OT- How Do I NOT Hit a Deer Again?

[rws]

About 5 weeks ago, I was driving to work, a buck came running full speed across the road from my left and I hit it, crunched the right front end of my truck. $500 deductible down the drain. Since then, there has been at least 3 more hits along the same stretch of road that I have seen, probably more that I haven't seen.

Driving slow in "rush to work" time pisses people off. I try to stay behind someone and let them be the point man, but that isn't always possible.

So, is there something like a "dog whistle" type siren that I could use that would scare them away, or at least get their attention to stop? I can't use an audible siren for obvious reasons, but if I woke up all the dogs along the road I wouldn't care. Or some other means of alerting deer?

[EVguru]

http://www.bioacoustics.uconn.edu/re...26%20FINAL.pdf

[Lew Hartswick]

I've seen such advertized, Have no idea if they really work. Somehow I sort of doubt it. When a deer is
running (such as from being disturbed or chased) they probably don't pay much attention to anything
like a noise like that. :-) Now if they are just grazing along the right-of-way it may get their attention.
...lew...

[sandiapaul]

I live in a HEAVY deer populated area. I am constantly aware of the edges of the road and never hit one till my birthday this year in early August. It was the middle of the day and it hit me at a full run coming from behind a thick row of trees and bushes. I never even had time to get on the brakes. Nearly brand new car(VW Golf R) and there went my $750. deduct.

I am now a bit gun shy, esp in the area where I hit it, there are always dead ones on the side of the road in that area. I do mean always. On a 6 mile trip the other day I counted 6 dead deer on the side of the road.

So...yes I'd be interested in this too. These whistle things I have been told don't really(or at all) work.

Paul

[BigBoy1]

On a recent radio talk show program, there was a discussion topic of how to avoid hitting deer which were crossing the road. A female caller suggested, "More signs need to be posted in the woods to warn the deer of the road ahead." When the host said that deer couldn't read the signs, she suggested the signs be a picture of a fast moving car. She then suggested, "The signs which are on the side of the roads telling the deer where to cross the road, should be moved so the deer will know it is a safe place to cross the road." The worst part of the discussion was the woman was totally serious!

[flylo]

I hit 2 in one night 100 miles apart headed to the U.P. to be in a wedding totaling my wifes New Yorker which I just took full coverage off of because she went back to school & money was tight. The next week I hit one with my truck on the interstate. It jumped the fence. I keep a higher deductable on collision & $50 ded on comp which is cheap anyway.

[vpt]

The whistles don't work. When a deer is on the run it will just run. While hunting in the dead quiet woods I have tried it all to get a running deer to stop and they just simply don't. I've tried whistling, yelling, throwing stuff near them, everything. The only thing I found that stops them is a bullet.

With that said, if your problem is driving at night, get driving lights! I put them on my trucks so I can see really far down the road and spot the eyeballs.

If you can't slow down or see anything get a deer guard on the front of your truck.

My old truck driving lights next to fog lights.




Deer guard:

[SteveF]

I live out in the country and we have a large number of deer in the area. I've never had one come across in front of me at a full run, but every time I see them grazing or trotting towards the road I lay on the horn button several times and, so far, have yet to have one enter the road. Generally when they hear the horn they turn and run away. When I'm driving through at night I have my thumb on the horn button. Haven't done this test a couple of thousand times, only a couple of hundred but it hasn't failed me yet.

YMMV

Steve

[Seastar]

The deer I encounter in the Arrowhead of Minnesota that are grazing alongside the road will either ignore a horn or run. They may run into the woods or run across the road in front of you.
I think the only solution is to slow down so that you have more time to avoid them.

What's even worse than hitting a deer is hitting a moose. That will total a car. They are so tall that their bodies can hit the windshield and so big they can kill you. If you honk at a bull moose during rutting season it may charge you. I had that happen.
Bill

[vpt]

I have seen people hit bears around here. One of my buddies hit a moose once. I remember reading in the paper once about a guy hitting a cow. And a turkey will come threw the windshield as well.

[T.Hoffman]

My body shop friend says he sees just as many deer collision that come in with the "deer whistles" as he does without.

[achtanelion]

The solution is simple. Hunt and encourage others to. Super high deer numbers are due to a lack of predation. In most of north America humans are the only serious predator deer have.

A couple years ago my brother and I hit a moose. We were travelling at dark o'clock down a secondary highway in his sunfire. The black moose on the black highway gave us a second or less of warning. We were extremely fortunate in that the moose lay down on the hood and ramped the A pillars going right over top. Total damage to me: a 3/4" long scratch. My brother: glass dust in his eyes from the windshield and a 1/4" scratch on his nose. The car: written off. The moose: tasy and tenderized.

I got drawn for moose this year.

[J Harp]

I was going through the middle of a low spot in the road, in southern Indiana, with an 18 wheeler, five deer tried to cross at the same time. Two of them made it. The tractor was a cab-over. One hit smack in the front, bent the middle of the bumper, didn't hurt the radiator. Another bounced off the right front corner below the headlight, left a dent. The third one ran full speed into the trailer tandem, no damage to the trailer. This was about 7 or 8 AM, full daylight, but light fog in the ditches and low spots.

[davidwdyer]

There is no good solution, although the "sign" idea might work if we could recruit the woman who thought of it to teach all the deer to read.

I've seen cases where deer ran right into the side of vehicles. In one instance, the deer was running over an open field with nothing to

block his view of the moving car but, he plowed right into the back left window of an SUV breaking the window and his neck. I think it has to do with their vision. While they have good

night vision, I don't think they can see well during the day. Also, since their eyes are on opposite sides of the head, this makes their ability to triangulate and

judge distances very poor. In Nelson WI deer constantly try to jump through the spaces between moving train cars. This makes for a lot of dead deer.

[jep24601]

In East Africa in the middle of the night driving through Tsavo I had a Zebra run across in front of the car, turn around in the other lane and run right in front of the car when I hit it. Broke a lot of lights and plastic. The Zebra just got up and ran off.

Another time I came upon an antelope sitting at the side of the road, I started braking knowing what could happen, and when I drew level with it, it jumped right into the side of the front fender.

The thing about all dear is that they believe themselves to be the fastest creatures in the forest and they therefore misjudge the speed of vehicles. They're not deaf and they don't need deer whistles to hear you coming. The problem is that they decide which side of the road is safer for them and they will proceed there regardless because the think they are faster than you.