Stupid Deer

[Sital]

My hunter friends tell me how they sit in tree stands for hours in the hopes of seeing a deer to shoot at and how hard hunting is. I just tell them drive around my neighborhood at dusk and they can take one out with their car without even trying.

My wife's family is from just outside Albany. You speak the truth.

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[Nitehawk92]

i dont know about your state but in CA theyre marked an endangered species so you cant touch them, even though theyre abundant and reproducing like feral hogs

The Deer or the Homeless???

 

[wibornz]

My hunter friends tell me how they sit in tree stands for hours in the hopes of seeing a deer to shoot at and how hard hunting is. I just tell them drive around my neighborhood at dusk and they can take one out with their car without even trying.

My bud kils 8 to 12 deer a year off his and my farm land. He is my neighbor. He could kill more, he just doesn't want to run another freezer full time to do so.


I have hit 12 deer over the last 20 years within two miles of my house. I never drive over 35 at dusk or after dark. The speed limit is 55mph. At any given time there are at least a few dead deer on the edge of the road. The first time my wife drove my then new JLUR, she ran a deer over. Luck was on my side, because the Jeep was fully skid plated underneath and already had steal bumpers on it. Zero damage to the Jeep, and one rolled up deer.

 

[TheBirdie72]

You need this…

 

[Mikeoso]

Deer are very thick in my area, but I've only hit one. I did have a wild turkey charge my right front tire, fatally for him. I also stopped to look at a badger, who attacked the left front tire. Had a fox try to climb in with me...that one I shot.

 

[SLORubi]

I used to drive from west side of MI to east side and back every week for about 6 months. Mostly farm fields of corn, soy beans, and sugar beets. I once started counting the number of road kill deer along the trip, stopped counting when I got to 20, but they kept coming.
OP - glad it was minor.

 

[Valpo Jeep]

Just move the damn deer crossing sign.

 

[Valpo Jeep]

My area the deer population is not too bad. Controlled hunting along with natural predators keep them in check. I see very few killed along the road.

 

[Wabujitsu]

Years ago I ran over a domestic hog at night just outside a hog farmer’s fence, in a big Chevy pickup. I stopped, backed up to the hog, dropped the tailgate and sat their with my bare feet on its chest. It was still alive; I had my unholstered pistol next to me. I called the local SO.

The steering and suspension was damaged. When the deputy arrived, he took the scene in and asked about the gun. I said if it wakes up, I would shoot it, as it was mortally wounded. He just chuckled. The hog died, and although it had an ear tag, the farmer denied it was his hog, of course, because he would have been liable for damages.

I‘ve also hit a few deer over the years. Deer are strange. While riding my bike in the state park, deer will be in the road or step out and not move, even with me hollering and waiving an arm, to no avail. Stop the bike and step off of it though, and they disappear. I also can kayak up to them, grazing in a flood plain, same result.

Alligators behave the same way.

One very early morning at Fort Jackson, SC, I was running in a brigade formation with all of us singing cadence, about 500 Soldiers. A deer ran full tilt into the MIDDLE of the formation just in front of me. Soldiers shrieked and dodged, pushing off of the deer. I could hear it’s hooves scrapping the asphalt as everyone was assholes and elbows trying to avoid it. Fortunately nobody was hurt.

Infantry Soldiers also sometimes get mowed down by deer in the woods and jungle while training, sometimes with serious injury.

 

[NJJeep Guy]

I grew up outside of Albany and on the late summer night you counted them by the dozens. This one was a stupid young buck hauling ass through a fence gate

 

[Heimkehr]

Living in deer country as I do, and having "gone spotting" since my youth, there's a few observations, or lessons, that have been reliably consistent through the years.

First and foremost: If you see a single deer crossing the road in front of you, slow down and stay slowed down. The does in particular tend to travel together, averaging two to four adult animals. You might be in for an unpleasant surprise if you think it's safe to resume your regular speed after the first one safely crosses in front of you.

If you see a deer standing on the side of the road, expect them to stay still until you're close enough to hit them, at which point they may (a) continue standing still, (b) turn and run back into the woods or field, or (c) run out in front of your vehicle, particularly if your headlights are on and/or it's dusk. Said differently: Slow down, stay slowed down until you're safely past the deer, and expect the unexpected. Sometimes a horn works to rouse them from their apparent reverie. Sometimes, it doesn't.

Know when the deer start to run, so to speak, and remain extra vigilant behind the steering wheel. Locally, their seasonal movements begin in late Oct./early Nov., and continue into early Dec. when rifle season (which always begins on the Monday after Thanksgiving) has had its usual effect on average herd numbers. I ride at least one of my motorcycles year-round, but I usually leave the keys on the peg more so than usual during late Autumn. Time and experience has proven this to be the correct decision.

Finally, there's always the risk of a collision that we have no idea will occur until it occurs. I relay my own experience with this in the first paragraph in post #2. When that happens, there's nothing to do but react, and accept the functionally blameless nature of such events.

Stay frosty.

 

[Wabujitsu]

Living in deer country as I do, and having "gone spotting" since my youth, there's a few observations, or lessons, that have been reliably consistent through the years.

First and foremost: If you see a single deer crossing the road in front of you, slow down and stay slowed down. The does in particular tend to travel together, averaging two to four adult animals. You might be in for an unpleasant surprise if you think it's safe to resume your regular speed after the first one safely crosses in front of you.

If you see a deer standing on the side of the road, expect them to stay still until you're close enough to hit them, at which point they may (a) continue standing still, (b) turn and run back into the woods or field, or (c) run out in front of your vehicle, particularly if your headlights are on and/or it's dusk. Said differently: Slow down, stay slowed down until you're safely past the deer, and expect the unexpected. Sometimes a horn works to rouse them from their apparent reverie. Sometimes, it doesn't.

Know when the deer start to run, so to speak, and remain extra vigilant behind the steering wheel. Locally, their seasonal movements begin in late Oct./early Nov., and continue into early Dec. when rifle season (which always begins on the Monday after Thanksgiving) has had its usual effect on average herd numbers. I ride at least one of my motorcycles year-round, but I usually leave the keys on the peg more so than usual during late Autumn. Time and experience has proven this to be the correct decision.

Finally, there's always the risk of a collision that we have no idea will occur until it occurs. I relay my own experience with this in the first paragraph in post #2. When that occurs, there's nothing to do but react, and accept the functionally blameless nature of such events.

Stay frosty.

Also, if you see does run across the road in front of you, you can bet that there’s a buck not far behind. SLOW DOWN even if you don’t see the buck. The does ALWAYS cross first.

 

[Heimkehr]

Also, if you see does run across the road in front of you, you can bet that there’s a buck not far behind. SLOW DOWN even if you don’t see the buck. The does ALWAYS cross first.

A relevant addendum, Jeff. The ratio of deceased does to deceased bucks that I've observed bears this out.

 

[Flatties 4ever]

 

[azjl#3]

Think over the years I've had more deer run into the sides of my vehicles than me actually driving into them. And the last one, I was literally seconds from my driveway and came to almost a complete stop thinking a standing deer was trying to cross, but instead he then came at me at full speed and smashed his head into the front corner of my car, messing up the hood, headlight and then falling sideways into my fender and door, and then just running off into the night.

Such a dumb animal.

THIS^ is what happened to me while I was watching wife drive. Saw the deer left side of road just standing there, as we got too close to do anything, it head butted the side, $1,000 repair bill. My guess he was showing off for his friends "hey, look at the grey paint on my rack guys, cherokee"

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