My Wife Hit a Deer This Morning

[brin]

My wife left the house for work this AM ..it was still dark and she called about 4 minutes after leaving and said she had just hit a deer. We live in the country and she saw a deer cross in front of her as she approached and slowed knowing more might follow and sure enough one came out from her left across the oncoming land and hit on her left bumper...she said as she continued on the deer was getting up ..

She called me when she got to work and said she could not see any damage to her Jeep Cherokee...I drove down to where it happened and no deer so she will be happy to hear that....she was more worried about poor Bambi than she was herself or the Jeep...You know women...

Be careful ..they are out there moving around now big time. Wives and Deer...

[deerefan]

My wife left the house for work this AM ..it was still dark and she called about 4 minutes after leaving and said she had just hit a deer. We live in the country and she saw a deer cross in front of her as she approached and slowed knowing more might follow and sure enough one came out from her left across the oncoming land and hit on her left bumper...she said as she continued on the deer was getting up ..

She called me when she got to work and said she could not see any damage to her Jeep Cherokee...I drove down to where it happened and no deer so she will be happy to hear that....she was more worried about poor Bambi than she was herself or the Jeep...You know women...

Be careful ..they are out there moving around now big time. Wives and Deer...

I have hit 2 deer in 2 different F150s and no damage. Must have got them just right with all the plastic on today's vehicles. Both were hit at about 35mph. Now, I've seen them after being hit at 60mph, BIG difference (very messy)!!! Wives, on the other hand, I'll wreck my truck trying to avoid them. They can cost you money for many years!!

[riptides]

Got one at the end of the driveway yesterday. Too far for the freezer, which is already full.

Truck has now at least six or seven kills. More than my rifles.

[20 20]

I hit one once with the mirror, on a big ole boat of a car. It was kind of in a blind spot so I got out and pulled it to the side of the road. A friend came through right after me and said there was no deer. I figure the deer must have been just knocked out would have been something if it came to while I was draging it.

[Larry Caldwell]

I have an EMT friend who says if someone gets hit at 30 mph, they will probably survive. If the driver is going 40 mph, they are probably dead. I assume the same thing holds true for deer, not to speak of the grill and windshield. I hold my speed to about 45 on rural roads at night. So far I have been able to miss them when they jump out in front of me.

[MoKelly]

It seems more often than not the deer hits you vs. you hitting the deer.

I had one run right into the side of my truck. I was going slow and the deer just ran out of the woods and hit the side of the truck.

What was it thinking.

MoKelly

[beenthere]

I highly doubt anyone can predict or even make a WAG about the speed to make a "kill". Too many variables enter in such as angle, position, etc. Hit just right, 10mph can kill. Hit just right, 60 mph might not kill.

Like MoKelly says;
Once I was hunting and riding out in an old IH Carry-all driving 5 mph tops down a logging road. A crazy 10-pt buck running through the woods slammed into the right rear wheel and killed himself. We let the driver tag that one.

I hope 45 mph continues to work for you. Your luck may run out like mine did.

I have some other theories about speed, but won't discuss them. Maybe because they might not work for me after that.

[Steve_Miller]

One hit my 96 Dodge Ram several years ago, $4500 damage. I was doing about 55mph and out of the ditch on the dead run, I never even had the chance to hit the brakes before the collision. Deer slid down the road beside me for few yards before sliding off into the ditch, as it started to fall behind me sliding down the road I was glancing in the side mirror to see if it got up and out of the ditch pops a coyote. Too bad it wasn't the coyote instead, could have been less damage. Deer did not survive, I had my trailer on behind me so I took the carcass to the Wildlife park on the way home. They use to take road kill for food for the wolves and coyotes.

Steve

[brin]

Well it is verified no damage to the wife's Cherokee...We were lucky, we have $1,000 deductible on the insurance now and they used to have only a $50.00 deductible for acts of God...like a deer or road hazzard but that went away some time ago.

[jinman]

I saw two does run across the road in front of me while I was on my tractor yesterday. As I drove by, I'd swear they were standing in the brush laughing at the big slow blue thing they easily outran.