Feeling lucky today, clipped a deer.

Mak10

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One of my biggest fears is hitting an animal on the road. On our way home, from a weekend ride, I hit a deer today. Going up a slight grade, on a newly constructed 4 lane highway going up to a venue when the olympics came to Salt Lake City. I was passing a slow geo tracker and was concentrated on getting around him and back in the far righ lane. I’m guessing we were going around 65-70.

Then my wife is hitting me on the leg and points to my left and I have half a second to get on the brakes, hard. A buck mule deer was right in front of me. I can vividly see the velvet on his horns. My front tire clips his back legs, according to my wife sending him spinning. Luckily he didn’t spin back into us.

Damage-a small scrape on my front fender with a bit of hair. One scared wife. A lucky call today.
 
B

ballisticexchris

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Glad you and your wife are OK Mak. Thank you for reminding all of us how quick a near miss unfolds in an instant. Good on you and your wife with quick reaction time. About a year ago I had one that I was unable to react to. The damn thing leaped out of the trees across the road in front of me. Spoooky!!
 

Sierra1

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I used an Rx-7 to bag a deer one time. Up in Maine, sun had just come up. Saw it running across the divided four lane, cursed, and hit the brakes all at the same time. It almost went through the windshield. All that was left was the Mylar between the layers of glass. I recommend using a rifle instead of a bike or car, but that's just me. :rolleyes:
 
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Dirt_Dad

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Glad you both came out okay. Scary situation.

Wives are great at deer warnings just an instant before hitting them. My wife was shouting 'deer, deer, deer' just before I hit one at 75 MPH. I never had a chance to touch the brakes.

Deer are a constant danger. Had one sprinting hard to cut in front of me yesterday. He got to the edge of the road and for some reason changed his mind. It was a good emergency braking exercise for me.
 

eemsreno

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On your way to everywhere, , Iowa
Some of you have met Corbin, I've ridden all over with him.


He hit a deer a week ago and spent a few days in the hospital, is at home now with some busted bones. Bike might be totaled.
deer in southern Iowa can be more like hitting an Elk.
 

Fennellg

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After seeing this I got one. Deer are our bane of our lives. One killed the safety staff writer four cycle world. The guy in the video rides our bike. These things cost less than some helmets and can be used more than once.


 

Mak10

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That video looks very familiar. I wasn’t expecting any deer at all, I was 12:00 noon. If I would have been 1/2 second quicker I would have t boned the deer. I was loaded with full camping gear, two up.
A good heads up-be careful out there.
 

U.P.rider

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My brother and I were going about 55, both in the same lane of a rural 2 lane road with him being about 25 to 30 feet in front of me on the shoulder side. I saw the deer's head stick out of the brush then run out in front of my brother on his FZ-1 which hit the deer in the head with the right side of his fairing. This started the deer spinning hitting his r leg and exhaust but the deer kept spinning towards me. I had enough time to lift my r leg when the deer grazed my footpeg and exhaust. Luckily my brother stayed upright and stopped a couple hundred feet up the road, stunned by what just happened. I checked on him ( he was mostly ok) then turned to look to see where the deer should have been laying, but it got up and ran off seemily none the worse for wear.
His bike had $1600 in damages mine had none but a couple spots of blood on the footpeg and exhaust. The deer had hit my brothers knee and he complained about it for a week but nothing too bad. We were lucky, very lucky.
 

Dirt_Dad

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The deer totaling my gen 1 Tenere is what helped DM push me over the edge for getting an airbag vest. Hope to never need it.

My non-scientific/non-controlled survey of Tenere riders who have hit large animals at speed show that most do not go down. About 80% of the ones I'm aware of stayed up. Of course, it goes without saying those who had the ultimate bad outcome were not in survey, so my observation may not mean all that much much.

Stupid deer.
 

OX-34

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We do have some deer in Oz, but kangaroos are the main concern.
I've hit 9 of them. One female, 8 males, all killed. One bike written off, an thousands of dollars damage on a few occasions.

Thankfully I've not come off the bike despite most of those impacts being over 100kph.
 

Stantdm

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Glad you avoided a direct hit on that one. I have hit a lot of them with the SUV but have been lucky with the bikes. My place is a couple miles off of pavement and a person has to really watch them close around here. A few years ago I came on a Harley that had hit a buck on the Interstate. Killed the rider and the deer. It was in an area with pretty open fields on both sides and I don't know why he didn't see it. Probably enjoying the morning view and not thinking about the deer crossing the road.
 

bigbob

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I have said hello two two deer.

15 years or so ago we had a family thing at a cabin on A lake in northern Minnesota. Son in Law’s brother and I jumped on my 82 Venture and headed 20 miles to the corner gas/store. Got whatever we needed to complete dinner when I just barely saw the deer crossing the road. No damage to the bike but I had blood on my knee and passenger got hit hard on his knee. Needed treatment once we got home, but fine today. When I got stopped absolutely no sign of the deer.

2016 Star Days was in Longmont CO. Heading home 6 of us went to the top of Pikes Peak. I headed home alone on the Tenéré on I-70 planning to stop at Colby Kansas for the night. Rained so hard I had to stop a couple times. Got to Colby KS and no rooms. So I head northeast on the diagonal to I-80 at Kearney NE. Did I mention it had rained so now it was DARK. Never saw the deer until he was a foot from the crash bar. No loss of control and really never knew it was happening until it was over. When half an hour later I got to a motel I had hair and flesh on the crash bar, highway peg, and my boot.

Got home and a couple weeks later put on aux lights.
 
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holligl

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Glad you are fine Mak, and your wife too. Had a few car/deer run ins but never on a bike, knock on wood. I've had some close encounters with some big birds, Turkey vultures, and a Heron. That's scarry enough for me.

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