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First was with husband in F150 - a deer jumped into the road and into our truck - 2nd time I was coming down a mountain and I was in right lane of the highway and an Elk jumped from the northbound lane across the left southbound and in front of my passenger side of the right lane. Scared the bejesus out of me. Damaged the car - took out headlight and crumpled hood - he continued into the brush - but I'm sure he was hurt badly. The rental car agency was agast and I just smiled - I was working for the NPS and coming back from a wildland fire - the gov't is self insured.....
The first two were in 1997. I was coming home from work (I got off work at 11pm then) and was on a two-lane highway a couple miles north of a town of 20,000 in southern Minnesota, passing a patch of woods between farm fields. Most roads in Minnesota have deep ditches (the plowed snow and snow-melt has to go somewhere) and if there's woods, there's lots of brushy cover at the edge of the woodland. If a deer comes out at the wrong moment, there's nothing you can do.
Anyway, two deer bounded out, side by side. I was doing 55mph and immediately locked up the brakes, but I'm sure I was still doing about 45 mph when the passenger-side corner-panel/headlight caught the rump of the deer nearest to the vehicle. I'm not sure whether or not the other deer was struck by my vehicle, or by the first deer being slammed into it by the force of the collision. Either way, both animals were killed. And the damage to my old Ford Tempo was enough to total the car.
In 2013, I hit another one on a stretch of empty highway in north-central Minnesota. This time, I came around a corner at around 10pm and it was just standing in the road. Again, I locked up the brakes, but was probably only doing about 15-20mph when the impact occurred. The deer never moved, just stared at me. This one too killed the animal. My Nissan Altima barely suffered - one contact point on a front corner-panel broke, but it was an older car and it didn't affect anything, cosmetically or otherwise. I never had it fixed.
High-beams? Probably, though I cannot specifically recall.
It's pretty common here - I'd guess that about half the people I know have hit at least one deer in their lives.
There really should be fewer animals, but the herd is intentionally kept higher than need be for the hunting industry. They could open up tags and get it down to one-half or one-third of what it is now, and the population would still be vibrant and healthy, but ultimately the number of tags would have to drop. And there's no way the hunting lobby, or the commercial interests that cater to it, would ever allow that.
Cant remember if my brights were on or not. Possibly so, as it was a very rural road with little to no traffic.
I hit her with the pickup and she didn't die. That was the worst part. I had shattered her pelvis from the looks of it and she was dragging her entire back half behind her, trying to crawl away.
Fortunately, I had a rifle with me so I put her down, but it really bothered me. The first and only deer I've hit, knock on wood.
I was 37.
Depending on your state, it is not a good idea to put the deer down yourself. You should check your laws and call the game warden and they usually come put it out of its misery. I hit a deer in Michigan and it was suffering and was told I couldn't put it down.... Had to wait over 45 mins and watch it suffer for DNR to get there... Poor thing. Personally I think it's a stupid law but their explanation was "safety" and to prevent people from shooting deer out of season and then "hitting" it with your truck to cover it up. Anyways check your states law before you take matters into your own hands as silly as the law may be.
After I hit the deer I went out and bought a pair, mounted them on the motorcycle. They must work as I haven't hit a deer since. Haven't hit any elephants either.
They do work. However, they seem to fall off easy. I keep replacing them.
Depending on your state, it is not a good idea to put the deer down yourself. You should check your laws and call the game warden and they usually come put it out of its misery. I hit a deer in Michigan and it was suffering and was told I couldn't put it down.... Had to wait over 45 mins and watch it suffer for DNR to get there... Poor thing. Personally I think it's a stupid law but their explanation was "safety" and to prevent people from shooting deer out of season and then "hitting" it with your truck to cover it up. Anyways check your states law before you take matters into your own hands as silly as the law may be.
I've known several people who put it down, then called LEO. No problems.
But then, I don't think any of them had wanted it, either, so maybe that would have raised some suspicion...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lodestar
His main concern was for me and my son since a person had hit a deer in that county and gotten out to have a look. The animal bounded up and put the kind-hearted soul in the hospital. Hence the warning.
Ah. The latter.
He thought you were a citidiot.
You probably should be offended...
He thought you wouldn't have the presence of mind to actually have something in hand to put the deer down, if it wasn't dead, thus the warning.
Yes, once on 80 west at night and another time on 79 North in midday. Both in western PA. That region is the most prone to deer accidents anywhere in America.
I know a guy who was a physician at the University of West Virginia Medical Center. He didn't like Morgantown much and used to drive up to Pittsburgh almost every weekend he was off duty. I lost track of how many times he hit a deer. (Or as he put it, a deer hit him.) He drove a Mercedes that must have weighed a ton and after awhile he just stopped getting the damage fixed. How many people drive a Mercedes beater?
I have not hit a deer nor do I know anyone who has, but I know someone who hit a buzzard.
As he told the story, my friend saw the buzzard on the shoulder of a two-lane Texas road at dusk as he topped a rise. He saw the buzzard start to flap its wings and slowed his car. He thought, "Surely this thing sees my lights and will take flight in the opposite direction."
No. The bird took off just above the roadway. My friend could not stop in time. The bird crashed through the windshield of his, at the time, new car between he and his, at the time, new girlfriend. It splattered against the back glass.
He mentioned, "You know what buzzards eat, right? Imagine that coming out of a fragmented gizzard."
Ten miles from his destination, he drove at 20 miles per hour, due to the windshield glass fragments spraying his face, the remainder of his trip. He then drove 90 miles the following day to the nearest repair shop. On his return with a rental car, his at-the-time-now-former girlfriend had arranged alternate transportation home.
I bagged a ten point buck on I-86 just outside the Jamestown city limit with my year old Hyundai Elantra about a week before the opening of rifle deer season. He jumped out of the center median, hit the driver's side quarter panel, bounced off the hood, took off the driver's side mirror, and landed dead in the median. If I had been going faster or slower, he might have very well landed in my windshield!
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