Avoiding the unexpected deer

[wagonman76]

Last I checked, Michigan is 2nd in car-deer collisions only to West Virginia. And just about everybody I know has totaled a vehicle with a deer at least once. It's like a way of life here. But driving like a bat outta hell also seems like a way of life.

In a way I consider myself lucky I've only bumped one very slow and it was enough to knock out the filament in my turn signal bulb. But on the other hand, by driving slower and for conditions, I've lost track of all the deer I would have smashed had I been overdriving my headlights and wouldn't have had the time to react by the time it ran in front of me. I drive a lot of miles and most of them are in the dark. I also feel like I'm the slowest one on the road every day even when I'm going the speed limit.

[Weather Spotter]

Never hit a deer, come close a few times (going too fast). Now that I ecomodd (drive slower than speed limit) I have had fewer near misses. One time I just barely stopped in time, 8 deer (all I saw) were crossing the road and I was able to stop just before hitting them.

[IsaacCarlson]

I find that trying to peg every deer I see works wonders. I steer toward them and gas it...they always seem to get out of the way. Of course I like to eat them, and that is why I try to peg them.

[Weather Spotter]

I like to eat them too, but the car repairs can be costly (more than hunting tags and freezer space)!

[Arragonis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvph0eSb-Hg

[taredog]

Very entertaining thread. It motivates me to tell a couple critter stories, one recent and one very old.

Situational awareness is the key IMHO and paying attention to the road vs electronic devices or passengers.

Old story - late 1970s, "this is no s**t", saw evidence of the truth. A person on a motorcycle is riding along an AZ hghway in a rural area just after dark. Situational awareness/overdriving headlights likelyhood low/high. A coyote comes from the right and gets caught between the frame and front fender. Details about if yote was run over by the front wheel or got a lucky shot are hazy. Biker claims yote started biting everything it could find including his leg. He got stopped and turned the fork and the yote fled the scene. Biker shows up in bar looking distraught. Orders a shot of anything. Bartender (mother/big sister type) gives him shot and glass of water and tells him to calm down and tell us about it. He relates the story, we call bs and ask questions about drink/drug ingestion. We go outside, see blood and fur on the bike and then see the chewed boot and jeans and leg of the rider. Be careful out there bikers.

New story - late July this year - driving from Gardiner toward Livingston MT I am continually reminded by passengers we are late and must hurry. We see elk and deer grazing beside the road and I mention dusk is a time when they are very active. Passengers turn up the music and resume conversation. We turn off hiway to a rural road. I see eyes and ears. I turn down music and point out "bambies". Passengers are enthralled for a moment. One mentions how late we are. Turns up music. I turn off sound system and ask them to help me watch for deer. We see deer at least every 100 yards along the road. Only once do deer come on the road, a pair of yearlings (older fawns, I'm no expert) followed by momma. I brake, go slower. Passsengers mention once again how late we are and complain about no light for photos. We do not hit any deer.

Situational awareness-high. Defensive driving-high. Distractions-minimized.

Bottom line-I was driving a vehicle owned by the person in the passenger seat. If I had hit a deer the consequences of damage to the vehicle and "killing bambie" would follow me to my grave. That person refused to drive.

Point-as stated by other posts maintain situational awareness, drive defensively, ignore or try to minimize distractions and if you hit or are hit by wildlife, report it to someone or go back and get the meat.

[Frank Lee]

Re: passengers whining about how "late" they are, or how slow you drive (the speed limit??? ): I've had that too. Three things helped:
1. Said passengers were chronically late to get going i.e. if the men said we were departing at 5 pm the ladies would diddle around until 6 pm. The cure is to lie about the departure time- we started saying we wanted to leave at 4 if we REALLY wanted to leave at 5.
2. Whining about slow driving- I'd say "I'm driving the limit". End of discussion.
3. Final step was proving the folly of speeding. The math isn't hard. So I mathed out how long our trip took at 65 and 55 mph and said look, does the 7 minutes difference REALLY matter that much to you and if so, why don't we leave 7 minutes earlier?

[taredog]

Frank Lee I figured you would respond but was hoping for something about the coyote story.

You are absolutely right about the failure to leave on time thing. Many of us deal with that all the time. I have tried your solution but the others often over ride me.

I do have to say in defense of my passengers that we were late getting back due to an accident in Yellowstone. They did discuss that high speed roads should be built and attractions should be moved closer together. They also discussed why old faithful was not on published schedule. I told them it was because the rangers were doing other things and the summer hires were left in charge. I almost believe they bought that.

As far as speed limits go, this was Montana and 70 on the main road and 60 on the rural road mostly. I just got them distracted by pointing out the bambies.

Math? Don't try to confuse my passengers.

I really enjoy most of your posts. Still got that F150?

[IsaacCarlson]

I hate to see a deer on the side of the road if it is not FUBAR. I try to pick up what I can if'n it's fresh enough. Too many people don't care. They don't realize that roadkill makes more roadkill because the scroungers come out to eat it.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by taredog

Frank Lee I figured you would respond but was hoping for something about the coyote story.

You are absolutely right about the failure to leave on time thing. Many of us deal with that all the time. I have tried your solution but the others often over ride me.

I do have to say in defense of my passengers that we were late getting back due to an accident in Yellowstone. They did discuss that high speed roads should be built and attractions should be moved closer together. They also discussed why old faithful was not on published schedule. I told them it was because the rangers were doing other things and the summer hires were left in charge. I almost believe they bought that.

As far as speed limits go, this was Montana and 70 on the main road and 60 on the rural road mostly. I just got them distracted by pointing out the bambies.

Math? Don't try to confuse my passengers.

I really enjoy most of your posts. Still got that F150?

Thanks- yup, still have the F150.

Coyote and rider were SUPREMELY lucky!!! As a rider myself, I had a large animal run into the front of my bike after dark once too. My outcome was much different tho'. The big black dog came ran out in front of me from tall roadside grass; even though I was alert and not impaired I didn't even have time to grab any brakes. It hit the front wheel in such a way as to force it full-lock right, ripping the handlebars right outta my hands. So the bike goes one way down the road and I do a Superman dive into the road in a slightly different tangent at 55 mph. Long story short, it hurt, it was expensive, and I am SO GLAD I had my full-face helmet and leather on!!!