Deer/vehicle collisions

358156 hp

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
Wow. Anywhere from a minimum of one car/deer collision per day to a maximum of 236 in one day. That's a lot of insurance claims.
 
Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
If you assume 3K per it is 60 million in a year. And 3K is probably a bit low.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
I have killed more deer with vehicles than guns. 27 so far. Lots of driving at night, and living in the Hill Country will add them up quickly.
 
oscarflytyer

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
1) I have been VERY LUCKY! Never hit a deer with a vehicle. And have had some close calls. 2) and have to LOL over this one... Wives' tale in AL... Insurance companies have introduce mountain lions/pumas into AL to prey on deer in an attempt to decrease deer/vehicle collisions...

Ben - ever heard #2 down around you?!? I heard it in Winston/Marion county area.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
I'll never forget driving up to work at the dealership one morning and seeing a brand-new F-350 Super Duty dually sitting there in the middle of the lot with the cab flattened to the door sills, frame twisted, and not a straight piece of sheet metal on it. It had full-replacement Ranch Hand steel grille guard, rear bumper, steps, and bed rails (probably a full ton of steel accessory armor). Even the rear wheels were bent and both rear outside tires blown out. I asked the service manager what happened when I walked in the shop, he laughed and said "Guy swerved to miss a half-grown doe and flipped it seven times". He could have hit that deer at 80 MPH head-on and not even scratched the gold-fleck matched paint on the front bumper, but instead reacted by cranking the wheel. One of the first things I learned to do as a driver on windy, dark roads in heavy deer country is learn NOT to swerve. The second thing I learned to do was weld and make myself a deer-proof grill guard for my truck. The third thing I learned was what collision insurance is for, because it's 5-8 grand every time Bambi charges for the headlights on anything made after about 1980.
 
KHornet

KHornet

Well-Known Member
Never hit one YET! Came close a few times. Very careful at dawn
and dusk has paid off for me.

Paul
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
13 deer, several dogs and cats, a Snowy Owl and a cow. One deer at about 125 mph. She jumped off an embankment and cleaned the roof rack completely off the car. Didn't do the deer much good either.
 
oscarflytyer

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
Dang Bret - brought tears to my eyes! poor roof rack! And Ian, it is like when flying at takeoff/landing, in right seat. My buddy reminds me NOT to stomp the peddles if something runs across the run way! REALLY worse things will happen!
 
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fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
my old scout had a bumper sticker on it that read DEER MAGNET. [BIL put it on there]
I had completely re-built the thing from the frame up and proceeded to bounce about a deer a month off it for the next 5 years.
when I sold it I gave the guy a complete front end and told him he would probably need it.
I had a couple of them run into it in broad daylight while I was parked.
once when I was inside a building and seen it out the window.
 
I

Intheshop

Banned
Wifey took a 60mph hit on a suicidal buck a month or so ago in her hot rod Sube.

My "best" was on a sportbike.Kneedown railing on a righty and broke a doe's neck,with my knee.... hit her muzzle hard/fast enough to spin her head round,Linda Blair style.

Lost a friend,a decorated Vietnam fighter pilot vet....great guy.Wonderful M/C rider.Hit a Deer 15 minutes from here on his bike.So tragic.
 
O

Ole_270

Well-Known Member
Close to 30 years ago the local insurance rep was pushing folks to get deer whistles on their car, claimed it would chase them off and keep you from hitting them. I'd never hit a deer in my life at the time. Went ahead and put the whistles on both vehicles. Wasn't 3 months till the wife and I had both hit one. Haven't had a whistle or a deer collision since, till about 3 weeks ago that is. Wife and I were on the way home just at dark in her Corolla. Saw a forkhorn up ahead on the side of the road, facing away from the road. I slowed down, honked and got in the other lane as he took 3 steps away from the road. As I came even with him, he whirled and came on the run . Slammed into the passenger side door about even with the wife and slid all the way back. As we went by I saw him jump the ditch and head into the woods. Found a place to pull over and take a look. Got lucky, wiped the dirt off the side and knocked a hole in the plastic hub cap on the rear. Wife was pretty shook up watching it come at her.
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
35 yr , knock knock , I haven't any animal induced body damage .
With that said . One summer I ran over 10,000 toads/frogs . I've hit a few turtles . I've hit a handful of jack rabbits . A few snakes , kangaroo rats , quail , a pigeon , and a bat .
That damned quail took out a turn signal lens .
 
G

GaryN

Active Member
I've hit a few. The weird one happened to the wife. She came to a complete stop on a herd of elk. One ran full blast into the driver side door. Crunched the door, took out the window and scared the wife. It was ten below zero when it happened. The elk just ran off after it did it.
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Back when deer whistles were all the rage, Division put them on all the Troop cars state wide. Knowing Division, they probably paid $19.99 for something you could get at Walmart for $1.99. Anyway, they made zero difference in deer strikes. Of course, they put them down on the top of the front bumper where the wind is directed upward and not through the whistle, just like everyone else. If they were going to work, they might have tried putting them at the front of the hood, but that would have looked really stupid. So, I guess we'll never know if they work or not.

A friend reminded me of the night I slid into a herd of 7 deer in a heavy snowfall. You know the kind, flakes the size of a golf ball, can't see 15 feet in front of you at night. I guess I should up my number to at least 15 or 16. Everyone of those stupid deer walked off, never to be seen again. Knocked the spot light off one side and damaged a mirror. Another reportable accident in my file...
 
Pistolero

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Never have hit one, yet. Saw a really bad crash with one years ago in Fla panhandle. I-10 there runs with a 100 yds grass median in some
areas, and it was like that about 1/2 hr before sunset and a movement ahead left caught my eye, about 300 yds away. A deer in top gear,
absolutely flat out has just gotten to the far side of the median. Still digging hard, and got hit by the PU in front of me by about 200 yds.
Explosion of deer pieces and truck pieces some flying 20 ft in the air. Really ugly. Truck slowed, we slowed, they seemed OK in the
cab, front grill was splattered, couldn't see how much real damage as we passed. Yuk. I'm sure that one was a high dollar repair.

A butcher at the butcher shop where I have had some deer cut up and wrapped told me that Missouri auto insurers pay them to butcher
any donated deer, which goes to homeless shelters and boy's home, for folks who have extra tags but don't want the meat, wouldn't
shoot them and waste the meat. The insurors want the deer dead, willing to pay to encourage more shooting.

Bill
 
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