The ferals are stuck in a rut - also known as mating season - so the frisky animals seem to be joyously frolicking about major roads and popular places to the alarm of the public.

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"Overall we are seeing a suppression of the population and numbers go down," said Belinda Davies from South East Local Land Services.

"But this time of year is tricky."

Ms Davies said there was always an increase of sightings of deer during the rut which ran from June through to August - September, but overall the population was decreasing thanks to the Illawarra Wild Deer Management Program.

In the past year around 600 of the feral pests have been removed through a culling program, and 5300 since the program has been running, she said.

"The goal of the program is suppression of population growth, they are an established pest in the Illawarra so eradication is not an option at this time," Ms Davies said.

"The program only operates across risk assessed and approved shoot sites in the Illawarra."

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In the past month alone, the Mercury has reported on deer running across Memorial Drive during peak hour; another instance where a luxury Mercedes was seriously damaged by colliding with an animal on the M1; an erratic deer was spotted bolting along the beach at North Wollongong; while one of the Mercury's photographers had an altercation between their car and a deer driving down Mount Keira.

Meantime in Port Macquarie, in the state's north, a 70-year-old man was taken to hospital on Monday morning after being trampled by a feral deer.

John Norton awoke to a strange noise and his porch light on just after 12am.

"I went around the corner of my home and here was this big male deer," he told Australian Community Media.

"He put his head down like he was going to chase me and I just rolled over and he basically stomped on me."

Mr Norton was shaken and bruised after the attack but decided to call an ambulance when he began having convulsions.

"There's no bark off me, but I'm bruised, the main concern was my heart," he said.

"I'm very lucky ... emotionally it was very scary. The deer was massive."

Wild deer are a non-native invasive species that inhabit the Illawarra (mainly Rusa deer) and cause a range of major negative impacts (aside from car accidents) like destroying native plants and habitat.

Ms Davies said if you see a deer causing a public nuisance and safety issues to call police, however if they're just running through a park to leave them alone.

If you spot one, Local Land Services want to know about it so record the sighting through the website www.feralscan.org.au - this helps keep track of their movements and improves the deer management program.

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