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You know what? I'm afraid of deer


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I live in an area filled with suicidal deer. I'm always on the lookout for them while driving, and luckily, i've managed never to hit one. I flatter myself that its due to always being alert, but seeing this accident and a few others like it, I realize that if a dear is feeling depressed and wants to end it all, I probably have no chance of avoiding an impact.  :unsure:  :(  :blink:

 

Deer are crazy!!!

 

Random thought of the day.

 

We are all connected..... To each other, biologically...... To the Earth, chemically...... To the rest of the Universe atomically.
 
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Scary indeed.  I hit one a few years ago, or should I say it ran into my car.  I was driving home from work about 4am and I saw the first one crossing the road a hundred yards or so ahead of me.  I started to brake and it wasn't more than 1 to 2 seconds later BOOM, a doe ran right into the passenger side front quarter panel.  $3300 in vehicle damage and it was my first ever (and hopefully last) insurance claim.

 

I was always told when you see one deer, others will follow and sure enough that's what happened.  I'm always alert as well, but a split second is all it takes and the it will never happen to me went right out the window.

 

I hit deer all the time on the train.  Nothing more than just a little noise when you send it flying!  They do make more noise though if they're between the rails when hit as they tend to go right under the front coupler & snowplow and get mangled under 432,000lbs of pure steel!

Chris Sunseri

 

 

 

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Oh my, I hope that guy is okay! That is awful to watch.

 

Hit a deer once while driving along an unlit mountain road at night. Thankfully I was going slow at around 25 and there was no damage. I knocked the deer down on its side and it sprang right back up and kept running off the side of the road.

 

I have had to abort 3 takeoffs and 1 landing at dusk due to deer entering the runway. Once the same buck kept walking off and then back onto the runway and standing there staring at me forcing me to taxi down the runway toward him each time to scare him away.

 

Another time I observed 4 or 5 of them led by a buck in single file each calmly walk past me on the taxiway as I taxied and then crouch down to walk under the wing of an airplane. They each struggled to do it, but continue to follow each other like lemmings when any one of them could have stepped 3 feet toward the wingtip and walked around without crouching.

 

A pilot I know was landing in his 172 at dusk and had to lay hard into the brakes when a deer run across the runway in his path. He managed to stop short and was still on the runway as the deer continued along. Just as he thought everything was okay he hard a loud thud and the engine stopped. A deer in trail had come up from the right rear quarter and ran into the turning prop killing itself and the engine.

 

6 foot high fences are nothing at all to deer. I watched one trotting along and as it neared the fence it seemingly effortlessly leaped and cleared the fence by at least a foot.

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When my dad retired in the early 80's and he and my mom moved from Northern California to North East Oregon; Richland to be exact. My uncle, who had convinced them to move there, for years told them that they were never going to be "real" Oregonians. That from a man who sold his construction company and moved his entire family from Santa Rosa, California on a whim...

 

Anyway, sometime about three years later, my dad hit a deer on the road from Baker City to Richland. Totaled his pickup and scared the bejesus out of him. You have to know the road from Baker City to Richland to understand why. Anyway, two or three days later he went into the Richland General store and the cashier said to him; "Well George, you are finally an official Oregonian! - you hit a deer and have paid your dues."

 

My mom didn't achieve that status for another two years.

 

Remind me to tell the story about his first Elk hunt...

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And thats the thing. They stand by the side of the road, watching, and you never know when one will suddenly decide go mental and charge. I come around sharp curves at night, and my heart jumps when I see one because even if they seem a safe distance away from the road, you just can't predict what might happen.

 

My niece hit two together a few months ago. (Ran right over them with her enormous SUV)

 

I had a friend a few years ago, who when she was driving, all you had to do was quietly say "Deer." and she would half jump out of her skin. She totaled two rental cars on the same vacation due to deer-strikes and she was never the same afterward.  :wacko:

 

Amazing reputation for an animal that generally looks so cute! (little psychopaths)

We are all connected..... To each other, biologically...... To the Earth, chemically...... To the rest of the Universe atomically.
 
Devons rig
Intel Core i5 13600K @ 5.1GHz / G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB Series Ram 64GB / GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GAMING OC 12G Graphics Card / Sound Blaster Z / Meta Quest 2 VR Headset / Klipsch® Promedia 2.1 Computer Speakers / ASUS ROG SWIFT PG279Q ‑ 27" IPS LED Monitor ‑ QHD / 1x Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB / 2x Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB /  1x Samsung - 970 EVO Plus 2TB NVMe /  1x Samsung 980 NVMe 1TB / 2 other regular hd's with up to 10 terabyte capacity / Windows 11 Pro 64-bit / Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX Motherboard LGA 1700 DDR5
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I'm not sure this is real. One I have a projector with a 9 ft screen, that includes a zoom feature to get up close, and to me the deer doesn't look real. That may be due to the low resolution of the video though (480P). The strange thing though that makes me suspect, is at the very end of the sequence (about :30 in the video, you immediately see red strobe lights like emergency services were on scene the very second it happened. Possible I guess, but very unlikely. Looks like a scene from another time and or place.

Thanks

Tom

My Youtube Videos!

http://www.youtube.com/user/tf51d

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I'm not sure this is real. One I have a projector with a 9 ft screen, that includes a zoom feature to get up close, and to me the deer doesn't look real. That may be due to the low resolution of the video though (480P). The strange thing though that makes me suspect, is at the very end of the sequence (about :30 in the video, you immediately see red strobe lights like emergency services were on scene the very second it happened. Possible I guess, but very unlikely. Looks like a scene from another time and or place.

