I don't think there is anything more terrifying than seeing a deer or elk cross your path. Eyes peeled and be safe out there.
I just took a ride down your way, from New York to Tennessee I must have seen a dozen road-killed deer. I had no idea there were so many. Coming back I saw two standing in the grass beside the NY Expressway about 2 miles from the Tappan Zee bridge - in the middle of the day on Sunday with a million cars whizzing by... jeez, somebody oughta do something...
This is deershit. A couple of years ago I narrowly missed a deer on my BMW, when I say narrowly I mean all I saw was a brown flash. This happened right down the street from my house. When I got home the bike was covered with deershit. It happens when they are scared and stressed. If the deer didn't even crack the fairing most likely I lived to see another day.
Amazing save to send one flying like that and walk away with such minor consequences. He probably was mid-leap over you when clipped him, sending him spinning. I've hit three while riding.... four more while driving, 4 of the 7 strikes the dumb shit ran into the side of me/my vehicle. Some guy here posted a pix of a huge deer strike dent in the side of his hood......... on his LAWN TRACTOR! Infested around here and deer are by far my greatest fear in terms of death, injury and health (ticks and Lyme too). My favorite time of year to ride is actually winter since, with the foliage down off the trees, you stand half a chance of seeing the dumb forest kamikazes coming. I invited a couple of bow hunters to my property last fall/winter - they took five and I got to learn a little field dressing/butchering too. I'm becoming afraid to ride during rut season (all my strikes were around then) so I might as learn to hunt them.
Yesterday morning, riding thru the White Mountains in NH, it's 6 am and I'm on Rt 16 doing @ 60mph. Super paranoid about hitting a deer or moose, my eyes constantly scanning both sides of the road for any wandering beasts and WHAM!! A freaking crow pops out from behind a concrete barrier and explodes on my front fender. It happened in a split second and surprised the $hit out of me. I really feel for the guys who have hit deer... You just never know when you head out on a bike. Ride safe out there!
rather, he ran into me. Now I'm paranoid to ride my motorcycle. Thinking about selling it. Saw two big ones about half a mile from my house on the way to work on the bike this morning.
I remember breaking hard but when I realized that this was gonna hurt, I opened it up. When in doubt...... blowing through it I think is what saved me from going down Still trips me out to this day when I think about it though. Things definatly could of went a whole different way.
I've been riding 52 years now and it finally happened, I got my first deer. I ride about 15k a year in the mountain ranges in South central ca. and having been a deer hunter all my life I know when and where to look. Closest I have been was when the bear ran across the road a few years ago and I missed it by about 3 feet. Three weeks ago at about 12:30pm leaving the Rock Cafe in Lake Hughs Ca. a doe ran out of the brush about 15 feet in front of me. Because of the thick brush I couldn't see her coming. I only had time to grip the bars tighter. At 65 it took a millisecond to hit her. There was a big thump but the 1400 Concours I was riding didn't even wiggle. I hit her in the left rear hip and she spun around to her left got up ran back the way she came. She ran behind the rider following me and the 3rd rider tagged her on his ST1300. He hit her on the right rear hip and spun her around the other way. He saw me hit her and had braked down to about 25. She ran back in the brush, with a very sore rearend. Both of us got of very lucky. He had a 2 inch scratch on his front fender and I had a 2 inch split in mine. Plus two ruined pair of underwear. Riding lots of miles and being a long time pilot I have tried to always be ready for the unexpected to happen and what would I do when it happens. I just learned a 65 years of age, sometimes you just don't have time and its just luck at that point. That and have your gopro turned on. especially if your the last rider in the group.
I too had my first deer based accident yesterday. I was starting off on my 3 day yearly bike trip. This year I was driving down the great river road in Wisconsin to Missouri, I managed a whole hour before a doe leaps a guardrail from a steep slope that was blind to me and goes down to the river. The damn thing appeared 2 car lengths in front out of nowhere and froze. I applied the brakes firmly without locking and maybe slowed to about 35mph and tried to swerve to the left, just as I was about to pass it it took of in that direction and slammed into its front shoulder with my right leg and clobbered its head and neck with the bike. I stayed up and really didn't get any wobbles so I pulled over and assessed the damage, wrecked headlight and both right turn signals were pretty rough. Everything else about the bike was fine and I turned around and went home since no headlight was a bad way to start a trip. Plus I had a pretty beaten up leg with a badly sprained ankle and a huge bruise on my shin. The deer fared way worse, I assume I snapped its neck with impact because it was super dead. Another biker stopped and helped me drag it off the road and couldn't believe that I was the one that hit the deer. Here is the damage, I'm off to the salvage yard tomorrow to see if I can get some replacement parts.
Wow! Glad you were ok. Most people thing deer are most prevalent at dawn and dusk. I have seen many, many deer in the bright sun of afternoon. They scare me!