Deer

[Bob]

I used to think that deer crashes only happened to remote miscreants who posted in Face Plant at ADVrider.com. I thought, hell they probably deserved it due to riding crotch rockets at 120 mph wearing shorts and flip flops. Now I know better. It also happens to old miscreants who wear boots and riding gear. Beachy says it happened to him in 2012—hey beach how bout some details when you get the chance! Anybody else been bopped by Bambi?

I am here to tell you, from experience, it is a real threat to life and property. And it seems to be completely (mostly) out of our control. Even if you spot a deer grazing on the roadside and slow down to 20mph, that’s no guarantee you are safe, as I read of someone who did just that and the deer still leaped into the side of the bike and broke the rider’s right leg---and he didn’t even go down. They are effing crazy beasts.

But the scary part for me is that this is my second occurrence of deer violence in the past few months. One of them decided to basically thrash his brains out on the right front door of my Ridgeline not long ago. He T-boned me! He survived but just barely, reeling around aimlessly in the middle of the road, bleeding from eyes/ears/nose/etc. Animal control finally showed up and hauled him off to be euthanized. And I was left with a $1000 out-of-pocket door repair. All this on Carmel Rd. 2 blocks from my house in Charlotte.

What are we gonna do about these little bastards? Any ideas?

[Brick]

Probably 14 years ago I was 7 mikes from my home on Watemill road between 181 and 126. I come up a hill and banked to the left on a curve I'd ridden many times before. Out of the corner of my right eye I caught a glimpse of brown running up the hill directly toward me. I never really saw the deer. I closed my eyes out of habit I guess and thought this is gonna hurt.
I felt the impact and wobbled and remember thinking to just ride it out. I opened my eyes and was rolling down the road still up right. I checked the bike and tried the brakes. I looked for other vehicles in front and back. None! I gently rolled to a stop in a driveway. Turned off the bike and got off to see what was what.
I was on a 1996 Honda ST1100. I didn't have the saddle bags on the bike. I was untouched. All the plastic was gone from the right side of the bike. I called the police and walked back up the road to see if I could see anything. I found a few pieces but most seem to be gone over the hill in to the brush.
My insurance company totaled the bike and paid me for it. It seems Bambi ran off never to be seen by me again.
I figured I won the lottery that day.
Never know when it's going to happen again.



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[OldButNotDead]

I've never hit a deer but have come close many times. Rode in PA for about six years and PA has more deer than VA, NC, SC, TN combined, they are everywhere and they are BIG!
First time I recall was on a dirt road from Cass RR to Job WV. That was in the late sixties and that area was really in the sticks. I was on a 1966 Honda CL160, talk about an elephant riding a bicycle. The deer jumped right in front of me, no more than ten feet away, looked at me and jumped right back to where he came. This all happened in seconds and I had no time to do anything. Met a guy riding an LT at Grices Gun Shop in Clearfield, PA. He had just got his bike back from the BMW shop. He had killed Bambi on the spot a couple weeks earlier, knocking off the right mirror housing and that fairing kinda thingy in front of the right peg. He did not go down. They don't call them Light Trucks for nothing. My next near serious miss was on US50 near Redhouse, MD. I watched the deer running full tilt across a field in a straight line perpendicular to the highway. I was passing a pickup truck at the time doing about 70+ but slowed down to let the deer cross. It did not look left or right, nor slow down and ran right in front of the truck and me. Almost all the riding buddies I can recall in Central PA had been pegged by a deer, one totaling a pristine Ducati 919 after making the rider fly like Superman over the bars. Got a zillion stories of deer running in front of me, bear too, but I didn't get to see my best one. Ya know that tight turn near Hungry Mother State Park right at the top of hill and a steep embankment on your right? Well Bambi came down that hill and jumped OVER my back seat. I did not see it at all. The two riders behind me told me about while laughing hilariously. If I would have even noticed it, I would have filled my depends.

[flip]

I do a lot of night time driving in the Gastonia area for work. I am constantly seeing deer crossing roads in front of me or seeing them standing in people's yards near the roadway. It's amazing how quickly this area has become infested with deer. 25 years ago, you'd never see any deer around here.