D’oh – a Deer
Posted By Russ Emerson on October 6, 2005 at 5:24 pm
There are downsides to working the hours I do, as the guy who keeps the Internet running in the evenings and nights, but I knew most of those downsides going in.
Driving home during the wee hours of the morning, I expected that the biggest hazard I would face would be the occasional drunk driver. So far I haven’t noticed even one that was obviously out of control; most nights on my 17-mile drive home I see fewer than a dozen other vehicles on the road at “oh-drunk-thirty.”
The one I threat hadn’t anticipated, though, was… well, read on:
Deer-vehicle crashes mount
Auto collisions with deer are a year-round problem. But the peak season is starting
By JIM NESBITT, Staff Writer
William Burgess had a close encounter of the antlered kind on an after-midnight drive to his Knightdale home in February.
His shiny black 2004 Nissan Xterra plowed into a big, white-tailed buck that suddenly leaped into his lane. The force of the collision popped both air bags and crushed the car’s front grille, fender, headlights, radiator and hood to the tune of more than $8,000 in damage.
After the crash, at 1:30 a.m. on U.S. 64, Burgess, a veteran Wake County sheriff’s deputy, felt stunned and lucky to be alive.
“I never saw that deer,” said Burgess, 37. “I was literally riding down the road, and my air bags popped — BOOM! I hit it smack dab in the middle. When I got my wits about me, I was just breathing a sigh of relief.”
Almost every night on my drive home, I see deer. I usually see just one deer at a time, but I’ve also seen groups as large as seven or eight adults and youngsters. Most of the time, all I see is a deer butt as the critter scurries away from the road into the woods, but on occasion I see them standing by the side of the road, looking as if they are waiting to cross.
Twice so far, I’ve had to slow down to let them finish crossing the road. I have not yet needed to take evasive action or stand on my brakes, but I have a feeling it’s only a matter of time. Consequently, I drive slower than is perhaps necessary, with a much greater degree of attention paid to the road and roadsides than if I were making the same drive during daylight hours.
I don’t want to hit a deer, ever… and not just because of the vehicle damage that would result. I don’t know what percentage of deer hit by cars are killed instantly, but it can’t be all of them.
What does a person do with a suffering, dying animal? I can think of only one right answer, and I don’t like it, but the merciful thing would have to be done nevertheless. It’s a good thing I travel equipped for just such contingencies, if you take my meaning — I just hope I never have to do it.
We have a real problem with that here as well. Unfortunately, the ones that aren’t killed or at least hurt so badly they can’t leave the scene, run off with a broken leg, or other injuries, and just die a slow death somewhere. There was a deer that kept coming into our yard with a broken leg, and the animal control people came out several times in hopes of catching it, but never any luck.
A coworker of mine put those sonic deer repellant things on his car, but I have no idea how well they work.
I used a Honda ST1100 motorcycle to kill a deer about five years ago. Broad daylight. I have deer whistles now, and haven’t hit a deer since, so I’m sure they work :^}
Photos here.
Yikes. Back in the late ’70s, when we lived in Indiana, my dad hit two deer in separate incidents within a year of each other. One was a small doe, and he said that there wasn’t much left of her, but the other was a large buck. Apparently he jumped just before the collision – fortunately he hit on the passenger’s side, or Dad likely would have been done for.
Of course, we teased him (a non-hunter) about being sure to get his deer tag before the next season. =)