Deer Hit
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Intermediate
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 41
Likes: 0
From: Ohio
Deer Hit
Saturday, my wife and I were taking a leisurely ride on SR519 in Harrison County here in Ohio which is heavily reclaimed strip mines and overrun with Whitetail deer, when suddenly my windshield was full of brown fur! The deer had come from my left and I hit it in it's right hindquarters. There was a violent jolt to the right and "Jesus took the wheel" got my bars back to the left, stood on the brakes for all I was worth and ended upright on the left side of the road on the berm. I'm still shaking!
Couple reasons I'm posting this. Guy's, chances are you won't see the one you hit, so slow down when your in prime deer habitat. I "think" I was only doing 40 or 45 when this happened. One of the prime reasons I bought my 09 FLHTC was for the ABS and I think it saved our bacon in this instance. I got stopped quick with no wheel lock-up or sliding. I hope this is my one and only "close encounter" episode with a deer and if you get behind an old geezer in Ohio doing 30 - 40 in deer country, give me a wave when you pass...
Couple reasons I'm posting this. Guy's, chances are you won't see the one you hit, so slow down when your in prime deer habitat. I "think" I was only doing 40 or 45 when this happened. One of the prime reasons I bought my 09 FLHTC was for the ABS and I think it saved our bacon in this instance. I got stopped quick with no wheel lock-up or sliding. I hope this is my one and only "close encounter" episode with a deer and if you get behind an old geezer in Ohio doing 30 - 40 in deer country, give me a wave when you pass...
Glad you made it okay. I rode yesterday afternoon and into the night. I've never seen so many deer. Twice I had them run across the road right in front of me. I see them all over the sides of the road every single time I ride these days. They seem to be staying out much later than usual. I see them as late as 11 pm. My buddy riding behind me said that when I pointed one out on the right shoulder once, there was a much bigger one just on the left side of my bike within three feet of me. I just bought a new Ultra. One of my biggest reasons was I wanted ABS. Almost lost it high-side recently when a car pulled a u-turn in front of me. Locked up the rear wheel and just barely got it back under control. I think there were 4 deer strikes in this years Iron Butt rally. One was a fatality. I wish there was something that could be done about keeping the deer away from us.
Road Captain
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 611
Likes: 1
From: Creektown aka Lower Alabama, but not that low
Glad you made it okay. I rode yesterday afternoon and into the night. I've never seen so many deer. Twice I had them run across the road right in front of me. I see them all over the sides of the road every single time I ride these days. They seem to be staying out much later than usual. I see them as late as 11 pm. My buddy riding behind me said that when I pointed one out on the right shoulder once, there was a much bigger one just on the left side of my bike within three feet of me. I just bought a new Ultra. One of my biggest reasons was I wanted ABS. Almost lost it high-side recently when a car pulled a u-turn in front of me. Locked up the rear wheel and just barely got it back under control. I think there were 4 deer strikes in this years Iron Butt rally. One was a fatality. I wish there was something that could be done about keeping the deer away from us.
Here's some very interesting info from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (http://www.iihs.org);
http://www.iihs.org/search.aspx?q=de...cycles&x=0&y=0
The peak month for collisions with deer is November by a long shot.
http://www.iihs.org/search.aspx?q=de...cycles&x=0&y=0
The peak month for collisions with deer is November by a long shot.
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Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 34
Likes: 0
Glad to hear things ended well for you. Just wondering what time of day was it when you hit the deer?
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Cruiser
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 232
Likes: 1
From: Southern Ohio
Here in southern Ohio it's getting to be the time when the deer are movin' and there is a huge population of them. The wife and I rode the 40 miles after dark from a visit with my father and I said before we left that 50MPH would be the max. No deer hits but I did go right between two crossing raccoons when we were going through Wayne National Forest.
Be careful! From now on until late fall, it's dangerous early morning and right around dark.
Be careful! From now on until late fall, it's dangerous early morning and right around dark.