I'm pretty sure I'm gonna hit a Deer

hate to say it but you could get one of those whistlers that go on the bumper. In case you meet some blind deer that is! :banplease:

 

They don't work. A reliable study has shown them to be useless; just another example of snake oil.

Tom

 

then maybe congress or algore can save the deer.

 

Ok so that I understand you. You think that there is a good chance for you to come into contact with a deer on this 1 mile stretch of gravel road. I may be a little slow, but would'nt slowing down on this 1 mile stretch of "gravel" be a good idea? Deers or not?

 

I live in deer country (which is most of the US and Canada anymore), always have, and yet have only hit two in my life (I'm 58 now).....despite numerous close-calls. The last one was just last October, in my Honda Prelude, not the Prius which I didn't have yet. Dark, big antlered buck basically ran into the side of me while I was driving roughly 60mph. Some, but not a lot of real serious body damage, deer was down in the road screaming (have you ever heard a deer scream? It is a strange, compelling, and chilling sound) and thrashing about endangering traffic and me, so a head-shot from my trusty 357 put an end to that process (always a good thing, IMHO, if legally permissible in your locale and something that you are personally attuned to and comfortable with, to have a handgun in one's vehicle) and I was able to drag it out of the road before it caused a more serious accident. Damages came to nearly $4000. A direct frontal collision with a deer in the Prius would be expensive. Make sure you have good comp/collision coverage, and continue to drive with care, and that's probably the best you can do.

 

Yeaaah, one less fuzzy tailed tree rat in the world! It's a good idea to check your tires and air pressure for a few days, to make sure the little varmit didn't puncture or damage your tires.

Wouldn't suggest blowing the horn or flashing your lights! Deer tend to startle easy, they become temporally fixated by noise or light. Last thing you want to have happen is Bambi stopping still in front of you!

Slow down as much as you can, steer to the opposite side of the deer's head. Try to remember that deer often travel in herds, the first one crossing the road may not be the last one. Keep a sharp eye out for more, especially when they start having young. (Goes for Geese as well.)

Change your state of mind as well! Start thinking I will not hit a deer, I will not hit a deer!

 

You could get a recording of something that would scar away dear and play it though some external loadspeakers. Maybe a Lachucharacha horn repeating over and over. But then there might be lots of ice-cream seaking children running out to great you.

 

I've seen deer run into the side of a car. No matter how slow you go, they can still do that.

Tom

 

I know a guy who had a Black Bear run into the side of his car, messed the car up pretty good. Driver was ok, and the Bear was no where's in sight when he pulled over to see what happened. He did see the Bear hit his car and thought he was seeing things. Doesn't happen to often in Lower New York State.

 

Here is a web site dedicated to the topic:

Welcome to DeerCrash.Com - Home of the Deer-Vehicle Crash Information Clearinghouse

 

I understand that's the best one can do to put it out of the misery, but, I am a person who would like to put the deer in the trunk, take it to a vet, nurse it, and release it back to wilderness. Now, I understand this is not a very easy and plausible thing to do in the wonderful US of A, so let me go and get a weapon.

 

I understand your sentiments and don't even necessarily disagree with them. Unfortunately, perhaps this was one of those "had to be there" situations. It was night, dark and it was a big antlered buck, antlers broken in accident (I pulled a piece of one out of the driver side door) and very sharp and jagged, blood smeared everywhere, broken back as he was dragging his rear legs which were non-functional even though the front ones were still working, the animal was very frightened and literally screaming while thrashing its head about and crawling in the road which was busy. I had a small flashlight and was trying to wave off cars that were traveling fast and swerving around the accident scene (no police would arrive for another 20 minutes) but was very fearful that someone was going to hit the deer and cause yet more damage. I finally handed the flashlight off to a motorist who had stopped to help out, went back to the car and got the gun. We discussed it briefly, agreed that it would be extremely hazardous to try to drag the still living thrashing buck out of the road, we'd have run the risk of being impaled on those jagged, broken horns, and also agreed that he was mortally injured, so decided that the best move was to put him out of his misery and get him out of the road before anyone was hurt. I can assure you that I did not enjoy this incident. :frown:

 

A few years ago in Kansas, attached to my front bumper I sported, not one, but two black wind-powered plastic deer whistles. I chose "stealth black" cause I didn't want those pesky deer to know it was Me with the whistle (smart, aint' I?).

For the first few weeks it seemed to work, I mean, while driving along NO deer crossed my path, but hey, on the other hand neither did any lions or elephants. So I quickly surmised that I must of accidently bought the "multi-animal" plastic whistle. Gee...it didn't seem that expensive?

Soon thereafter I noticed the deer showing up alongside the road, first one, then another, after that a small handful. At first they just stared at me as I drove past. Whew, lucky me!

Later on, the deer would begin heading towards my direction along the ditch every time I approached and I started wondering if I had lost the whistle in some car wash somewhere. Checking my front bumper, there they stood like two proud sentinels guarding a Kings' treasury. Well, at least they kept the deer and other beasties off the road, I thought.

A few weeks of this strange behaviour (the deers', not mine) and now most everytime I approached a certain deer would head towards me then turn and run alongside my car as I barreled along the highway, and Boy, can they jump or bound or whatever propels them. A beautiful sight no less, but still a bit scary.

I was now getting worried. What if the deer decided to race across the road in front of me? What would I do? And did the whistle wear out? Did I buy an inferior brand? What about that strange muffled high pitched sound I heard which seemed to eminate from my radiator, near about the time I installed both units. Too many questions.

Curiousity overcame me one day and I headed back down to the sporting goods place where I first made the purchase. I told the guy at the counter what strange encounters I was having with his product, he agreed and said he'd come outside and check them out.

He bent down on one knee to examine the bumper sentinels, took a close look at them and fell the rest of the way to the concrete in fits of laughter. He must of laid there a minute laughing and gasping before he finally got up and took me, puzzled faced, back into his store and down isle #3.

Reaching for a sale item, he held it up to my face as I read on the label "American Elk Mating Whistle".

So I'm here to tell you, "This stuff works!"

ZC1

 

HAHAHA, is that for real? haha.

I had my car in the body shop one time to have the bumper repainted. At the time the guys at the shop (who I know) had a Lexus LS400 in there with no damage but a missing windshield. So I asked them what happened.

The guy hit a deer in mid-leap across the road and took it square in the windshield, deer wound up in the passenger seat. No damage to the car at all save the windshield. The guy is lucky to be alive...

 

Xiola, it's also the change of seasons. Spring is when the fawns are around and there's lots of movement.

Betcha the deer "traffic" lightens up in the other seasons.

 

I have seen some terrible accidents especially during the fall 'rut' mating season when the deer have other things on their minds. One collision ended up with the rear end of the deer going through the windshield and kicking the driver to death. Be careful out there!