Why you should hit deer on the road...

fish and mrs. fish?

 

It was before the movie.
But, pretty much the same experience...except, we didn't get it in the car.

 

Driving one night in rural Mississippi behind a woman in a Mercedes 4-door.

Deer leaps from her left, touches hooves and leaps again off the road. Second deer does the same. Both are well in front of her and I don't believe she saw them or cared. She clipped the third deer with the right front headlight and it did a 360 in the air ass over antlers onto the shoulder of the road.

Woman's headlight, grill and front quarter-panel exploded and showered my vehicle. She never slowed down and never stopped even after hitting it.

I stopped to check on the deer and, if necessary, put it out of its misery. It was gone. Not a trace of it anywhere. They're pretty tough.

 

My drivers ed instructor was a crusty redass who was an old gym teacher near retirement - think Bobby Knight. He didn't give a damn about our feelings, which is probably necessary to teach that class. I am putting in my hours behind the wheel when a squirrel darts into traffic. I hit the brakes and start to swerve. In my right ear I hear "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR? BETTER HIM THAN YOU. DON'T YOU DARE SWERVE INTO ANOTHER LANE TO AVOID ONE OF THEM." And that doesn't come close to portraying the sheer disgust in voice about "them."

So I definitely do not swerve for wildlife. If there is someone behind me, I barely even brake.

 

PETA advocates who are anti-deer hunting should read these stories. Deer do nothing but hump and don't die. Hunters are a great way to control the population.

I knew someone who died when she swerved off the road. It was on a deer-heavy country road and that's the (probably correct) speculation on how she crashed and died.

 

Mmmm .... dead deer.

 

What a life, eh?

 

I hit a deer in my camry about 5 years ago. It was a buck chasing after several does (sp?) It was winter, at night and didn't even see it. Needed a quarterpanel, hood, windshield replaced. Thought the sucker shook it off and ran into the woods. Found him just off the road the next day--apparently his leg was broken. Local sheriff came by and made that deer into some tasty venison steak.

 

Another sobering reminder: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4697770

 

Where I live you gotta keep your head on a swivel. Driving home at night I see all kinds of critters: deer, coyotes, rabbits, skunks, raccoons, opossums, armadillos, even an occasional bobcat. Last year an owl knocked my side mirror off.

Besides deer, you gotta watch out for cows that get out of pasture and in the road. Even in a big vehicle a 1,000-pound Black Angus can ruin your day.

 

I hit a deer in my damned Sunfire one snowy night near Glacier National Park in Montana. I was only going about 5 miles an hour. Damned thing looked at me and bounded off, apparently fine.

My car was mostly OK too. Wouldn't have met my 1,000 buck deductible, so I left it all dented.

 

I was taught to flash headlights at deer to avoid the deer-in-the-headlights issue. Also, it lets them know to get out of the passing lane.