What a Waste....

[Esox]

Coming back from a doctors appointment at 6:30 this evening on Rt 27, about 1 mile form my house, here in suburbia NJ... I saw a beautiful 9 point buck, a solid 20 inch spread, a good 125 inch class, in full velvet, all in all a very healthy animal...the kind of buck anybody would've loved to put a tag on.... laying dead on the side of the road across for some women's minivan with the busted headlight and fender....

What a waste of a really nice buck and potential trophy..... Over the years I seen some very nice roadkill bucks and everytime I can't seem to shake the feeling of what a waste of an animal....

Sorry for the rambling... Just frustrated... I guess with the season coming on, I don't like to see a really nice buck wasted by careless driving....

[TPM]

I agree, it's a waste. We get our share of deer/car collisions around here but i wouldn't say many are from careless driving.

[Grizzly Adam]

... the kind of buck anybody would've loved to put a tag on.... laying dead on the side of the road across for some women's minivan with the busted headlight and fender ... What a waste of a really nice buck and potential trophy ... Just frustrated... I guess with the season coming on, I don't like to see a really nice buck wasted by careless driving....

Esox, I feel your pain, man, and I'm sorry to hear about a nice buck being hit ... and maybe you know something about this accident that I don't ... but I think it's assuming a little much to say that "careless driving" killed him unless you ABSOLUTELY KNOW that to be the case!

I had no less than 6 deer HIT ME in the period of a calendar year during 2007-2008 ... and I had nothing to do with it. Every single one of them rocketed into the side of my truck ... five of them on our own dead-end road! They all jumped out of the field over the feeder ditch and ...

WHAMO!

... right into the truck. In no case was I driving over 30 miles an hour, or carelessly. Only twice was I able to see the blur as one cleared the ditch.

These deer did $1600 of dent damage to my truck.

This spring, another deer bolted from the woods, and hit the corner of my front bumper (same truck) ... didn't do any damage, but if it had been a shorter vehicle, it would probably have done in the light and some body.

In years past, this sort of thing has happened to us many times.

It's never been a matter of "careless driving".

So ... unless you SAW something careless, I wouldn't assume it! Deer in the roads are a terrible problem in many states, including NC.

Everyone hates to see a deer wasted, and I mean ANY DEER. Bucks too. It's a shame, but it can't be helped in areas with high or over-population areas.

This is a reason to promote hunting, recruit hunters, and introduce young people to hunting. Deer need killing ... during hunting season, so they can feed something besides buzzards and crows.

Now ... go thin some of them out this year!

[mikej]

well said grizz

[sumner4991]

I have also had deer run into my auto . . .No way I could avoid the hit, I was only doing 25 miles an hour . . .the doe was going faster than I was . . .

[wabi]

I always think, "what if had been a child playing?"
I'll agree, some collisions are unavoidable, but usually it's a matter of too much speed and a lack of attention by the driver!
Sorry, but I think it's the fault of the driver 99% of the time be it deer, squirrel, dog, or human that's hit. And yes, I've hit a few small animals (squirrels & dogs) that were unavoidable, but it was my fault for driving too fast (still within the speed limit, but just too fast for the area & road conditions) and not paying close enough attention!

[sumner4991]

Sorry, but I think it's the fault of the driver 99% of the time

I guess it's a matter of the area. Where I got hit, it was clearly the deer's fault . . .it ran into the side of my car. My uncle and cousin have both had deer run into their cars(from the side). I have also had relatives run into deer and, sure, if they were doing 10-15 miles an hour in the 55 MPH zone, then they may have missed the hit. However, you really can't expect anyone to drive that speed.

A lot of deer-auto collisions could be avoided . . .but, I don't think the percentage is nearly as high, maybe 30%. These deer are usually traveling 40+ MPH when they dart into traffic. I've had some close calls, only one hit. They DART . . .it's not an easy miss. It's still hard to impossible to miss a deer traveling at full speed.

I got into the habit of watching the banks of the road and not the road when traveling in the late afternoons/early evenings . . .saved me a couple of hits.

[Grizzly Adam]

Sorry, but I think it's the fault of the driver 99% of the time be it deer, squirrel, dog, or human that's hit.

Of the last ten deer collisions I've experienced, on only one occasion did I have time to even hit the brake ... I only saw three of them, and of the three two were only a brown blur in the periphery of my vision a second before impact. The one I applied the brake for I saw hurtling toward me for a distance of about ten feet before impact ... he gave me two seconds ... maybe. Every one of the ten hit me, and they were all going full-tilt-boogie. I was going between 10 mph and 30 mph ... never faster ... and peering ahead for all I was worth to see anything I could see.

There was no opportunity to see them, no chance to avoid them, no time to slow down ... no practical way to reduce the odds, save not driving at all.

