"Hitting a deer" Topic

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Utah is not even on the top twenty list? I don't believe it. I see dead deer right in the middle of town, at least three of them in the last three years. Once on my way home from a mountain biking excursion, I saw a deer cutting across a field to my left and I slowed down, and the deer angled toward my van, and I slowed down even more. The stupid deer veered ever closer, as if trying for a convergence, and I dropped my speed to almost a crawl, well under twenty miles per hour. The deer flashed up onto the highway and cleared my front bumper by a few feet and disappeared into the brush on the other side of the road.

Holy crap! That deer was pushing my insurance rate. Or not, depending. I never even thought about that until this morning. How much would my insurance have gone up had I kept going and hit that deer? One of those states (I forget which) has a THIRTY-NINE PERCENT increase for hitting a deer!!?? 39%, seriously? Others, like Wyoming, don't increase your insurance at all for hitting a deer. Talk about variance. What's up with that?

Have any of you ever had "run ins" with deer on the road?…

Close calls but no actual collisions. Wife, daughter
and I are aware of deer feeding/rutting and travel
patterns and either don't frequent those areas during
those times or drive very slowly when traversing them.

The last time I drove on the PA turnpike, I was coming around a corner at speed and a deer bounded down what seemed like a sheer cliff face and hurdled my hood. Its tail thunked against the upper left corner of my windshield which, if I've pretended to do my math correctly, means that 1 mph faster and I'd be typing this from the hell.

These days I just drive year round with a siren wailing and my car coated in wolf urine.

I have a 50-mile commute to work, about half of it through a national forest, so yes. So far I've hit 5 deer, 1 bobcat and a near-miss with a black bear at 0300 one morning in 19 years of travel. The most annoying run-ins I've had involve almost hitting a deer in my driveway a few times! During the rutting season, if a deer wants to cross the road, it WILL cross…

Deer aren't so bad, wait until you clip an elk or big horn sheep.

Back in July we drove a couple of hundred miles for a game, left just before dawn and spent the whole time dodging North American megafauna. Worst was sixty or seventy head of elk that wouldn't get out of the way so I had to slowly weave through them.

Luckily, no deer anywhere near my vicinity. Any wildlife hit would usually be squirrels, opossums, and sometimes pigeons. Anyway, I do all I can to try and avoid hitting anything on the roadway, inanimate or not.

There was an incident that occurred years ago which indirectly involved a niece of my brother-in-law. Two vehicles were travelling down a country road around twilight. The second vehicle was driven by my brother-in-law's niece, with her mother as the passenger. The lead vehicle, a truck, was driven by the niece's fiancé alone. Apparently, the guy was going a little faster than the speed limit until he suddenly hit a cow. Seems as though his suspected speeding saved his life, as the cow's body rolled over the truck instead of smashing directly into the cab.

The windshield was shattered, and the guy did have minor injuries, but he recovered. The cow, on the other hand, was killed instantly. The force of impact was so much that it literally burst its heart out of its body. Yeah.

Anyway, there are much more rural areas of Texas where, I'm sure, there are warning signs posted to watch out for crossing wildlife.

Vultures are the main cause of damage around here. Big slow, stupid vultures.

Word of warning when approaching vultures dining on the side of a road. Vultures can only take off facing forward and are very slow doing it. If the birds are facing away from the road you will be fine, if facing the road, watch out.

I hit a vulture once. Bounced off my car and onto the front of the oncoming Highway Patrol car.

He pulled me over and gave me a ticket.

Said I flipped him the bird……

Upstate NY-bear hits, no not Tupolev's.

Deer hits can kill you. And/or total your car.

I dispatched tow trucks-had one Emu chase on the road. Usually the sheriff and the tow truck driver split what was left-I'm talking about the deer-depending on the level of damage.

Noticed there were never any wolf hits…

I've seen deer beside the road quite often. I'm usually very good at dodging them. One night I was driving down a State highway when a deer lept onto the road. I slowed down, took evasive action. But this furry guided missile was hit anyways. Put a nasty dent in the front of my truck. It's still there now. The deer disappeared at the time. In the morning there was blood all over the passenger side of my truck. My son and I washed it. And I found a chunk of meat in my front grill that turned out to be the deer's tongue. I drove into town a little later and saw the carcass alongside the road. I went on into town. On the return trip it was gone. I guess someone was hungry…

Wyoming is a case of not IF, but when. Deer, Antelope, Elk, Moose all want to share the highway. So far, no hits but one close encounter with two Pronghorn out in the open.