Flashing red LED safety light on the bike itself - they can mount on the frame, or on the rider's helmet - or both. Smart bicyclists always use them when traveling on public roads, it does help to make the rider more visible to motorists, even in the daytime.

Jim Barrett

Licensed Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic, Avionics, Electrical & Air Data Systems Specialist. Qualified on: Falcon 900, CRJ-200, Dornier 328-100, Hawker 850XP and 1000, Lear 35, 45, 55 and 60, Gulfstream IV and 550, Embraer 135, Beech Premiere and 400A, MD-80.

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Flashing red LED safety light on the bike itself - they can mount on the frame, or on the rider's helmet - or both. Smart bicyclists always use them when traveling on public roads, it does help to make the rider more visible to motorists, even in the daytime.

That could be it, although I don't see that here on bicyclists in Florida in the day, sometimes at night, but most are steady red (if they  have lights at all).

Thanks

Tom

My Youtube Videos!

http://www.youtube.com/user/tf51d

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From the video poster:

 

Video of a surprise crash on Alexander Ave heading towards Sausalito, CA. Although I don’t remember it, I landed on my back, and hit the back of my Giro helmet, which probably saved me from serious brain injury. Although I had a mild concussion with a bit of memory loss around the event, I am very grateful to have escaped feeling only a little banged up. I cannot speak to the deer’s injuries. Also, thank you very much to the folks who stopped to help. This video was recorded on a Fly6 camera. The bicycle was a Specialized Tarmac SL3 Pro.

We are all connected..... To each other, biologically...... To the Earth, chemically...... To the rest of the Universe atomically.
 
Devons rig
Intel Core i5 13600K @ 5.1GHz / G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB Series Ram 64GB / GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GAMING OC 12G Graphics Card / Sound Blaster Z / Meta Quest 2 VR Headset / Klipsch® Promedia 2.1 Computer Speakers / ASUS ROG SWIFT PG279Q ‑ 27" IPS LED Monitor ‑ QHD / 1x Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB / 2x Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB /  1x Samsung - 970 EVO Plus 2TB NVMe /  1x Samsung 980 NVMe 1TB / 2 other regular hd's with up to 10 terabyte capacity / Windows 11 Pro 64-bit / Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX Motherboard LGA 1700 DDR5
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   I know what it looks like, and feels like. Actually, I didn't feel much. I was cruising down a straight two lane highway, just as it gets into mountainous area, on my 1520 cc Honda Valkyrie. Riding at 65 mph (and barely into a 55 mph zone) , when I saw a large mule doe, leaping in flight from the left side hill . My only thoughts were don't leap, but within the time frame of "don't", it was right in front of me.  There is no time to think about your life!  At impact I don't remember feeling pain. I just saw that deer eye looking directly at me. It was a hot July, in the early afternoon when deer should be taking naps. This one must have been tired of the bucks, and out for suicide. 

 

  The impact was enough to drive the front wheel through the radiator and into the Valkyrie's six cylinder engine. I went up over the windshield and hit head first on the left side of my helmet. I continued head over heels for 50 yards, according to the highway patrol.  Luckily, I was wearing my full face helmet that day.  For many long rides in the summer, I wouldn't wear one at all. I was actually conscious through the event. My only thoughts were...........when will I decelerate? Time certainly did seem to slow down.  The cycle continued on for the same 50 yards, with the front wheel and fork demolished. The handle bar broke through the stops, and punched the tank. There is certainly a lot of momentum there! 

 

  Human damage report.  The full face helmet just above my shoulder, sliced right through my collar bone.  My shoulder blade and all left ribs had multiple fractures. My watch on my left arm was ground down to the wrist band, along with the skin on the top of my arm. Same skin removal for the back of my right leg. All knuckles, elbows, and knees looked like they were pushed against a large high speed grinding wheel.  In the meantime, still no pain.  At this point, fluid was escaping into my chest area, and shut down the left lung.

 

  Happily a motorist did stop. I heard at least three others, but I figure they may have called 911, but don't like attending to dead people. I could barely move my head, and couldn't see the road. I thought maybe I was down an embankment, and people couldn't see me. Turns out, I was right next to the 55 mph speed limit sign. The Honda was about 30 feet away, still upright.  Being 25.5 miles out of town, it took about 35 mins for the ambulance to arrive..........I think.  This nice lady stayed with me, as well as some more crowd that had gathered. Still not feeling anything, but couldn't move either. I thought I may be paralyzed. 

 

  I spent a week in the out of state hospital, before returning home, and then having surgery with a titanium plate to replace my collar bone.  The Valkyrie was totaled.  I was lucky, as the fatality rate is around 87.9% for that type of accident.

 

  I don't like deer either..............yet they're all over my neighborhood, as we live on the foothills.  

 

Note: this was July of 2010

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Video of a surprise crash on Alexander Ave heading towards Sausalito, CA

 I live in Sausalito myself and know that road and exact spot very well. Traveled it hundreds of times on bike and car.  I'm an avid cyclist as well and yes, the deer are a big problem out here in Marin County. A friend of mixed it up with a deer while biking a year ago. I've been lucky with the deer thus far.

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