In California. deer drive cars and try to kill you. Sometimes they shoot at you. Sometimes they just get unreasonable and drive like maniacs.
I’ve hit one deer. That was plenty. (And, yes, it was in Wisconsin. 
)
June 1994, I had gone up to Green Bay, WI to visit my parents (I live in suburban Chicago). On Sunday morning, before I’d left their house to head home, I was reading an article in the Green Bay newspaper about how, due to two straight mild winters, there was a problem with deer overpopulation, and with lots of pressure for food, they were more active during the day than usual (normally, they’re primarily active around sunrise and sunset).
Early that afternoon, I was driving southbound on I-43, near Belgium, WI (Qadgop probably knows exactly where this is). I was driving a Mazda Protege (so, not exactly a big car). I was in the left lane, cruise control set at 65, when I saw a doe about a half-mile ahead of me, standing in the median, looking like she was about to go across the southbound lanes of traffic. I watched her stand there, and I tapped my brakes to turn off the cruise control.
Just as I neared her, she started across, going from left to right; I was doing about 50 when I hit her. Her right front leg hit my license plate, and she rolled up the hood of the car, before hitting the A-pillar between the windshield, and the passenger side window. According to the woman who was in the car behind me, the deer then went airborne over the right lane of traffic, before landing, dead, on the right shoulder.
The car didn’t have airbags (which would undoubtedly have gone off), but it was heavily damaged, and I pulled over immediately, as did several other cars. I was unhurt (thankfully, the deer didn’t actually get into the car), but the hood was concave, and the windshield was shattered (though still in one piece). Another driver called the State Patrol, and the trooper cleared my car for me to drive home (though I had to get some duct tape to stabilize the windshield). The trooper also informed me that I was legally entitled to the deer’s carcass, but I took a pass on that. 
So, I limped home for the remaining 100 miles, doing about 50mph, and pulling over every 20 miles or so to re-tape the windshield.
The car was repairable (and I was very impressed with how well the little Mazda did after that collision), though I suspect that, had it been a year or two older (and, thus, worth less), my insurance company would have totaled it.
No, I never have, and considering where I grew up and the communities I’ve lived in since, it’s a minor miracle. I was taught to drive with deer in mind (very rural with a lot of Forest Preserves - we had deer in our darn yard all the time) and there are some times now when I won’t drive a particular route at certain times if only to avoid the possibility.
Having said that, the way my universe has been working lately, I’m bound to hit one today on my way to get cigarettes or something. :rolleyes:
I live in the middle of Madison. I see dead deer on the roadside a lot, and seasonally I see a lot of deer being hauled around tied to the bed of pickup trucks, but I’ve hardly ever seen them live. And I’ve driven around the state quite a lot.
Never hit a deer but got a cow once. It was solid black and I never saw it before hitting it. Got it on the hind quarter and broke both back legs. I was driving a 69 Dodge pickup, all it did was bend the front bumper and tweek the right front fender. Went to a nearby house and the owner came out and put the cow down. Said he knew who it belonged to and he would call the owner. I’m betting the cow ended up in that guy’s freezer.
We have deer in the area but I’ve personally never hit any fauna larger than a squirrel.
I’ve hit three. One did enough damage to the car for me to turn it in to insurance, the other two I just lived with the dents.
A friend of mine picked up her brand new car and destroyed it hitting a deer on the way home.
Some deer population and population density maps for Wisconsin.
For some of the district management units, the deer population density brings the term “swarm” to mind
I have never hit a deer, but I came within a whisker of doing so, not once, not twice, but three separate times! I used to drive through an isolated stretch of highway with heavy woods on each side of the road on my way to and from work. In the late fall/early winter, deer would often bound out onto the highway from the woods and, being mostly dark in the early morning and evening commutes, you wouldn’t see them until they were right on top of you. Twice I was able to slam on my brakes and swerve, but the third time I wound up sliding off the highway berm and into a ditch. I had to call for a tow to get out. Deer 3; SOBS 0
Here’s an article from last year about animal strikes per 1,000 insured vehicles. Imagine my thrill at having moved from one of the least problematic states to one of the most problematic.
ETA: I’m even less thrilled to realize I’ll be driving through West Virginia this month. 
This thread is bringing it all back, like PTSD.
