Suicidal Deer

[TXGunNut]

Had the misfortune of hitting a deer on the way to work early yesterday, it was in a river bottom area of a narrow two lane country road where I often see deer in the fall and occasionally other times as well. It was behind a retaining wall on the shoulder and it looked at me and did not glance across the road...a doe will always locate it's running mate at times like this and if it had glanced across the road I would have known it was going to dart across. I shut my (new-to-me:() 2010 Mercury down to about 20 mph anyway and just as I went by he darted out in front of me, maintaining eye contact right up to moment of impact. He slid across the road on his belly and into the grass. I found a safe place to pull off and went back to put him down, if necessary.
It seems a 31.5 million grain projectile @ 29.33 fps wasn't quite enough to anchor this deer, hope he's gonna be OK. Not sure about the math, had dental surgery later in the day so I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box today. :(

[Linstrum]

Too bad that happened, I hate to see animals get dinged like that, it is often a slow and painful way to go. I've picked up aluminum cans along the road on occasion and I've seen a lot of animal bones lying in the brush just off the shoulder, about 75% deer, and the rest coyote/dog, porcupine, and skunks. I've never seen an antelope. The crows that come and scarf up the carrion are smart enough not to get hit!

rl 1100

[TXGunNut]

Thanks, 293 fps sounded too fast. I see lots of road kill along that stretch every fall, gives me a feel for the health of the area herd. Had to put down a deer hit by another motorist last fall, was surprised to find a nice, fat doe in spite of the drought. I've hit a few skunks and a raccoon on that stretch. Every now and then a crow or vulture gets hit, my buddy hit a vulture on a motorcyle not far from here last year.

[MT Gianni]

Looks like the grill got the worst of it. We do get some road killed Antelope in Eastern MT. When the group decides to run occasionally a semi will get hit by a crowd. Not a pretty sight unless you are a 4 legged or winged scavenger.

[jimone]

You know why there's no crows hit on the road?
There's always one on the side saying "Car! Car!"

[leadman]

Funny!

[Freightman]

My kids inlaws live at Matador, TX and they will not go where they have to drive at night as the pigs and deer are so thick it is hard to keep from hitting them at night.

[TXGunNut]

My kids inlaws live at Matador, TX and they will not go where they have to drive at night as the pigs and deer are so thick it is hard to keep from hitting them at night.

I hunt with an outfitter near you on the Caprock Canyons and he does not recommend travelling at night. I've had numerous close calls up there and around here.

[Linstrum]

You Bet! Yeah, there are some places where it is worth your car to drive at night because of the big animals. A month ago I was driving between Durango and Pagosa Springs in Southern Colorado, and the highway department now has animal detectors that trigger flashing lights and warning signs along the highway at places where hitting deer and elk is a big problem. When I got to the Keya Grande private elk hunting ranch just west of Pagosa Springs I saw quite a few elk in their pasture by their big pretty gate.

Some lessons get learned the hard way. In early October of 1989 I was on that same stretch of highway headed west to go to Mesa Verde National Park at around midnight as a passenger in a 1987 Acura Integra sports sedan being driven by a nice young lady acquaintance. We were going way too fast at about 65 mph and when she turned on the map light briefly to look at something I was absolutely shocked to see she was sitting cross-legged in a full lotus position and using the cruise control instead of the foot throttle! I came unglued and asked her to please get both feet back on the floor in case an elk ran out into the road so she could at least hit the brakes before we died! About that time she zig-zagged us through a herd of maybe six deer standing in the middle of the road. She put her feet back on the floor and slowed down while I checked to see if I needed to change my underwear and she pulled the seat cover back out of her bottom.

rl 1101