a deer ran into the side of my truck in the highway.
another time a dog ran out from behind a bush and into my front tire. I was doing maybe 20 mph and couldn’t stop in time. what made it really bad was this 7 year old kid witnessed the whole thing. his mom was there too. it was their dog. I wasn’t driving fast enough to kill it so he was crushed bad and in pain,bleeding. he lived and had a crippled leg. they weren’t mad as it clearly wasn’t my fault. but I had to look at that dog for two years before I moved and feel bad knowing I hit it.
With airplanes = 1 rabbit on takeoff, in the air, 2 hawks, 4 unidentifiable birds of at least robin size. Dad took out a goose with a money. They makes more than a cheap dent which is cheap if you don’t crash from the damage. I don’t count the stuff I hit while patrolling pipeline, I was so low all day that the critters never had a chance.
I knew two pilots personally who died from crashing because they hit buzzards.
With 4 or more wheels, the usual raccoon, possum,
the different, one 250-300 pound hog. ( it kicked the car totally into the air )
One big barn owl at night in heavy rain while driving a pickup. Never saw it, just KaBoom as it hit the windshield.
One 1000 pound black Angus at night while driving a Dodge Power wagon 4X4 & snakes & turtles and things but not on purpose.
Only ‘on purpose’ was a dog that ran into the path of a motorcycle that I had a passenger on with me while riding on a state highway.
Embankment on the left , opposing traffic at exactly the wrong time, big drop off on my right, I was going to hit the dog so I flicked the bike so I hit him perpendicular so I would have the front wheel kick out to the side and bring the bike down. I also let off the front brake just before I hit it to unload the front end to give the dog the best chance of not getting fatal injuries. It was just a reaction but I knew I was going to hit it and just made sure I was giving us the best chance of not having a wreck over it.
Made that choice many years ago when I saw a lady kill herself and her little kid by trying to miss a squirrel.
The family that owned the dog saw the whole thing from up on the bank and when I circled back to check, they told me that it was not my fault, the dog gave me no choice. Lucky they were not sue happy folks like those that would be blind to what they actually saw.
Felt bad of the dog & family. Felt good about my quick action to give us the best chance to escape injury.
I dont know what it is with rabbits but the dumb things often jump right under your car.
Skunk.
Many (probably 6 or 7) squirrels.
Bat.
4 deer. Two of those were simultaneous. In all 3 of the deer impacts, had I swerved I would have flipped my car. NEVER swerve to miss an animal unless you know the impact with the animal would be fatal for the driver.
What damage did that do?
A squirrel or two, in urban neighborhoods. A skunk on a road that was not travelled much by night but 3 or 4 cars followed nevertheless. By the time I u-turned and checked, it was flat. The car stunk for a bit.
Last Wednesday, I was not driving, but we probably hit a few kangaroo rats out in the country. Not intentionally; they seemed to have a deathwish. This truck had taken out a few jackrabbits the week before.
Hit a deer while driving my sister’s car in Virginia. It was either swerve left (into the ditch), swerve right (into another car), or go straight (into the deer). The deer lost.
Many squirrels and one huge white bird. I do not know what type of bird. I felt that i hit something and looking in the rear view there was a huge cloud of white feathers. Once a deer hit my car with its hind feet when jumping over my car.
I don’t drive all that much, but I used to do a fair amount of driving at night. I can clearly recall hitting the following:
Badger
Rabbit
Squirrel
Pheasant
Wild boar (in India)
The last one was an interesting experience. I was driving to the airport really early one morning along an unpaved road near a forest, in a tiny little hatchback. The boar just ran out from the bushes by the side of the road with absolutely no warning, and before I could react in any way, I’d clipped it on the shoulder, probably going around 50km/h (30ish mph). It was apparently unhurt because it ran away to the other side of the road and into the trees before I could properly register what had happened. The car wasn’t so lucky - front bumper all but ripped off, headlight smashed and a big dent in the front wing. My dad had to take a taxi home.
I’ve also come close to hitting a mongoose, several pigeons and a leopard. There were also a fairly large number of snakes that I swerved madly to avoid, but I don’t think I actually hit any of them.
wallabies, birds, frogs, lizards, snakes and a wombat
Hit a skunk on my motorcycle. The smell was extremely intense, and I spent the next minute or so trying not to barf in my helmet.
I know riders in Australia who have been severely injured from kangaroo hits; for them, roos are the equivalent of what deer are to Americans and Canadians.
Pigeon. Was almost certainly sick. Driving in city traffic, it suddenly appeared as the preceding car passed it and it just happened to be under my wheel.
A dog, once. That was horrible. 
At least it died instantly.
A skunk. Good lord, does that make a car stink.
At least one bird.
Probably several nutria.
Frogs.
I’ve also picked up and saved a couple of dogs that were hit but survived, two cats (one survived, one had to be euthanised), and several snapping turtles. So I hope that keeps my karma in balance.
A rabbit once but I think it actually hit the underside of the body compartment as it just ran off afterwards.
Off the top of my head, and in no particular order:
[ul]
[li]A squirrel[/li][li]a turtle[/li][li]5 different deer (two while driving an ambulance)[/li][li]a heron (imagine all the bird shit on my windshield after that)[/li][li]countless frogs (lived in a swamp)[/li][li]a domestic turkey[/li][li]sliced and diced a cat under my hood when I started the engine[/li][li]cut a rabbit in half with a sickle bar mower[/li][/ul]
Never hit a dog, thank Og…
Alligator. Big one, too. Luckily it was a rental car and I was in the passenger seat.
A dog. I was on a highway doing sixty. There was no time to stop. That thump still makes me sick to think about.
Wow. I’m glad I put “other” as a choice because I never could have come up with some of the stuff you guys have hit. Nutria? Alligator? Kangaroo? Damn!
My husband told me he once hit a wild turkey with his car. “At first I thought it was a garbage bag on the side of the road. Then I thought it was a dog. Then it flew out in front of me and hit the car hard enough to rip the driver’s side mirror off.”
Thankfully not a lot. There were some major dents in the bumper, but it didn’t go under the car. It was smallish, which helped. A bad collision with a roo can write off the car, and the driver too.
Yowch.
Deer are responsible for more human deaths than any other mammal in the US.
I’ve had a few close calls because they are prolific here, but thankfully no collisions (fingers crossed.)
In a car: Deer, squirrel, birds
On a bike: squirrel, rabbit. Also watched a bird fly right thru my frame; amazingly it didn’t touch anything; neither the frame or my legs while I was pedaling!