Deer and car encounters,

[Teddy52]

Minnesota State Hwy patrol advises to NEVER swerve to avoid hitting a deer.

Driller1's post confirms their warnings.

[Kayekaye]

Yes, never swerve. I was on a trip upnorth with a friend and was reading an article in "O" magazine called "What to do when..." One of them was "What to do when hitting a deer". The article said more people are hurt when they try to swerve from deer, going into ditches or into oncoming traffic in the other lane, or braking and hitting the windshield.

I was reading this to my friend as we were driving at dusk and she said, "I don't care, I swerve for deer all the time and I'm not going to hit them!" and I kept teasing her saying "Oprah says to HIT the deer, don't swerve" We good humoredly bickered back and forth for a few minutes about it and a very very large deer with a large rack of antlers appeared, jumping right out in front of us. My friend held her ground and the deer went over the windshield from right to left, completely somersaulting from impact and running off into the woods, with three more following him. "There! I HIT it!" she said with an unhappy vengeance.

Just the way she said it, like "There! are you happy now?" and how affected she was made me burst into laughter. We were very careful the rest of the way home to the point of tripling our driving time, going very slowly so as not to be surprised again. I said by the time we make it home we better check the bumper for a bloody hook stump because were going so slow anyone could catch us!

[BorderGirl]

Ugh. I'm facing this very thing right now. I'm driving from northern Minnesota to the Twin Cities area once a week for interviews. I am only doing my driving in daylight hours and will extend my trip if needed to avoid night time driving. I've hit a deer once, probably 10 years ago. I was in my Toyota Corolla, going approximately 40-45 miles an hour. I was on winter break and was going into work for a few hours. The roads were icy so I was going slower than the speed limit. There was a huge black truck on my tail and I was grumbling to myself for them following me. I saw the first deer and forgot momentarily that deer are never alone. The second sprinted right into my car. I pulled over to asses the damage. Only a minor crack to my bumper. I couldn't find the deer anywhere until I happened to look under my car and found the deer. It was a small doe. I was very lucky that this truck didn't end up on top of me. I didn't swerve. Just went right into it.


My sister just totaled her 2008 Subaru Impreza back in August. She was driving back to school around 8:00 and it was dark. She was going at least 60 miles an hour and the damage to her car made it look like she hit a rhino. Fortunately, she and my nephew were okay but it is still scary. I hate deer.

[Kayekaye]

BorderGirl hope you don't hit any more deer. It's awful. But the worst is at dusk so maybe it will be darker soon. Yes always look for the second deer and all the rest.

[mattyheiden]

You're more likely to hit a deer in Iowa or WI in rural areas than in MN

Moose on the other hand

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by mattyheiden

You're more likely to hit a deer in Iowa or WI in rural areas than in MN

Moose on the other hand

you're probably more likely to hit a moose researcher than a moose in Minnesota

as far as white-tail population estimates...

Wisc 1.4 million
Minn 1.0 million
Iowa 200 thousand

[Unsettomati]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

you're probably more likely to hit a moose researcher than a moose in Minnesota

as far as white-tail population estimates...

Wisc 1.4 million
Minn 1.0 million
Iowa 200 thousand

For whatever reason, Iowa ranks very high (ahead of Minnesota) for per capita deer-vehicle collisions. My guess is that most of the deer population there lives very close to roads, whereas there are good-sized portions of northern Minnesota that are relatively isolated from roads.
U.S. DEER-VEHICLE COLLISIONS FALL 7 PERCENT

Minnesota is still fairly high in the rankings. Odds are really low in Hawaii, though!

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by Unsettomati

For whatever reason, Iowa ranks very high (ahead of Minnesota) for per capita deer-vehicle collisions. My guess is that most of the deer population there lives very close to roads, whereas there are good-sized portions of northern Minnesota that are relatively isolated from roads.
U.S. DEER-VEHICLE COLLISIONS FALL 7 PERCENT

Minnesota is still fairly high in the rankings. Odds are really low in Hawaii, though!

I believe that the Iowans are aiming for the deer and will in fact vere off into the ditches and woods on purpose to pick up some extra vittles.