek State Park home will be thinned a bit. They will hold a controlled hunt in the park. Today and again next Wednesday, park officials will open the park only to hunters.

Another hunt is scheduled to be held in the woods surrounding Swarthmore College later this year.

The hunts are controversial items. Officials talk about the damage done by too many deer on the woodlands, saying plant growth is eliminated and much of the natural habitat is ravaged by the voracious critters.

Opponents of the hunt say insist it is an ineffective way of controlling the deer population.

One of the factors no doubt is that with more and more development, there are fewer and fewer places for deer to roam in their natural habitat. I once had someone told me that one of the worst things to ever happen to the deer population in Delaware County was the construction of the Blue Route, which cut off much of their natural migration paths.

All I know is that there seems to be too many of them. So far I have managed to dodge them in my morning commute.

I don’t know how long my luck will last. I’m not a hunter. It’s just not my thing. I don’t necessarily like the idea of shooting the deer. But I’m not adamantly opposed to it either.

What I am opposed to is an unscheduled meeting with Bambi on the road some morning.