A friend on another forum had an accident this last week, and hit a deer at high speed…with a big SUV. SUV had some damage, but he was able to drive home with it.

It got me thinking…about my “deers and driving” stories…and wrote the below posting on that forum.

Thought you might find it an interesting if you’ve ever had a close call.

Rich

My deer stories…

Went 24 years of driving without ever having any “real” road kill issues, either in Texas or Alabama.

Then, in 2000, I started driving cross country, with hotshot delivery of Lance Campers and Chinook motor homes from the factories, to dealers coast to coast.

DEER NUMBER ONE

I was on the road two months, before I took out my first and only deer. Had dropped off a load in Ocalla, Florida, after a LONG journey originating in LA, to Milwaukee, to Louisville, Kentucky, to Ocalla. Headed back empty to Birmingham to visit the inlaws for a couple of days, before heading back to LA for another load. They have a very steep drive, and the 44 foot long flatbed I was hauling was a bit too big to park on the curb (which as on a curve), so I dropped it off at a friend’s country home (with 20 acres) around 10pm one nite, visited for a bit, then headed off to the inlaws.

After leaving the friends driveway, had about a quarter mile drive down clay roads, to get to the gravel roads, and made a left. Lo and Behold, I see the ONLY deer I had seen in the wild in Alabama, after LIVING there for 9 years and not seeing a single one in the county, standing on the left side of the road, and since it is so unusual, I brake to peek at it. I’m driving a one ton Dodge dually 4×4 Diesel extended cab, and the deer stops nibbling grass to look at it. I pass it slowly, and it starts trotting along…then I speed up, and it speeds up. So it wants to race, eh?

Not wanting to lose, I punch the gas, and the deer takes a 90 degree right turn, right into the side of the pickup, hitting the front driver side of the bed…and then going under the dually rear wheels.

Unfortunately, the name of this backwoods gravel road was Deer Chase Road.

I felt very bad about this, but there was nothing I could do for it, and since the family is 1200 miles away in Wyoming, any venison won’t make the trip home. I figure that the local neighbors will find it within a bit, and make use of it.

…and then head on down the road.

DEER NUMBER TWO

Not two months later, after dropping off a http://local.google.com/local?q=from%3A+Yakima+washington+to%3A+albany+new+york&spn=27.187141,77.651367&f=d&hl=en from upper NY to Fredricksberg, VA, I’m taking the cross country route through WV, heading northwest, and it’s way in the wee hours of the morn…around 3ish or so. All the rest areas are full and overflowing with sleeping truckers, so I continue on looking for the next truck stop. Finally coming into a sleepy little town with a small truckstop, I take the exit…only to find some of those little WV deer leaping from the driver side of the exit to the passenger side of the road as I’m coming up the ramp.

Miss the last deer by inches…possibly clipping his toes as he leaps across the ramp into the woods. No damage to him…or the truck…but it’s a bit tough to stop a 5 ton truck hauling a 3 ton trailer in a heartbeat…so I was a bit concerned for a few seconds seeing a passel of deer leaping and prancing across my path.

Fast forward to late December 2000.

DEER NUMBER THREE

I’ve picked up another Chinook in Yakima, Washington, bound for the east, and head ESE across country with the aim of getting a day’s rest at home in Lander, Wyoming. I’ve got four choices of getting home…I90 (6 hours extra driving), I80 (8 hours of extra driving, Teton Pass (the fastest, but deadliest with black ice and steep grades, just west of Jackson Hole, or Alpine Junction, many miles south but much safer. So, I follow the little county highways across mid Idaho, cross the Teton range near Alpine Junction, and then head north to Jackson.

North up 91, then hit Moran Junction, and head east on 26, which goes directly to Lander..about 90 miles away. Now I’m heading towards Togwatee Pass, one of the worst parts of the state to drive in the winter time.

I come up on a wreck while going up the pass, where a small white pickup is laying on its side in my lane. Cops and wrecker are already there. As I pass them, and punch the gas a touch, the wheels spin…black ice….

