My first encounter with deer.....

I've hit two deer so far, both in OR; one on I84 and the other on OR58. Was lucky both times since they ran into the trailer. First one went right under my drivers side first axle and wrapped herself around the last axle. I had to cut her out with a knife. I had cud and crap all the way up the trailer, in my straps, and on my tarp. Trailer stunk until I could get it washed. She did it right by waiting until my headlights went past but she didn't realize there was 48' of trailer behind the lights. The second bolted from the shoulder when I was about five feet from her. I saw her squirming on the ground in my passenger mirror but then saw her take off into the woods in my driver's mirror. I think she just clipped a winch since all I found was cud on a mudflap and a tiny bit of meat on one of my winches.

Try not to hit them but no animal is worth losing your load or running your truck in the ditch.

 

I use to run to Buckhannon or Clarksburg WV 2 trips a night deer kills were a normal occurance..let off the fuel and keep straight, dont jam the brakes on dont swerve just back off the fuel and take your chances many times you will just clear them sometimes you wont if you hard brake or swerve you can get into an out of control situation ..our night drivers average 1 deerkill a year. WV deer are fairly small usually bumper and minor hood damage one thing to always check is that bumper hasnt cut inside of steer tire ...very seldom we cant drive away from deerkill..hit a bear 3 years ago on 26 south of kingsport TN whole different story..spent 3 days in motel waiting on radiator

 

I've hit two with the big truck, one with suv and one with a pickup. I live in the Missouri Ozarks and travel a lot of rural two lane roads. I've found that laying on the horn works best to scare them away from the road. If I see them ahead in or near the road this has worked well.

The ones I hit with the big truck were when I failed to use the air horn. They run down the ditch and just as I come even with them they run across in front of the truck. They don't appear to have any judgement of dealing with moving vehicles.

 

Husband hit one in 08 with a volvo coming out of NE into IA. It took out the passenger side headlight, a little damage to the front quarterpanel and cracked the hood. The deer just jumped out in front of us from the side. Counted no less than 45 deer in VA soon after that. They really love the areas on the side of the road where the grass has been kept cut.

Also if you drive for a company and you swerve to miss it and end up rolling the truck or otherwise, it will be considered a preventable accident. Watch the lingo you use also. You want it as a non-preventable on your DAC due to deer jumping in front of you.

 

This thread makes me think of an incident on I-90 years ago by Cle Elum, WA. Eleven elk were killed when they ran into the front and side of a truck. $20K damage to the truck (in 1990 values):

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19900405&slug=1064883

I try to imagine what it must have been like, driving along when all of a sudden an entire herd of 500-700 lb animals decides to become elk burgers.

 

i have seen buffalo in the road before that would make a bigger mess of a truck than a elk. moose will make a big mess of a truck as well.

 

Almost had a head on collision with a bison. It was running down the median on I-35 in OK. He was making a b-line for me until he was about 30 yrd away, then he veered over into the northbound side to play in the traffic. I was in single lane road construction (they had taken the slow lane down to the sub-base so it was about a 1-1/2' drop) so I really had no place to go. I figured hitting a 2,000lbs animal, traveling at 25-30 mph, would've jack-knifed the 48,000 lbs of lumber I had on the deck.

 

IMO hit the horn but not the brakes and don't swerve. That's from an experienced Deer hunter. Prolly hit 10-15 deer driving and 2 at once. Here's a tip. Don't look at the one your trying to miss..........it's the one running right behind the first one that you need to worry about. Deer whistles might work if you keep the bugs out of them.

 

Please elaborate even further. In a crisis situation it is hard for anyone to know exactly how they would react, but what if the human was a kid running out from behind a bush to get a ball across the road?

 

You should all ready be on the brakes..........You saw the ball bounce into the road right.