Yeah, several years ago my father-in-law hit a jet black escape artist cow on a moonless night, on a road with a 55 mph speed limit.

Despite wearing a seatbelt, he was in the hospital for almost a week and, needless to say, the car was totaled.

The cow was in bad shape too, and had to be put down by the local sheriff when he arrived on the scene.

Dan

I almost collided with a mountain lion – coming around a blind corner, at night, I saw a tail waggling in front of me. Fortunately, that particular corner is a 'slow down you idiot' one. Haven't seen our local bear on the road, but have seen his paw prints around our dumpster.

One of the scariest encounters I've had (actually, 3 or 4)
is wild turkeys. A big Tom taking off from a tree roost
and flapping down at you reminds me a great deal of those
'kamikaze' scenes in WWII films !

Never hit one yet, but close calls a lot !

I had a deer leap and hit my windshield first – darn near wore that one. Most folks around here (western NY) have hit one or two.

I crunched a squirrel the other day…

There's a big herd here in Cincinnati, I often see them in my yard or crossing streets in my neighborhood. But these are street-wise, urban deer. I've never hit one, never seen one get hit. I see some road-killed, though, a few times every year.

Years ago my son hit one broadside on, doing 70 mph (him, not the deer) on I-70 just west of Terra Haute, at 3 AM. Fortunately he was driving a fairly big vehicle, a Lumina APV. He was alright. The Lumina and the deer were both dead right there.

I hit a pigeon while doing 70mph on the A38 in Derbyshire and it put a dent in the bonnet (hood) that cost a fair few quid to get straightened out. A colleague hit a badger in the road doing £3,000.00 GBP ($4500) damage to his car.

A Squirrel?…A SQUIRRELL?!?!…they'll come after you fifty at once…

Visited my mom in Michigan; upon returning from the lake (in her car) had this conversation:
Mom "How was it?"
Me "Fine, mom. The BBQ was great, the lake was a hoot, and the boy had a great time."
Me to my son "by the way, tell grandma what we hit"…

Plenty of Deer "strikes" here in Ulster County/Hudson Valley New York. Never hit one myself (rarely drive at night) but I was on a commuter bus one morning 3 years or so ago when the bus creamed a big stag. Front of the bus was pretty banged up, luckily no one was injured (but the stag!).

Last year a young doe made a mad dash through the glass door of a coffee shop in urban Kingston. Plenty of Deer throughout City of Kingston, occasional Black Bear sightings also.

A nine year old girl was killed by a deer crashing through the car windshield around here several years ago. Hitting a deer is no light matter; Skippy0001 is right; deer are dangerous. I've never hit one, and I pray I never do.

In Alaska it is moose – worse than horses or elk – tall and heavy. Over the hood and into the passenger compartment. Fortunately I was always on a bus when traveling in Alaska so didn't have to worry about it as much.

Some years ago a trucker took out about 6 elk in SW Colorado. Put the semi over and killed him as well.

A couple of years ago was impressed by the sturdiness of modern auto construction. About 10PM came up on a car on the side of the highway. Windshield was gone and hood was flattened a bit and wisps of steam were coming out from under the hood. Another car had met the car and was stopped helping the driver. She had hit one of those black cows doing 40 or so about 2 miles back up the highway. Cow rolled up the hood into the windshield pillars and then off to the side. Lucky that the cow was pretty much full broadside and centered – if it had been off center one end might have gone into the passenger compartment. As it was the driver was very shook up but no visible injuries.

Last November gave the coup de grace to a doe a lady had hit about a mile out of town. Brother and I were on our way out to hunt in the extended season. Mini van was totaled – took out front drivers side. No injuries of humans. Doe was in road with broken legs so I got the rifle and moved toward her to shoot. She got up and moved when I got within about 20 feet, hurt to watch. Fortunately she moved off the road. Took a minute or two to figure out the aiming point as the rifle is scoped and sighted for 200 yds, but she went down when I shot.

