Hit by a Deer

[John]

There I was going the speed limit in town when up ahead to the right is a friggen deer heading my way. I come to a dead stop just as the friggen deer reached the far edge of the shoulder. But the friggen deer didn't stop. It ran into my GT40. I should have never installed that other mirror on the right side. The friggen deer broke it.

Whew. No other damage. But I'm tempted (yet again) to do some damage to the friggen people in town feed the friggen deer.

 

[Damian]

This may come of wrong but why would you drive any car of value at night in a deer ridden area? Better yet why not have those deer whistlers placed on the car that were designed to avoid this very thing? Why didn't you REVERSE THE CAR instead of just sitting there watching to see what the deer would do? (they do freeze when the lights shine in their eyes which is a neurological thing so again you must of done something to spook it. I have gotten out of my car and walked to within a few yards of a doe and her fawn when they were cought in the gaze of my headlights so I know that YOU DID SOMETHING WRONGand no I wasn't poaching just testing this whole doe in the headlights thing when I was younger) Don't be mad at the people be mad at yourself. You knew about the area you were driving in. I understand that those "whistlers" are not the most beautiful thing in the world but they can be hidden to some degree and you wouldn't be needing a new mirror. As a hunter I hear these stories all the time but only from people that refuse to do what it takes to avoid this exact type of thing. Count yourself lucky that the damage was only a mirror and call it a day.

 

[Ian Anderson]

Well this reminds me of the joke

What do you call a dear that cannot see?

Answer "No Idea!"

And ahter Hoota got out and broke it's legs for knocking off the mirror?

Answer "Still no Idea!"

And last one that poor animal was found to have take the mirror off but managed to remove it's dangly bits in the process

Now what do you call it?

Answer "Still no F$%£ing Idea"


Hell I recon you were lucky as I have seen the damage a small dear can do running into theside of a car

Ian

 

[Pat Buckley]

Damian -

Consider yourself fortunate that you escaped without serious injury for pulling that dumb (I hope this doesn't come off wrong) stunt.

It is never a good idea to surprise ANY wild animal and her offspring......

 

[EGLITOM]

This may come of wrong but why would you drive any car of value at night in a deer ridden area? Better yet why not have those deer whistlers placed on the car that were designed to avoid this very thing? Why didn't you REVERSE THE CAR instead of just sitting there watching to see what the deer would do? (they do freeze when the lights shine in their eyes which is a neurological thing so again you must of done something to spook it. I have gotten out of my car and walked to within a few yards of a doe and her fawn when they were cought in the gaze of my headlights so I know that YOU DID SOMETHING WRONGand no I wasn't poaching just testing this whole doe in the headlights thing when I was younger) Don't be mad at the people be mad at yourself. You knew about the area you were driving in. I understand that those "whistlers" are not the most beautiful thing in the world but they can be hidden to some degree and you wouldn't be needing a new mirror. As a hunter I hear these stories all the time but only from people that refuse to do what it takes to avoid this exact type of thing. Count yourself lucky that the damage was only a mirror and call it a day.

To be honest, that sounds weird to me.
If they come from the side, no light shines in their eyes and the contiue to run ( especially if you don´t know from what they run away). So stopping is the best you can do. The chance that they change direction in the last moment, would give the same chance of beeing hit.
I know the thing called "spotlight hunting" because i went after some poachers trying to shoot the dear of my friends property, but my experience in driving around in dear filled meags county is, the don´t always freeze in the beam of a light.
Admit that not driving at night minimize the chance of a hit.

TOM

 

[Mark]

Am I missing something? Where does he say that this was at night?

 

[Pat Buckley]

LOL!

Right, night.....

 

[Damian]

I have NEVER heard of anyone hitting a deer in the daylight. They usually bed down during the day (reason most hunters leave the woods after dawn and do not return until just before dusk). That's not to say that they never run during the day just VERY VERY VERY rare. Also he had to be going rather slow or have stoped in order for the thing to jump his car and have a hoof catch the mirror and NOT hit any other part of the car. A deer hit at any speed would total a modern steel bodied car never mind a GT40 so you have to do a little reading inbetween the lines here. Not saying that the OP is full of it just that there is A LOT MORE to the story than he posted.

 

[Dwight]

I live on the edge of town and have deer in my yard all the time. I see deer every week all year long. The road from the hiway to my neighborhood is 7/10's of a mile with 13 curves. Great for my Cobra.

But I have never seen a deer while driving the Cobra. Loud side pipes?

In my other cars I have had to stop and wait on them to pass. One time a small one almost ran into the side of my car long after I had stop in the road. Young and dumb.

We see them day and night.
I have counted 13 in my yard. My wife tells the local hunters they can hunt deer in her yard with a baseball bat. Not far from the true.

I drove into the driveway one night last week with 6 deer 50 feet from me, got out of the car walked into the house and they did not move.

I'm thinking about buying a bow and arrows.
Dwight

 

[Mark]

But you can't kill Bambi you b'stard!

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

"Deer Whistle" test results here....Deer-Whistle Ineffective, Says Bioacoustics Researcher - November 18, 2002



don't waste your money!

 

[Damian]

In residential area where people have bird feeders they will frequent the yards. I have them walk up to my back door early morning and late afternoon (dawn & dusk). If they have no reason to fear (been going into your yard for a while with no incidence) they they will continuosly come back (like putting a salt lick on a tree in your yard). They are creatures of habbit almost to a fault. They will follow the same tracks for seasons if never spooked which is why hunters will put a tree stand just over a trail. The fawns are very friendly but be careful because where ther is BAMBI there is also his dad not to far off and well they can be nasty if provoked.

 

[Damian]

Love that link. It states that they DO EMIT A SOUND ABLE TO BE HEARD BY THE DEER but that it MIGHT be drowned out by road noise or other factors. So in short the deer will be spoked way before you even get in the area. Thanks for pointing out the obvious! So yes they can be heard by the deer but to what effectiveness (which he admittedly DID NOT TEST) no one knows. I give him credit for doing the test as I always wondered if they emitted anything acoustically (which was ALL HE TESTED FOR NOT THE EFFECTIVENESS) which he was able to prove. Also love the way he sidestepped the viability of the electric device by saying that it "might" work. Acoustically it would suffer from the same road noise as the air fed units so why would one have a better chance than the other?

 

[Pat Buckley]

If you see the deer standing in your headlight beams flash your headlights at him or her. That usually gives them the needed prod to get the hell out of there.

I have evn been advised to turn off my headlights for a second or so - although I am not sure I could bring myself to do that what with a deer in front of the car......

As far as squirrels and cats - you might as well aim at them because they are going to do exactly the wrong thing at exactly the wrong moment. And if you do manage to hit them who cares?

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Ummm.. okay, Pat. I care. I see enough death at my job. I don't want to kill anything or anybody. Squirrels, armadillos, opossums- anything. And I've had both cats and dogs. And last year, a collision with a deer who jumped straight into my truck.

This time of year, I think they are still kind of hormone crazy, aren't they? or is that over and done with at this point?

 

[Pat Buckley]

What job do you have?

Animal control?

 

[Charlie Farley]

I second you Jim. Needless deaths are not wanted. Especially domesticated animals.
Somebody's daughter is gonna be heartbroken.
Enough of that shit in this world without wantonly adding to it.

 

[Pat Buckley]

Who said anything about wantonly adding to it?

Jesus Christ - you guys need to get a sense of humor.

 

[Mark]

+2 for the "I care" camp

 

[Mark]

I do have a sense of humour though Pat. You should have seen what I was going to post!