I drop the truck down into four wheel drive with the flick of a wrist, and take it slow to the top of the pass…no problemo.

Now, I’m heading downhill (the right side of the Togwatee link above) and gaining speed, so I’ve got the ebrake on, and keeping my foot on the foot brake as well…an interesting roller coaster ride…with a $75,000 hi end motor home balanced on 35 foot dovetail fifth wheel flatbed trailer.

Then…that Stupid Deer walks slowly into the headlights, and into my lane, hundreds of feet ahead…and stops dead center in my path….and I’m doing 60mph with a lead sled.

Talk about pucker factor…about 21…on a 10 point scale.

I ever so lightly veer into the oncoming lane (thank God no traffic in 2am)…waiting for the deer to bolt…just like that one did back in Alabama weeks before…and it doesn’t move. I cruise on past…and resume breathing again once I’m back in the regular lane of travel.

Talk about a heartstopping episode.

Fast forward 18 months.

DEER NUMBER FOUR

I’m no longer driving cross country…been thru the lost job, homeless, starting over, and making it back to normal phase, and I’m the GM of the Worland, Wyoming McDs. Family is still living in Lander in a recently acquired apartment, and I’m commuting home on the weekends from a tiny apartment a block from my store, provided by my owner/operator.

Just coming to Riverton, about 23 miles north of Lander, on the only highway between the two. About five miles out, it’s pitch black outside…around 10:30pm.

Come over a crest of the next hill and there’s about two miles of straight road across the countryside (which is the heart of the Wind River Reservation), and lo and behold…again….a shape slowly forms in the gloom far ahead, just off the shoulder. Normally nothing except weeds along this stretch, so I slow down to about 50mph..wondering. As I get closer….it’s a deer…closer still…a big deer…yet closer…a huge buck…maybe an 8 to 10 pointer.

Flashback…Togwatee Pass….crap…not again.

So I slow farther in the next few seconds…and the deer is stepping on the shoulder and starting to cross. I do the oncoming lane thing again…

He Bolts.

Crap again….PF now of 25…

I’m now driving a front wheel drive 1990 Ford Taurus…which means good road control, but no safety from impact.

The deer is in my path 50 feet away…just about to cross the highway lines painted on the road…and he’s not stopping.

So, it’s emergency manuever Ralph.

PF 32.

Somehow, I miss the rear end of the deer by inches, with the rear quarter panel and tail light of the Ford. And, I’m a bit sideways from the instinctive jerk of the steering wheel, and it takes all I’ve got to straighten it out…and do.

Pull over to the side of the road for a moment to check the drawers, and catch my breath. Holy Crap…is the only thing on my mind.

That’s the closest I’ve come to death in a long time, and my last deer/car escapade.

DEER NUMBER FIVE…

However, Son Number One continues the tradition.

They were living in Spokane last year, and came home to visit for Christmas here in Riverton…

Nice visit, and they head home VERY early the next day…Riverton, to Casper, north to Billings, then west on 90 all the way to Spokane…

Until Belgrade that is.

Still in the wee hours, there is wisps of fog developing in the valley they’re driving down 90 on. They get a bit thicker as time goes along. Son is going a little too fast for the conditions.

Fog bank…70mph…huge ass deer….small Toyota sedan….

Accident. Headon collision.

Son, DIL, and precious grandaughter are ok, the latter two sleeping…no one is hurt…except the deer…and the car.

Both are dead.

Son hits the deer at just exactly the right scientific speed to cause the huge buck to fly OVER the car, instead of THROUGH the windshield. It’s antlers leave creases in the hood and top lip of the windshield, cracking the window, but not piercing it.

Son calls on cell phone to 911, then to us minutes afterward. Thankfully all are ok, but they’re stranded, and it takes a couple of days to get them back home to Spokane.

So ends the Fleetwood vs. All Species of Deer saga…at least for now.

BUT…every vehicle we own now has deer whistles (do they really work?), very bright light headlight bulbs, AND driving and fog lights…for those LONG distance, late night trips across the countryside.

Be safe out there…and DON’T take your eyes off the road for a second in deer country.

Rich