Have hit three deer – one at about 60 with a mid-sized Toyota 4WD pickup that did about 6K in damage (company truck, drove it on into town), and two in 91 Camrys. Had to patch the radiator and replace grill and trim on the first – fairly low speed. My brother gave the buck the coup de grace with my pistol (compound fracture on leg). Was able to make it home adding coolant in a couple of stops on the way (about 25 miles).

Hit the other doing about 50, deer went of the side of the road into the canyon. Had to replace the grill and hood. Put a chain on the front of the engine compartment to pull the right side forward about 1/4 inch so the sheet metal would go back on. Drove that one home as well, actually drove for about a month before I had time to work on it.

Just missed a bear about a month ago – came around a corner at night and it was just crossing the highway. I was cutting the corner a bit which worked out – the bear was just across the centerline in the right had lane. All I had to do was cut a bit further to left and go behind. looked like it was at least three foot at the shoulder – good sized. Just like the black cows it blended in to the night.

Interesting "war" stories, all you all.

I got to thinking about how literally life threatening this is in some parts of the country. That "2.56%" (No. 1 West Virginia) is almost exactly the same as the chance of rolling "snake eyes" or "box cars" with 2D6. It is also roughly equivalent to the odds of being shot down during any given heavy bomber mission at the end of WW2 (yes, it was still that dangerous). So when you hit the road, or go out in your B-17, each time, you roll 2D6, and if it comes up "snake eyes", you are down. Are you dead? That requires another roll or set of rolls. But you are a casualty this time regardless. And we take it in stride during "peace time" as merely a part of the landscape. But turn the very same odds of being killed into a war scenario and for some reason everything takes on a special menace. We are funny creatures….

So far, been lucky with only near misses. I think the most intense one was a florida panther on I95 near Stuart, FL. Only saw pictures of them before that. Basically a muddy colored mountain lion that decided to cross a 3 lane highway. He barely made it out in front of our car. Would have been a shame to hit him since they are endangered.

And I know its a "him" because when we reported seeing a panther later that day to the FL wild life dept. They identified him by the crook in his tail and said that's his range and are aware he's crossing the interstate.

Driving to oslo yesterday there was a roe deer on the road, took its sweet time getting out of the way to

Of course, Skunks are the worst…

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Driving on a newly opened stretch of highway that cut through 8 miles of farm land I cleaved a deer in half in snowstorm going 70mph. My Grand Cherokee cut it in half with a huge chunk embedded in my left headlight area.

One half went flying off to the right but the half on the left which was embedded spun around and slammed the driver door so hard I felt it on my left leg. Driver door was crumpled.

The Jeep barely slowed down on impact. That was about $8 USDk in damages.

Deer two was killed by my son on the way home from soccer practice at the local college. Semi passed on opposite of road and two deer popped out from behind. He squared off on one and hit it dead broadside. The deer went flying off the road, intact. He stopped, got out, and saw the entire grill of my other Grand Cherokee so embedded in the deer he couldn't pull it out. Major damage to the Jeep (steering, radiator, water pump, etc). Some how he drove it home that last 7 miles and abandoned it in front of the house on the street. Jeep was totaled.

Wife killed a deer on a vacation trip up north with a friend. Rental car of some sort, they bought the insurance, so the rental car company came to the accident site, dropped off a car, and they drove away never to hear anything more.

Last deer impact was my other son, again returning from soccer. Rav4 versus deer but the deer survived. $5,500 USD damage to the front of the Rav4. Apparently there isn't enough meat on it to take down a deer. He is the only family member without a confirmed kill. But he is young. There will be plenty of other chances…

Doc takes the prize! Holy, crap….

Upon surviving hitting a Deer, give a prayer for the soul of the daft that ran out in front of you, pray the insurance will cover the damage, Google some nice venison recipes.

From quick scan of comments glad everyone survived OK.

Deer darted across the road where the bus I was on was rolling down. She made it across(it was a doe). Good patch of wooded land nearby,including more than a few county parks and wooded private land.

Another dead deer in the middle of town. We saw it on our canal path walk last week, an oozing mess practically on top of the bones of the last deer, which was struck two years ago. For some reason, this latest carcass was picked up a day or two after I saw it: it had probably been lying there for a week or two already. This one was large, where the previous one was small. Somebody's car was probably totaled….