Were you using hi-beams or lo-beams when you were driving down that road?
High. Dark road, some curves (though not overly curvy), no traffic coming from the other direction, so the high beams were on.
And, yes, they were aimed correctly.
bernse, what are the chances of your having ever been born as you, owning a computer, finding this forum and posting a response on this particular subject?
The chances are almost nil. Much, much less than hitting two deer within a few months.
Jodi, I know that sometimes it can’t be helped. I came within a fraction of a second of hitting a buck while I had the convertible top down and two little kiddies in the backseat. I was paying very close attention to my driving. The deer bounded onto the road in the bat of an eye. I managed to stop – but being able to do that was a matter of pure happenstance. If I had been there just that fraction of a second sooner, I would not have been able to avoid a disaster.
I don’t think your rates will go up. But anything can happen and sometimes does.
Man those mainland deer are stupid. I see deer by the road every day here on Vancouver Island and never a problem. They just don’t jump in front of cars.
One year I drive to Manitoba (to my MIL’s funeral) and hit a deer jumping out of the ditch at dawn in Saskatchewan. After spending 3/4 of a day to arrange temporary repairs to return to Vancouver Island we continue with a rented car for the next four days. On the way back we pick up our Datsun 200sx only to find that the passenger door was loaded with crustified putrifying dear shit as if someone had carefully filled much of the space between the door and the body with a putty knife. dYou’d think that the shop would have at least cleaned it up before we got there. As we were pressed for time we had to suffer the smell for over a thousand miles.
My dad ran a deer over a highway and into a semi’s path while deer hunting one year. The deer was dead, but not horribly mangled, so he kept it. Didn’t even have to use a tag, since it was technically roadkill.
I hit a deer last week. Dense fog with spitting drizzle, very curvy road in a small river valled, middle of the night, me driving too fast. Two deer standing in the middle of the road. One goes left, the other right; I planned to go between. The dumber one, the one that went right, suddenly decided he’d rather go left and ran right back into my trajectory. Bounced him off the hood and into the ditch, then stopped to examine the damage.
Didn’t even scratch the paint. The deer was gone when I looked for it. Even with the damage, it pissed me off. I’d been living in deer infested areas for as long as I’ve been driving, with long commutes at night and even a delivery job, and this was the first one I’d ever hit. I just hope I haven’t broken the seal or something, to now hit another deer and total my car in a couple months.
Even ignoring all the rest, I can’t believe that even you believe you’re not being deliberately inflammatory.
In Montana, bumper-hunting is not allowed, so if she had kept the meat, she would have been in trouble.
I’ve lived in Montana, and I know several folks that have had that problem… deer, as a species, are suicidal. I’m sure of it.
I’m curious… which road in Montana were you on?
The deer around here are the classically stupid, occasionally suicidal kind and I’ve had one close call in the past year and a half. No way to spot the critter that suddenly darted into the road, just enough luck of timing and brake reflexes to avoid it. A friend who is a good driver totaled his pickup in a crash with a deer. It happens. Jodi has my sympathy. Although I’m not sure I wanted to read this, given that I’m picking up my repaired Mazda Friday (after an encounter with an even dumber human driver) and will now be yet more paranoid about driving up Deer Alley at night.
“I live in an area that has more Deer, Elk and Moose than people. I’ve never hit one in my meager 16 years of driving.”
For our ominous music here, we select the Witches’ Sabbath theme from Symphonie Fantastique…
TRIS – State Route 135, east of St. Regis, heading east. About twenty miles outside of St. Regis, in the woods (and the curves) by the river.
In other words, in total BFE. But if you’re going from Seattle, WA, to Kalispell, MT, that’s the road you take.
And I apologize to BERNSE for being overly cranky. I still find his posts a tad aggravating for the reasons set forth, but I also now think I over-reacted to them and for that I am sorry.
Jodi, sorry about your cursed luck behind the wheel lately.
And I don’t think you overreacted to bernse in the least. If this thread is representative of his thought, I can skip over his posts from now until the end of time without missing a thing.
Lessee, you’ve been driving in country heavily populated by deer for 18 years, without hitting a deer - until the past 3 months, when it’s happened twice. There are two possibilities: either (1) you’ve abruptly become a bad driver (unlikely), or (2) hitting 2 deer in 18 years isn’t massively improbable in and of itself, and your two hits simply came one on top of the other. Which is not particularly unlikely either.
I remember the once that I hit a deer. I was driving back along a winding, heavily wooded 2-lane from Cape Royal along the north rim of the Grand Canyon, going considerably slower than you were. A big buck jumped out of the woods right in front of me, with zero time to stop or swerve. The collision broke one of its legs, and I stood there for a few minutes, wondering how I could help it, as it thrashed about dangerously. Finally it regained its feet, and limped off into the woods. I was driving a 1970-vintage Buick, from back before carmakers economized on weight, so my paint wasn’t even chipped.
Anyway, I had no more opportunity than you did to avoid the collision. One second, I was looking at an empty road ahead, and the next second, I’d crunched a deer.
bernse: might I assume that you drive slow enough to allow enough reaction time to aviod hitting large wildlife? If so, good for you but please bear in mind that this is not always possible without posing a hazard to other drivers. In this area is the George Washington Parkway, a 4-lane highway with hardly any lighting and notorious for deer, especially south of Alexandria. Even so, the parkway is normally travelled at an average speed of about 70MPH. Anyone on the parkway who drives slow enough to avoid deer risks being hit by some clueless individual tooling along at 65 or more.
Same scene tonight, still wet, raining, and cold, but this time on a different road that’s less tree-ey.
I came around a corner, and suddely there’s a deer in the road.
I didn’t hit it. Woo!
<Note to self: Think twice before accepting a ride with Jodi>
Sorry - I couldn’t resist a cheap shot. I’m so ashamed… But allow me to redeem myself. I have a certified, guaranteed, absolutely proven method for exorcising automotive demons. No really, I promise! It involves a powder blue leisure suit, a near-sighted mallard, 47 kidney beans, a can of Crystal Pepsi, and a boy soprano. I’d post all of the details here, but I can’t be certain that someone wouldn’t misuse the power.
Alternatively, I suggest you leave the keys in the ignition in a bad part of town, and start shopping for a new car. Here’s hoping the third time was the charm and you’re free of the curse now!
What, no wheel barrow? (Gratuitous The Princess Bride referrence.)
Dang, if only I had a can of Crystal Pepsi . . . . 
What, no wheel barrow? (Gratuitous The Princess Bride referrence.)
Dang, if only I had a can of Crystal Pepsi . . . .
You are looking at this the wrong way, jodi. You hit 2 deer in a Honda Civic and you are not dead!
Pretty damn Good luck, if you ask me.
I’m not as stupid as you look.
Normally the deer could react more quickly and get out of the way, but with their keen eyesight they see that you are wearing your skirts too tight, and pause for a moment to think “Boy… that skirt makes her look …” BANG! and… well… it’s all over for the deer. Wear looser clothing. The wildlife will thank you for it.
Jodi, dearest, you need a Hummer.
Nightvision goggles! Not only will they help you spot deer, you can have all kinds of fun driving your car with the lights off!
Nah, FLIR. Forward Looking InfraRed, then she can spot the body heat of the deer while they’re still in the woods. Nightvision goggles don’t go that far into the IR spectrum, and they require light of some sort. FLIR is passive.
Or a Cadillac.