Bambi ain't so cute...

[patmahoney]

I was riding home from the gym on a winding back road with a cager following pretty close when bambi and his mom go darting across the road not 20 feet in front of me! http://s2.images.proboards.com/shocked.gif Luckily they kept moving across the road, because as I quickly slowed to avoid the deer the cager behind me nearly slammed me from behind (and I am not that kinda guy :) ) If I had to completely stopped I would of been picking the grill of his Honda out of my butt.

This got me wondering, considering the damage I've seen deer and elk do to a cage, would a rider survive a collision with a deer?

[davidjones1]

if your lucky, they can do some damage but we have members here that had just that happen (hit by deer) and make it though and I hope you gave the cage a piece of your mind they worry me more then the deer.
ride safe..

[cactusjack]

I was riding home from the gym on a winding back road with a cager following pretty close when bambi and his mom go darting across the road not 20 feet in front of me! http://s2.images.proboards.com/shocked.gif Luckily they kept moving across the road, because as I quickly slowed to avoid the deer the cager behind me nearly slammed me from behind (and I am not that kinda guy :) ) If I had to completely stopped I would of been picking the grill of his Honda out of my butt.

This got me wondering, considering the damage I've seen deer and elk do to a cage, would a rider survive a collision with a deer?

Some do, some don't unfortunately. Some people won't survive a collision with a dog.

Up in the mountains of AZ, elk are the biggest threat to motorcyclist longevity.

[dogdoc]

Biggest threat here in TX is drunk A**holes driving cages.

[borto1990]

I just had a buddy hit a big golden retriever type dog. got stuck in the highway bars.. dog didn't make it, but he didn't lay down the bike.

[cactusjack]

Biggest threat here in TX is drunk A**holes driving cages.

I think that's true everywhere. I should have said "biggest threat to motorcyclist longevity from the animal kingdom."

[Idaho]

Biggest threat here in TX is drunk A**holes driving cages.

I think that's true everywhere. I should have said "biggest threat to motorcyclist longevity from the animal kingdom."

"drunk A**holes" are animals

[samkjr]

Driving around in the country once, I almost rounded a corner and hit a stray cow. Luckily, I was not speeding beyond my line of sight. I was able to emergengy stop about 15 feet in front if it.

[schoeney]

Patrick,

They do make deer whistles/horns...pretty cheap...less than $10. I am not sure if they work but I haven't heard of anyone that has one that has had a problem. The challenge is where to mount them. On front fender makes sense to function but would not look good and might ruin paint? here is a link.

http://www.sevendeals.com/p-5688-deer-whistle.aspx?gclid=CN3Btp_S05oCFRwpawodWVIh2g

[psychocycle]

One of the guys I ride with was out with a different group of riders last year and after a long day of riding and just outside Lake Louise at around 6:00 pm on a raining paved surface a Grizzly darted out of the bush on to the road. http://s2.images.proboards.com/shocked.gif The lead rider didn't even know the Grizzly had come out but the second rider was not so lucky. Destroyed his brand new Street Gide and put him in the hospital for a few weeks with a broken collar bone, ribs and several severe lacerations. The Grizzly did not make it out of the accident. This was in the papers and on the news more sorrow for the bear than the rider. But he is back to work as a fireman in Saskatchewan and back home with his wife and children. Haven't heard if he has a new bike and back on the road yet. I have some pictures on another computer that the lead rider email me. I'll have to find them and post.

[dogdoc]

I mounted my deer horns down low right off the radiator trim ring(black), there is a good flat spot there and good wind to go thur them.

[nomad561]

I almost hit 2 black bears while riding through Shenadoah Valley on Skyline Dr.
Speed limit is only 25 in the are so I had plenty of time to stop.