I close my eyes and I see them all. Staring me down, right in the road. Standing on the side, with me wondering “is he going, or not?” Running between me and the car ahead of me. Running down the road with me - can’t risk passing him, he might jump in front. Seeing just their eyes from the fields, knowing they are there, and that there are more you can’t see, like Aliens in the reactor room. Seeing the fawns, and wondering where the parents are. Seeing the buck cross safely, and hoping there aren’t any young ones coming.
And then seeing the one I hit, all in slow motion as he runs out, hits the bumper and flies through the air into the ditch. Seeing the unrecognizable remains in the highway where some semi smushed one and drove over it. Seeing the red stains that linger for days.
When I was a kid, they would run in front of the cars, and get killed. Later, after all the stupid ones died without passing on their stupidity, the population got smarter. They would wait until the headlights passed, THEN run. Usually, right into your door.
Ah, Marquette county! Not the record, but in the running.
I’d see some fields in the morning where they were upwards of 30, just grazing. They’d stare at you as you drive past, but otherwise just stand there. They were better at crossing the roads during the day as well.
In the daytime the deer are not as big a risk. They mostly are dangerous at night. Mostly.
Call me next time for the carcass, one of my cousins would gladly claim it; Belgium is not far.
We had a deer kill itself in our garden. A yearling followed two older deer into a fenced garden area thru the open gate; the two older deer jumped out over the fence, the yearling tried, but broke its neck.
Mr. Mercotan threw the yearling carcass onto an old toboggan then hauled it 1/4 mile, towing it behind her 4wd, to leave it at the nearest public roadside, where the sheriff would collect the carcass. (It had been dead too long to salvage for supper).
I only saw 3 live deer this AM on my drive to work.
I’ve hit two deer, one in my car, the other on a motorcycle. I hit the one in a car doing about 50, stupid thing jumped out and destroyed the right side of my car, probably close to totaling it.
With the motorcycle the damned thing jumped out and I hit it right between the legs and carried it for a bit before it tried to kick off and knocked us both down. I got a bit messed up, road rash on my knees and one ankle. It was a couple of days before Halloween so I went as a motorcycle accident victim.
I hate the damn things. I wish they were hunted more to thin out the herds, but here near DC people think they are ‘cute’ and get offended when hunting comes up.
I hit one once; curvy two lane road with a guardrail on my side. I saw it running parallel to me on the opposite side of the guard rail. I hit my brakes but hadn’t completely stopped just before it made a left turn over the guard rail. Cracked (but not broken) headlight & a small dent to the quarter panel.
I also remember one we were dispatched to, deer tried to jump a Mitsubishi 3000GT; impact was top center of the windshield. Obviously the windshield pushed in & expanded a bit upon impact causing some of the deer’s hair to go into the cracks. When it recovered to normal position those micro cracks closed up, yanking the hairs from the deer’s side. This resulted in a car with a ‘furry’ windshield - we could not get the fur out, it was now a part of the windshield!
My mother taught me to never hit anyone! Instead I just give them a stern talking to, and a deeply furrowed brow. 
This is what I experienced twice. Once they ran into the rear driver side door, the second time it was the rear driver quarter panel.
We have a lot of deer where I live, so we also have quite a few coyotes and wolves, which while not as suicidal as deer, also occasionally get hit.
A wolf ran out in front of me. I braked and missed it by a hair, but a vehicle coming the other way hit it dead on. It continued to slide onto the far shoulder of the road. I stopped and walked over to see if it could be taken to an animal hospital, but it died in front of me.
We also have a lot of moose (although they are in decline). One ran out in front of me and instead of running across my path ran down the road directly in front of me. I stood on the brakes expecting to hit it, but only brushed it as I came to a stop while it continued running down the road. Bullwinkles ain’t too bright, but they can move surprisingly fast.
I have never personally hit one, although around here you often see them on the side of the road. But when I was in driver’s ed in high school, the girl driving our car (groups of 3 plus instructor) hit one. We had to drive that car around for a couple of days, with the damage. That was… awkward.
I’ve seen quite a few deer in my neck of New Jersey this summer, and it’s hardly woodland area. On July 4th, a mother deer with twin fawns held me captive literally (if I had made one move, mama would have taken me out) and figuratively (the babies were so beautiful).
May I ask why the moose are in decline?