deer near misses

It is deer rutting season so extra caution is always needed.
Never heard the term “like a deer in the headlights”?

 

We've got deer all over the place and the rut has started. This is "in town" so they are well feed by residents, etc. and are 240 lb monsters. Some of these guys have Pope and Young class racks.

 

Some (many?) motorcyclists call them forest rats. We saw three near the road on the way into town yesterday in broad daylight. (We're in Ohio, visiting.)

 

Three of them--a mother and two fawns--crossed the road in front of me last Thursday evening on my commute home. Make sure you stay alert around dawn and dusk especially.

My nearest miss was in 2016 outside Great Falls. The deer jumped out of the woods from the right, just in front of my car; fortunately it kept going, so my swerving to the right was just enough for its hind feet to clear the front bumper.

 

Hmmm. I just thought of the biggest scare a deer ever gave me. It was on a bicycle in western Colorado. Two friends and I were riding from Denver to the west coast.

We were single file with me in front. To our right was a shallow ditch, then a fence, then another ditch, and then railroad tracks. A doe and her fawn were trotting toward us in the near ditch. Baby hopped the fence and took off across the tracks. Mama came up on the road, head down, coming right at me. I slowed about as fast as you can from 30+ mph on a slight downgrade on a bicycle. She was about six feet way when she changed her mind and followed the baby.

And now, it's time to load up the car and head off in the dark and the rain to Iowa from Ohio ... in rutting season. Thankfully, neither the darkness or the rain should last much longer. Just till we get to the Interstate which has given us its own share of thrills with and without deer.

 

Don't mess with Mama of just about any species. Now that's intimidation.

Safe trip. enjoy!

 

I had a near miss just a few minutes ago, 5:45am. In town, 4 lane, 45 mph, non-divided, residential section line road with solid houses/neighborhoods on both sides, sporadic lighting. I'd seen many deer on this section before so I was in the center lane to increase reaction time. I couldn't use high beams due to traffic. Traffic coming at me and one car 100 feet in front of me in the right lane, me in the center. A massive buck charges across from the right in front of the guy on my right, he hits him and the buck continues across right into the oncoming cars. Both cars hit him and send him flying right at me. He stops right in front of me about 10 feet away. I was in my 4Runner so I was high enough to see the whole thing in slow motion.

Three cars damaged pretty good and me needing a change of pants . . . .almost.

 

I guess it's pants changing season. Last night on the way home from our trip, about two hours from home:


I only saw him for a split second. Mildred didn't see him at all. It was just a blur flashing by in the dash cam.

 

Nice to have the nice bright LED's. One of the best features.

 

The Prius headlights aren't bad. In fact, Mildred really likes them since she came directly from a Gen 2, but I was really wishing for my Prime's headlights when we drove at night.

 

Just over one year later -- again at night -- another close encounter with a forest rat. This thing was visible for a total of 24 frames after it came out of the glare of the oncoming headlights. Looks like we missed by about three feet if you freeze the last frame before it vanished. We were that close to having both card in the body shop at the same time.

 

At least the deer was alone and sprinting. In our area, they come in a bunch... and they don't run across the road. They just casually trot across the road in front of a stopped car. LOL

 

I'm really glad there wasn't more than one. But if one had been following that deer, it most likely would have been clobbered by the oncoming car that hid our subject from us.

Years ago we had a near miss on I-80 in Indiana. Thankfully it was daylight. All three came zooming across a harvested cornfield so we saw them coming. My wife was driving and she stomped the brakes. As we came to a stop, the third deer came to a stop with its face about a foot from my window. This was in the day when the interstates were not bumper to bumper coast to coast. If that happened today there probably would have been a 50-car pileup.

Edit to add: and on top of that, you have MOOSE!!

 

Oh, in our state, Moose has the right-of-way over motor vehicles. They have earned the right of pedestrians.

 

Hitting either a pedestrian or a moose has dire consequences for different reasons. Of all the things that could come through my windshield, a moose would probably be just about my last choice. I didn't get to see any while up your way, but I had my eyes peeled.

 

Yeah, for Moose watching, you would have to travel further north-interior. https://visitmaine.com/things-to-do/wildlife-watching/moose-watching

 

Deer collisions total cars and kill motorcycle riders. Watch especially for the doe and fawn that crosses the road, then the doe doubles back across the road for the fawn's twin.

Last winter I almost got a Bambi hood ornament. I took a day off from skiing at Whitefish, Montana, and was driving on a sunny day on the highway outside of Libby. Speed 70. A mule deer doe (maybe 150#) decided that she needed to cross the highway, left to right, at exactly that moment. I couldn't swerve left, a car was coming at me in its half of the two lane. I braked hard and eased left as much as I could and just missed her. Whew.

Our little town is thick with Blacktail deer. Some people feed them, almost everyone stops their car on the road well away from the deer sauntering across...I think they need a safe scare and do my best. I've seen as many as 7 deer in one front yard. The best deer repellent here is a swat across the rump with a broom.