Welcome to the club. Hit a deer in Michigan last summer. Saw obvious damage but was able to ride it. Took it to HD in Muskegon. They put it on the hoist and checked it for safety issues. Got the all clear and finished my trip. Got home $2000.00 damage. I can now take that of my list of things to do. I'm thinking of designing a patch for all of us to wear.

 

Congratulations on keeping her upright! I would have to say your skills are just fine! You now know something about yourself that allot of people don't know.... How you will handles an emergency situation... Most people, myself included like to think they will be able to handle anything the road throws at them but its not until you are on the other side of something like this that you truly KNOW how you will handle yourself.

I had almost the exact same thing happen to me this last September. Only it wasn't my first ride on my new bike.... It was my 3rd! Bike was 2 1/2 days old at the time... Sucks!

I would strongly recommend calling you insurance agent and let them know what happened and get your bike up to the dealer for an inspection. My bike sustained quite a bit if damage so it was obvious I needed to take mine in but they found things that I did not find. For example, My handle bars were bent! I asked them how in the world that could have happened because the handle bars did not take an impact.??? The wreck estimator told me it was more then likely when I collided with the dear I tensed up and bent them... I never would have guessed that could have happened but it sure did.

Anyway, with a brand new scooter I would take it in for a look. Would be well worth the money IMO.

Again, Congratulations on keeping the rubber side down and walking away from the incident. Most of the time you hear somone hitting a dear on a bike you are either going to visit them in the hospital or worse!

 

The main thing is you're OK. Deer are unpredictable and you never know which way they're gonna jump, and when you see them which way do you go? I drive for a living and I know while there's no substitute for skill and experience there's a lot of luck involved. You're OK, the bike no doubt is. You did good!

 

I live in deer country! Just last week there were 37 between my garage where my work truck was parked to the end of my driveway. About 2700 feet. Its almost everytime we ride we see deer.

 

Good thing it was a small deer.

 

Rider skill and alert driving will certainly help, but they are no assurance you won't hit a deer. At 60 mph you're traveling right at 88' per second. A good perception/ reaction time is between 2 to 3 seconds if you're alert and not distracted. This means you'll travel well over 170' before you even start evasive maneuvers. Many times with deer you're on them within that 170'.

The four evasive maneuvers for deer are:
Swerve: You have to move quickly and have the room to do it. Oncoming traffic and steep barrow ditches will limit your room. Remember, a hard swerve has to be followed by a counter swerve immediately after to stay upright, i.e hard left then hard right. This is an advanced high level move that requires practice and a good roadway surface. Not many can pull it off and there's no guarantee the swerve will miss the unpredictable deer movements.
Accelerate: You can try and power past the deer if they suddenly appear on the shoulder. Try and get past before they dart out on the roadway. Deer are very fast and nimble so it's hard to judge if you can get past. Accelerating adds energy to a collision and may make things worse if you have to try an alternative maneuver next.
Do Nothing: Just hang on tight and hope the deer stay out of the way. Sometimes it's the evasive maneuver that drops you, not the deer colision. It sucks to go down while the deer just walks away. You have to have lots of luck and hope for the best.
Brake hard: This is your best bet. If you see a deer on the road or shoulder grab a handful of both levers and rear brake. Know that a passenger will likely try to push you over the windshield on unexpected hard braking so brace yourself. This maneuver scuffs off speed and impact energy and can be most easily accomplished by most riders.
Remember, no amount of skill will prevent all deer crashes. Always ride aware and ready to make your evasive move.

 

I hit a deer back in October, never saw her until she was right in front of me. She came up a hill on the right side of the road and wasn't visible until she was on the road. Unfortunately I was just going into a curve as we collided. Needless to say the bike, me and the deer all went down. She died, I cried (LOL) the bike survived. Ever try to pick up a Road King with one hand? I haven't had a chance to have the bike checked out but so far it looks like a little front fender damage, windscreen is scratched, clutch lever bent, bent engine guard, scratched saddlebag guard, scratched saddle bag, bent but not broken left aux light, and a broken left mirror. Me, busted up knees, busted up elbows, bloody chin, three fractures to my left wrist and a very bruised ego. Believe it or not but a couple of college kids helped me get the bike up and after working my hand for about ten minutes I rode the bike home. Emergency room the next day as my hand was swollen to the point that I looked like hellboy. I still cannot close my left hand and it's swollen and numb and the elbows are still sore as heck. Now for the best part, anybody have an extra front fender for a 2010 Road King for a real cheap price??? prefer Vivid black. LOL Remember, sometimes you never see the one that gets you. I have since counted the deer on that road, a road I ride everyday, within a two mile stretch I counted over 100 of the little kamaikazes on one trip. (in a car of course).

Three days after my accident a very close friend hit a deer, we attended his memorial a week later.

 

Hit a deer myself almost two months ago. Beginning of hunting season. I guess I should say he hit me. I saw them. Slowed down a lot but did not have time to stop. When I decided I could ride through between them I let go of the brakes and eased on the throttle. Bastard got me at the rear wheel. Bike felt a little like Jello as I'm guessing the rear wheel got kicked out about a foot, but I kept the bars straight, kept the bike up, and kept rolling. I surveyed for damage when I got home. All I noticed besides dirt and fur is a cracked Touring Pak. Could be worse, I'm safe, bike is mostly safe, I have an experience and a story to share.

 

They should give Riders free permits and loan them a gun if they don't own one!

 

As others have suggested, it would be a good idea to have your bike checked out by a trusted dealer. Lots of damage can remain hidden, and cause problems down the road (pun intended).
Other than that, good job on keeping everything upright.