I've read where some have hit deer & I have a nephew that hit a deer while riding.
I've hit 2 deer while in a pickup truck. One just bounced off & the other was hit square in the grill.
Last weekend I was in front with a group riding (4 bikes). Saw a deer come out along the edge of a cornfield. I haven't seen a deer where it looked at us, turned around & headed back.

We met up with 7 more bikes. Later on in the day saw a buck running in the open, looked at us then turned and ran away.
Was it the noise (nobody had any real loud pipes), bikes in a group or ?????

I have not seen deer react that way before. Usually they act like you can't see them & are oblivious, looking at you right before you hit them thinking "Where did you come from"???

Is there safety in numbers or was that our lucky day?

Anybody else have experience good or bad?

 

Last weekend a doe ran across the road ahead of me so I slowed down in case there were more and sure enough her fawn ran out and stopped in the middle of the road. When I got closer I honked the horn and it ran back the way it came, my wife said that the doe was watching her fawn the whole time.

 

they will usually stand at the road edge and look at you till your almost there,then jump rite out in front of you..if you see a dear,best bet is slow way down.they do get spooked by the noise sometimes,they are just unpredictable..i have had one jump out and almost take me and a girl i was teaching to ride once..we both locked up the tires and missed it by an inch.. had a few come out in front of my Eg(it is pretty quiet)..i slowed way down to let them go where ever it wanted to..a lot of people have been killed by not seeing the deer

 

I had a flock of four deer earlier this spring on the sportster about 500yds ahead of me on the side of the road..Just rolled off the throttle and they turned back the way they came!

 

They move a lot more during rut, that is when they just run blindly. They are unpredictable at any time though. I come to almost a complete stop when I see one. It is always the deer you don't see!

 

I hit a good size doe on my bike while on my way to work one day(Engine guard saved my life as it took the brunt of it...thankfully I was only going around 30 mph. I didn't go down (how I don't know), and there was $1000.00 in front end damage to my bike. Had an Angel or two on my shoulder that day!!! Even the State Trooper who responded to the scene said he was gonna call for a hearse when he heard deer/motorcycle accident come over the radio....

 

Unpredictable as hell is the only way to describe them. Slow down to a crawl is your best bet.

 

Unpredictable for sure. It probably won't be long before someone will come on here and swear by their deer whistle or some other bike-mounted, deer-scaring device. Fact is, none of them have ever been verified, not one. Just a bunch of hearsay. But if it makes them feel better....

According to the books, avoid riding during the hours just before dusk and just after daylight. That's when the deer are on the move between feeding and bedding areas.
If you come upon a deer standing in the road (you've just rounded a curve, or popped over a ridge, or whatever) hit the horn! Everyone should consider upgrading the horn on an HD...the horn sucks just as much as a HD suspension. If you try to swerve, you will probably not be successful as you will be traveling too fast and most likely fixated on the deer...not looking where you need to go to miss the deer...plus you don't know which way the deer will go.

Some have suggested that if impact is unavoidable, roll-on more throttle. You will be surprised how the bike will respond if it has enough velocity at time of impact. Slow way down before impact and you are essentially guaranteed to go down. I am glad you guys didn't have any incidents. Sounds like mother luck was with you.

 

A Spooked Deer will Just go anywhere and do anything. I have a video of one coming across me on a ride . I just missed it after having to brake hard and heard a clacking next to me. Well it was doing 30mph on the yellow line right next to me. I hit the Cam on slowed down and it shot right in front of me for a 2nd try lol. My kid was on the back and didn't think it was cool at all.

 

I've had em turn around and go back, stop in the middle of the road, (had one fall down in the road in front of me) run across, and even had one run in to the side of me (barely touched). My point is who knows what there going to do. I don't think they know.