And I'm not the only one who has had this happen; here in this county, it's a common thing. One of my deputy friends told me that we had over 750 deer collisions reported to law enforcement last year ... in a county of 4,200 people! And believe me, most deer collisions don't get reported to the Sheriff's Department ... not one of my ten were. I only reported it to my insurance company. Few people do bother to call in a deer hit, unless they're disabled or hurt.

My wife is an insurance agent, and you should see the insurance stats on wildlife collisions here! Why, I can hardly think of anyone I know around here who hasn't hit, been hit by, grazed, side-swiped or narrowly missed a deer!

It's just a fact of driving life here.

So, at least here where I live, I'm with Sumner:

A lot of deer-auto collisions could be avoided . . .but, I don't think the percentage is nearly as high, maybe 30%. These deer are usually traveling 40+ MPH when they dart into traffic. I've had some close calls, only one hit. They DART . . .it's not an easy miss. It's still hard to impossible to miss a deer traveling at full speed.

I think your percentage is off too ... big-time!

And speaking of wildlife collisions: A big black bear, on a black road, on a black night ... well, deer aren't the real danger around here! Bear are a very real and constant danger to us. I've never hit one, but I've come oh-so-close several times ... you're going along, and they're just THERE, like that. Impossible to see them, unless they look your way and their eyes reveal them ... but big smart bears don't look at headlights much. Believe me, it's a problem around here.

[Doe Master]

Had a friend whom had a deer go into the side of his cap . From off of the embankment on the side of the road . That is from above him .
How do you avoid that one .
I remember joking with him about taking the cap off because the deer wanted into the box .

[bobby2bears]

We hardly ever hit the ones that we see for more than a split second. Unless you're my exwife who somehow managed to hit the same cow twice. Long story, but a good one!

Now THAT was careless driving! But her side of the story was that it was the cow's fault.

[wheelie]

Mistake in my life. Came home from work one day and exwife told me her old high school teacher was killed on his motorcycle cause he hit a deer. First words out of my mouth were "wondered what they did with the deer" I got yelled at for being insensitive and then I thought about what I said. Then said "oh thats to bad" But I did think likely not to much damage to the deer. Maybe that brought on the devorse!!!!! LOL

[Esox]

Everybody brings up good points on this topic and I agree that it really comes down to the individual situation... It is the split second reaction to avoid a collision... I did not see the collision. I did see the damage (front driveside headlight, grille and fender)... It was early evening, no twilight factor involved, clear day, dry road with a lot of other cars around... The buck crossed in an area where you wouldn't expect to see a deer, which I'm sure would've surprised anyone on the road, so I couldn't pass absolute judgement in this case as to who was at fault (deer or driver)...

However, this is an ever increasing problem here....I live in the most densely populated state in the union. We have more cars and drivers than some states have people, we're cramed on top of eachother like sardines and we give out drivers licenses to literally anyone... The test is given in 13 different languages and you don't have to be able to read English....In this state the driver has to have control of the vehicle at all times.... but accidents still happen and very frequently they are deer/auto collisions (especially near the rut). The state even runs radio PSAs during the rut warning drivers to be alert for deer and, of course sometimes it's the deer running into the vehicle, or there was virtually nothing the driver could do to avoid hitting it.

So, technically, was it careless driving, reckless driving, speeding, failure to maintain a safe distance between vehicles, operating a vehicle while using a cell phone, text messaging, or distracted, failure to maintain control of the vehicle or did the deer just commit suicide, or a host of other things that cause accidents, I don't know but after 40 + years of driving in this state, and seeing the type of drivers on the roads today, I will maintain that it was "care-less" (in the broader sense) driving and I'll go out on a limb and say that the accident probably could've been avoided... and the end result is a lost buck and a couple fo grand in vehicle damage....

But, after all is said and done, I guess that's why they are called Accidents and not On-purposes....

[bkisel]

Interesting thread...

I've hit two deer in my lifetime of driving (I turn 65 in a few days) and neither was due to careless driving. I've had on maybe a maybe dozen or so other occasions have deer cross or be on the road with time to avoid and know that if you see one crossing there could and often are others that follow. One fellow mentioned how a deer hit him. What do you mean I asked... Deer came running out of the woods right into the side of his car.

From what I've experienced and from what I hear others say I'm led to believe that more often than not its the deer and not the driver that "causes" the accident?

Take care...

[Limbs and Sticks]

Sure said that right, what a waste, had a close friend die trying to miss a deer hit a good size tree instead, now that was a waste. I do slow down to avoid them but I'm not running into woods or any thing else to keep from hitting one if it's to late, just my thought's


Wes

[rt2bowhunter]

2 years ago There was a nice 6 point. that i watched all bow and gun season. He would have made a real nice deer in a few years. One morning i got on my school bus and was going to pick up my kids. I had just pulled out of the school. I was going 25 mph. he ran into the side of the bus and under the rear tires. We are taught never leave the road or cross the center line.