VX vs. Deer

[TEN36VX]

VX-1, Deer-0

Just thought I would post an incident report. I tagged a deer last night on my way home. A female, about a 100 pounder, decided to dart between me and the car in front of me; almost made it too. Her back half caught my front right corner. There was zero asthetic damage! Didn't even misalign my headlight. I say asthetic because it did push the metal corner in between 1/16" - 1/8", but you cant tell unless you compare against the other side.

That kind of hit has trashed previous cars of mine. The lack of damage has renewed my love for my VX and her durability.

[thebear54]

Consider yourself very lucky....
Greg(JollyRogerVXer) and I had a dicussion today about deer and our worst nightmare...THE MOOSE. Up here in New England the Moose population is exploding. I could not even imagine the damage one of those 1,000 pound bull monsters would do to a VX :eek:
John

[VXNIT]

I live in Daytona FL now but originally from Charleston WV adn I feel your pain. In WV they are a huge problem and some folks up there feel deer hunting season is cruel adn unnecessary. Little do they know without population control you would literally be unable to drive anywhere..Glad it was minor for you. My father in law hit one in his Z71 last year adn cost 8 G to repair. Hits one a year atleast...

[autox-racer]

What about the deer?

[TEN36VX]

The deer? Well she didnt fair to well; died on impact. I stopped and would have dispatched her if she was still alive and injured (its the humane thing to do).


... and our worst nightmare...THE MOOSE.
I have some photos of a fatal TC with a moose from Washington State Police. It was messy.

[mbeach]

When I lived in Fairbanks (AK) the first time, I worked part time for Avis (rent-a-car). I distinctly remember two vehicles that had been destroyed by moose coming back in to the shop.

One, a Jeep Cherokee, had its passenger side doors smashed in 6" -the driver thought it cute to get between a cow and calf for a photo op. The mama moose stomped the Jeep to heck.

The other, a previous generation Camry, was destroyed. Very little front bumper damage (took out the moose's skinny legs), the moose had apparantly fallen in through the windshield. The roof was level with the dashboard, and the front seats were broken in half- both occupants were killed, and the floorboards were drenched in moose/human blood.
Very nasty.

Tonight I had to drive a couple hundred miles through deer-infested farmland and I was thinking about this thread the whole time.
Do those deer whistles work?
I have a 4000 mile drive ahead of me this week and I'd like to know.

[crager34]

Not sure if the deer whistles work or not, but I have some on my VX, as I drive Columbus to Cincinnati and back every weekend. No problems so far with any deer crossing my path. There are so many whistles out there, I fugured they must have some merrit.

[mbeach]

Especially on 71. I had to drive down to Cinci last week and I counted no less than 50 dead deer just one way.
It's like the "Highway of Death" for Bambi...

[TEN36VX]

From what I have heard, the electric whistles work great. the wind flow ones owrk okay, but they are not effective until you get over 30mph. and after you hit 55 or so, the deer isnt going to hear it in tim eto get out of the way...

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

Consider yourself very lucky....
Greg(JollyRogerVXer) and I had a dicussion today about deer and our worst nightmare...THE MOOSE. Up here in New England the Moose population is exploding. I could not even imagine the damage one of those 1,000 pound bull monsters would do to a VX :eek:
John

Luckily no rampaging Moose in Vermont...but, I did do an emergency lane change somewhere near Rochester, NY when heading back to Erie, PA where I saw Bambi on my right! Just a precautionary maneuver...it (buck/doe?) never moved (thank God!).

The VX felt stable as heck at about 65mph swerving hard left!

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

Do those deer whistles work?
I have a 4000 mile drive ahead of me this week and I'd like to know.

Having tried both the electronic and the air whistle types...my feelings on the matter are that they help except during rutt or when they are fleeing from something.
During rutt they are not thinking straight....purely driven by hormones to reproduce.
I've seen deer come charging across a road during turkey season because they are fleeing from hunters who are in the woods looking for turkey!

Also...the air whistle types are susceptible to swallowing a bug or other form of debris which renders them useless. I personally put them up on the sides of the luggage rack where they are less prone to sucking in a bug as what usually is the case when mounted on the front grille area.

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=1830&highlight=deer+alert

[Heraclid]

Thought it might happen last night. Was at a wedding in Akron, OH and on the way back to where we were staying, there was a doe just barely standing off the road. Kinda freaked me out. Saw MANY carcasses around the area, up and down I-77. Here in FL, I know SR-16 on the way to Gainesville has a lot of them. And we came back down through Charleston, WV today and despite making the trip many times now over the past few years, I've not seen one (alive anyway) yet. But there were several deer warning signs in the area and one time we were on the WV Turnpike late at night in a very heavy fog and it definitely crossed my mind then.

[dkmiller68]

I stopped and would have dispatched her if she was still alive

dispatched her to where?

[Raque Thomas]

Deer heaven?? Or is that Deerven? :p

[Rooster]

To the eternal grazing fields...