[ruruson1]

Let me tell you first had about hitting a deer on a bike. IT SUCKS..... about 6 years ago I bought a bike after not riding for about 4 years. It was a little Kawaski LTD 454. small bike but the price was right $600.00. It ran well and was a perfect bike for the short distance back and forth to work. It looks like a mini version of the vulcan 750cc. One warm summer night I decided to ride into town and meet a friend. My trip was a short 18 miles and took me accross the Norfork Dam in Arkansas where I lived. As I started up the hill at about 55mph a small 8 point buck came down off the bank. This area is a state park and had big boulders along the road side to keep vehicles off the grass so I had no where to go. I hammered the brakes and swear I looked like a crotch rocket stunt rider with my back wheel in the air on a front wheel stand, NOT REALLY, but at the last minute the deer turned away from me and I racked its front legs out from under it and spun the deer around and its hind quaters impacted the left side of my bike smashing my leg between the engine and the deer resulting in a broke ankle. it tore all the lights off the front of my bike and bent my fender and misalligned my forks. I did not go down but I quickly realized I had to stop with a broke ankle. So I did and fell over. So there I lay in the road with a broke ankle, bike, and deer. I did wear a helment, thank god, because when the deer's head hit my handle bars and it's antlers broke off and came over the handler bars, no windshield, striking my helment and left a large gash in the top of my helment. A gentleman stopped that I knew and got me home along with my bike and the deer of course. I think so many thigs happend just right like my helment which I'm bad about not wearing and the deer turning away from me. If I had hit it square I think I would have been hurt a lot worse. Then funny thing is I was just talking to my dad one hour earlier, a biker of 40 years, and told him my biggest fear was hitting a deer or large animal. I work as an Emergency room nurse in a trauma center and see it several times a year. Some are lucky as I was and some are not. I mounted the antlers on my helment and keep it in the garage. I will tell you I was gun shy about riding at night for a long time and was quick to apply the brakes and the sight of any reflection in the distance.

[kawgirl]

I had a friend survive a run in with a deer twice within 18 months time. Tore up his knee pretty bad the first time and had to have his spleen removed the second time. He's back in the saddle.

[radco]

Up here in No Mans land we have alittle critter called a MOOSE.. a baby is 900lbs.. Mini and MickyMoose are 1200/1400 lbs.. And a few have been hit by bikes and lived,, Guess its all about if its your time to go.. BUT I do carry extra skivies for those close calls :)

[pablo]

I got hit by a "small" deer while going about 70. I didn't go down, but it crunched my front fender, bent the left engine guard straight back (trapping my leg), broke the floorboard, horn, bent the left lower wind deflector and shift lever, and made a big mess over everything. I thought I'd broken my leg and ankle, but x-rays were negative. My leg and foot were purple from the knee down to start with, but turned all sorts of colors in the next couple of weeks. I got about $2700 from Progressive insurance to repair the bike. The guys at American Iron Horse, who did most of the repairs, said the Nomad is build like a tank. They said a Harley would have been totaled by the same impact. I now have a black front fender. I couldn't see paying an extra $85 for two tone paint and $156 for the pin stripe decals. I like my new black fender fine.
Pablo

[ponch]

Deer Whistles don't work. Fred Rau did an article on it a while back. Deer hear in the same frequencies we do. If you can't hear it, they can't either.


Patrick,

They do make deer whistles/horns...pretty cheap...less than $10. I am not sure if they work but I haven't heard of anyone that has one that has had a problem. The challenge is where to mount them. On front fender makes sense to function but would not look good and might ruin paint? here is a link.

http://www.sevendeals.com/p-5688-deer-whistle.aspx?gclid=CN3Btp_S05oCFRwpawodWVIh2g

[ponch]

Why would he lay it down... :) See that post elsewhere...


I just had a buddy hit a big golden retriever type dog. got stuck in the highway bars.. dog didn't make it, but he didn't lay down the bike.

[dennisbailey]

I had a good friend who was the police chief in Sandy, Utah who went for a drive up a mountain canyon road and didn't come back home. Hit a deer and killed him dead. Very sad as he was in the prime of his life, kids raised and doing well, happily married and job of his dreams. Just goes to show, "live every day as if it is your last".

