An 80-year-old motorcyclist has died from injuries suffered when he ran into a deer on an Iron Range highway, authorities said Friday.

Harold D. Petersen of Grand Rapids, Minn., died Sunday at St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth, according to the State Patrol.

Petersen was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash northeast of Grand Rapids along Hwy. 169 on June 18, the patrol said.

Petersen was best known in the area as an instructor to hundreds of skiers at Sugar Hills, Quadna Mountain and most recently, Mount Itasca.

The state has seen two motorcyclists die this year in collisions with deer, both coming in the second half of June.

The other collision occurred Tuesday, when 57-year-old Michael L. Johnson of Duluth struck a deer shortly after sunset on a North Shore highway in Two Harbors. Johnson also was not wearing a helmet.

From 2010 through 2012, 16 traffic fatalities in Minnesota have involved collisions with deer, according to the state Department of Public Safety (DPS). Only Stearns County, with two, had more than one in that three-year period.

Public safety officials advise motorcyclists to wear a helmet and to avoid riding at dusk, when deer are on the move. When encountering deer, according to the DPS, use both brakes to stop.

Paul Walsh