Motorists are seeing an increase in the number of deer along southern New Brunswick highways, and that's a bad sign, according to the province's top deer biologist.

"A lot of times that gives the perception to a lot of people, that they see deer along the roads, 'Oh, there's a pile of deer out there, that the woods are as full of deer as our backyards are.' But that's not the case," said Rod Cumberland, a biologist with the province's Department of Natural Resources.

Cumberland said Tuesday the deer have changed their habits over the past 15 years, and are spending far more time near roads, and that's partly because people feed them.

"Most people that feed deer feed them around their house because they like to see them there. But most people's houses are only about 100 yards off the road. So we are getting more and more road kills all the time," Cumberland said.

Last year, more than 4,000 deer were killed by vehicles, about half as many as were killed by hunters.

Cumberland said the number may be lower this year, thanks to new fencing, particularly on Route 8 between Miramichi and Bathurst, and on Highway 7 between Saint John and Fredericton.

But that's still not the biggest threat to the deer population, he said.

"Winter is the Grim Reaper for deer," Cumberland said.

Last winter, 35 per cent of the herd was lost in northern New Brunswick where snow was the deepest, while 25 per cent perished in central New Brunswick, and 15 per cent in the south.

While the most recent winter hasn't been quite as severe, it will still be the second worst in the past 10 years for the deer herd, he said.