Deer Strike...

[SPORT]

Just went for a quick ride into town to drop off a couple movies around 8pm. Thought I'd take the scenic route there so I went around town and came in from the other side. Beautiful crisp air keeps one alert and revived. Dropped the movies off and thought, I'll go ahead and take the more direct way home. With about a 6 second following distance between the car inf front and me I noticed shiny eyes coming out of the brush from the left side of the road. The car in front of me just passed it and probably didn't even see it. I was traveling around 40MPH when it appeared. The fisrt thing I noticed was its size. This Deer was huge. Nevertheless, I was in no position to stop before hitting it so I accelerated and swerved to the right in front of it. I must have only been 5 feet from its nose. As I accelerated the deer was attempting to run in front of me, but it seemed the sheer size of this deer prevented it from accelerating too quickly. My guess the road prevented adequate traction for the deer. Either way, it scared the begeebees out of me as it was a little too close for comfort.

Lesson learned...Be Vewy cautious when riding as it is nearing ruttin season and deer are out of their mind.

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Just went for a quick ride into town to drop off a couple movies around 8pm. Thought I'd take the scenic route there so I went around town and came in from the other side. Beautiful crisp air keeps one alert and revived. Dropped the movies off and thought, I'll go ahead and take the more direct way home. With about a 6 second following distance between the car inf front and me I noticed shiny eyes coming out of the brush from the left side of the road. The car in front of me just passed it and probably didn't even see it. I was traveling around 40MPH when it appeared. The fisrt thing I noticed was its size. This Deer was huge. Nevertheless, I was in no position to stop before hitting it so I accelerated and swerved to the right in front of it. I must have only been 5 feet from its nose. As I accelerated the deer was attempting to run in front of me, but it seemed the sheer size of this deer prevented it from accelerating too quickly. My guess the road prevented adequate traction for the deer. Either way, it scared the begeebees out of me as it was a little too close for comfort.
Lesson learned...Be Vewy cautious when riding as it is nearing ruttin season and deer are out of their mind.

Nice miss!

 

[El Gordo]

It is definitely deer dodging season. I drove up island after dark on Tuesday, swerved around a nice buck trying to cross in front of me and dodged around 3 more carcasses lying on the road before I got home. Dunno why people can't at least drag their trophies to the side of the road?

Glad you missed too.

 

[wfooshee]

I had a similar scare coming back from Birmingham last Sunday. Somewhere south of Troy, AL, on US 231 (a 4-lane) I crested a hill in the left lane, passing people who drive like the speed limit is the law or something (I was only 72 in a 65), and there's a caribou-sized doe standing at the shoulder looking right at me. I was riding in the left groove of the lane, so I went by her at 72, maybe 5 feet from her nose, before it even really registered that she was there! Woulda been nasty!

Notice that the highway was a 4-lane, and I was in the left lane. The doe was in the median!!!! She's gonna HAVE to cross again sometime to get to the woods, and I'm just glad it wasn't right then.

 

[spalkin]

I'm glad you got away!

There's one other thing to try to remember to do....honk your horn.

A cop actually told me this when I stopped onto the scene of another deer hit years ago.

Apparently, the loud, lower tone allows them to lock onto you and your path (which is toward them, and they hate that)

It probably sounds like some horrible thing coming to get them.

It sounds stupid but it works! If you see a deer approaching the road or just for the hell of it, honk your horn.

Riding out in the country on Monday, a buck started to trot into my path. I was going 55 and he was 50 yards ahead of me.

When I saw the thing start toward the road I got mad.

Probably because I'd been dealing with other drivers minutes before. I decided to lay on the horn.

The ******* instantly turned and ran as fast as it could back into the woods.

We would've had a problem if he didn't.

The scariest thing about animals is that they can't reason, but they scare easy.

 

[SPORT]

I'm glad you got away!
There's one other thing to try to remember to do....honk your horn.

A cop actually told me this when I stopped onto the scene of another deer hit years ago.

Apparently, the loud, lower tone allows them to lock onto you and your path (which is toward them, and they hate that)

It probably sounds like some horrible thing coming to get them.

It sounds stupid but it works! If you see a deer approaching the road or just for the hell of it, honk your horn.

Riding out in the country on Monday, a buck started to trot into my path. I was going 55 and he was 50 yards ahead of me.

When I saw the thing start toward the road I got mad.

Probably because I'd been dealing with other drivers minutes before. I decided to lay on the horn.

The ******* instantly turned and ran as fast as it could back into the woods.

We would've had a problem if he didn't.

The scariest thing about animals is that they can't reason, but they scare easy.

Hmm, Simple yet logical. I'll try and remember to do that next time. Thanks for the advice.

Of course I hope to never need to scare a deer away. :glare:

 

[NoCage]

I'm glad you got away!
There's one other thing to try to remember to do....honk your horn.

A cop actually told me this when I stopped onto the scene of another deer hit years ago.

Apparently, the loud, lower tone allows them to lock onto you and your path (which is toward them, and they hate that)

It probably sounds like some horrible thing coming to get them.

It sounds stupid but it works! If you see a deer approaching the road or just for the hell of it, honk your horn.

Riding out in the country on Monday, a buck started to trot into my path. I was going 55 and he was 50 yards ahead of me.

When I saw the thing start toward the road I got mad.

Probably because I'd been dealing with other drivers minutes before. I decided to lay on the horn.

The ******* instantly turned and ran as fast as it could back into the woods.

We would've had a problem if he didn't.

The scariest thing about animals is that they can't reason, but they scare easy.

This worked for me also... ever since my deer strike I've been thinking of stuff that might thwart forest rats. After the strike I added Freeway Blaster horns (thanks for the part #'s Toe) and they are LOUD. A few weeks ago a doe started to cross the road ahead of me... one blast and she did a 180 and took off.

A little off topic; I noticed cagers sometimes get pissed when I "blast" them. It's like they didn't appreciate being fooled by what they thought was a '63 Buick they pulled in front of.

And congrats Sport and Wfooshee for dodging that bullet.

 

[Jackson]

It amazes me at how stupid deer are. They can be standing on the shoulder of the road staring right at you as you approach, and often they will run across the road right in front of you. This happened to me the other day while I was riding through Wind Cave National Park. As I was coming through a corner, I saw the deer standing on the shoulder, I hit both brakes, the deer ran across the road in front of me, the rear tire slid out a little, and I came to almost a complete stop right in front of the forest rat.

I never felt the ABS activate, but maybe it did. I'm not sure if the rear locked up for a split second (no more than that for sure) or if the slight sliding out by the rear tire was simply a reaction to braking while going through a corner. Probably the latter. I did not hear any tire squeeling. Regardless, the FJR's excellent brakes did their job!