Yikes - almost hit a deer last night

[twobone]

I was blasting up a dark wooded country lane last night and noticed what I thought was a car without any tail lights moving into a drive way (hmmmm that's funny). Turns out it was the back end of a buck walking into the woods.

 

Good thing I slowed down because out steps a big doe right into the middle of the road. As per the cliche', she stood there in the road and stared into my headlights and then walked off.

 

I wonder if I hit her at speed, would I just slip under her or catch her directly with my head.

 

 

Lets hope I keep getting lucky!

 

Good thing I don't live in Newfoundland. They have an epidemic of car-moose deaths

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/919570--loose-moose-wreaking-havoc-on-newfoundland-roads

[xflow7]

Twobone. I'm glad you avoided it.

 

See

 

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=2842443880105%3A1040067937

 

and

 

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=3842443880105%3A1354232839

 

for the aftermath and some repair pics of my deer encounter at speed on the interstate. My experience indicates that you'd likely have caught her directly in the head unless your windscreen manages to deflect her. I consider myself rather lucky to have survived that. Damage was worse than is obvious in the pics. All new aluminum except the bonnet, bent frame, and bent axle bracket.

[a.moore]

I hit a doe with the Locost earlier this year. Between the sound of my car skidding and me probably yelling the doe tried to pull a 180, slid on the pavement, and basically ended up head level with the right front tire.

 

The Locost was undamaged aside from some puke. Can't say as much for the deer. The thoughts of even a doe going over the hood makes me cringe.....a full cage is going in this winter.

 

Glad to hear your experienced ended better.

Edited August 25, 2011 by a.moore
Needed real computer to edit.

[Hank]

I hit a horse back in 1997 in my Eclipse GS-T.

 

http://72.9.148.82/%7Erufridr/images/wreck-front.jpg

 

http://72.9.148.82/%7Erufridr/images/wreck-top.jpg

[KiwiBirkin]

Hank that looks like it would have hurt, hope you managed to escape ok ?

[Croc]

You were very lucky. It looks like you hit the legs bringing the horse's body down on top of you.

 

I have never hit a deer but have hit 2 kangaroos. I collected one through the windscreen of my pickup (or "ute" in Australian) when he decided to hop across the road as I was passing. He came through the windscreen on the passenger side of the car and immediately began to kick and thrash around in the cabin. I think I got out of there while the vehicle was still moving.

 

As for my other kangaroo incident, he became burger meat when he hopped in front of my road train in outback Australia (I was a truck driver) while I was doing 60 mph. A road train is a tractor trailer unit with, in my case, 4 x 50 foot trailers and it does not stop for anything.

[Off Road SHO]

My brother, a paramedic with Scottsdale responded to a car-horse accident. The horse went through the windshield and ended up mostly in the back seat with two of its legs sticking out of the passenger door which was forced open by the impact.

 

They started poking around in the back seat looking for someone to scoop and run with and asked the girl talking on her cell phone if she had seen the accident. She said hell yeah, I was driving! After determining that she had been alone and there was no one else to rescue, every fireman whipped out his cell phone and started taking pics of the car.

 

Then they asked the driver if she would buy them lotto tickets, because she was definitely the luckiest person on the planet at the moment.

 

I got pics somewhere.

 

Tom

[solder_guy]

I don't hit them .. They hit me! I now mount a deer whistle on my car when I drive at night. It makes a loud whistle sound! I glued a magnet to it so I can remove it from the hood of my car during the day. I guess I could put it on the headlight mount when driving the seven. eBay purchase.

[11Budlite]

I don't hit them .. They hit me! I now mount a deer whistle on my car when I drive at night. It makes a loud whistle sound! I glued a magnet to it so I can remove it from the hood of my car during the day. I guess I could put it on the headlight mount when driving the seven. eBay purchase.

Do you know if those things work?

[Hank]

I heard the deer whistles actually attract deer. *shrug*

[solder_guy]

I think that the whistle keeps them from getting spooked. When I see them they are just standing there and not running.

[pi7ot]

I don't believe that the whistles work.

The front fascia of any car is pretty good at making sounds of varying frequencies. The deer with superior hearing can hear these sounds. The sounds are as alien as deer whistles would be so I cannot think that deer would be able to mentally process this info.

The Iowa state patrol use deer whistles et there are numerous cruiser/deer collisions a year.

 

I center punched a tabby one night with the Birkin. It looked as big as a bobcat from where I was sitting. If the Escalade tailgating me had not been there, I think I could have avoided the tabby.

 

 

 

 

m

[MHKflyer52]

I center punched a tabby one night with the Birkin. It looked as big as a bobcat from where I was sitting. If the Escalade tailgating me had not been there, I think I could have avoided the tabby.

m

 

Survival of the fittest there.....Bigger Cat takes out smaller cat..:sadangel:..besides you had an Escalade behind you....

[pi7ot]

Survival of the fittest there.....Bigger Cat takes out smaller cat..:sadangel:..besides you had an Escalade behind you....

 

It felt like the fish picture.

small fish being gobbled up by medium fish, being gobbled up by large,fish ad nauseum.:jester:

It was 0400 and dark too.

 

m

[Kitcat]

I try not to drive in the rain, or after dark. These little cars are hard enough to see w/o adding terrible visibility. Of course, that is aspirational only, I have driven in the dark, in the rain, and in the the dark when it is raining. Do as I say....