[landman]

i once came around a sharp bend in the road and straight into a
flock of wild turkeys.let me tell you,that got the pucker factor
going.birds flying everywhere,turkey crap on the windshield but
never touched a bird.

[barrynfla]

f**k deer!!

[Top Cat]

Why would he lay it down... :) See that post elsewhere...


I just had a buddy hit a big golden retriever type dog. got stuck in the highway bars.. dog didn't make it, but he didn't lay down the bike.

I don't think he ment lay it down in the same context you are thinking of. I think he is saying the dog didn't knock him over.

[cactusjack]

i once came around a sharp bend in the road and straight into a
flock of wild turkeys.let me tell you,that got the pucker factor
going.birds flying everywhere,turkey crap on the windshield but
never touched a bird.

I've gotten hit by Wild Turkey before. Used to drink it when we'd go skiing.

[mercianbike]

This got me wondering, considering the damage I've seen deer and elk do to a cage, would a rider survive a collision with a deer?

This is a link to a story with very graphic pictures of a motorcycle/deer collision. Fortunately, in this case, the deer was the loser.

http://lifeisaroad.com/deerkilling.html

BTW, the author who posted this on his site writes excellent books. I've read them all.

[jamiep24]

My wife bought me a set of chrome deer whistles before I even bought my bike because she believes in them (We hit a spike head on when I was driving her home on our second date almost 10 years ago, never even got a chance to hit my brakes and knock off the cruise control). About $4,000 in damages to my truck but it still drove fine. I haven't put them on because there's not a great place for them on my bike and I don't think they would help on a motorcycle like they might on a car/truck. I think most biker's pipes would probably scare 'em off first. And I used to have them on my truck after the collision and I don't think they helped, deer still ran across the road ahead, ignoring me. When those boys start chasing does, there's no stopping 'em. Imagine that, a male with only one thing on his mind? Jamie

[Yellow Jacket]

I have never seen any scientific evidence that would support the effectiveness of deer whistles.

However, it's difficult to prove a negative so if people believe they will help, go ahead and use them.

I personally wouldn't put much faith in them doing any good.

[jamiep24]

How about squirrel whistles? That's the only animal I've hit so far and I wasn't about to wreck for a squirrel, so he just bit the dust and I went on my way. Almost hit a black coyote riding home on the hills comng back from Eureka Springs on a wet road. That could've gotten ugly. Jamie

[dank]

My son hit a deer on his Vulcan 1500 Classic last year. Basically cut the deer in half. He went down and slid to a stop. The bike was totaled in the insurance sense of the word. He wasn't injured, but his wallet got a nasty case of road rash where he slid to a stop on it.

[bsa2nomad]

Here is a clip from the local news,

BUTLER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A motorcyclist struck a bear in Butler Township late Monday afternoon.

Emergency crews were called to westbound Route 422 at Greenwood Drive at about 5:30 p.m. A Greenwood assistant fire chief told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that a man and woman on a motorcycle encountered the bear standing in the middle of the road.

Authorities said the driver saw the bear in the road before the accident.

"Driver laid down the bike, hit the bear. The bear went airborne, according to witnesses, got up and took off, went up the hill on 422 on the right-hand side," said assistant fire Chief Steve Martin.

A police officer at the scene told WTAE Channel 4's Tara Edwards that Seifert, 55, was taken to Butler Hospital with abrasions and bruises. He was later transferred to UPMC-Presbyterian.

His wife, refused treatment and drove the motorcycle to the hospital, police said. Both motorcyclists are from Wexford.

[Kawhead]

I have never seen any scientific evidence that would support the effectiveness of deer whistles.

However, it's difficult to prove a negative so if people believe they will help, go ahead and use them.

I personally wouldn't put much faith in them doing any good. I know this doesn't qualify as scientific, but I hit a deer with the whistles mounted. Maybe they worked for the year up to the day I hit the one who wasn't paying attention. http://s2.images.proboards.com/tongue.gif It totaled my VN 800 and the deer as well.

I don't use them anymore, because several times since I have passed deer along side the road and it didn't draw their attention at all.