Deer in the headlights

flaboyjim · Post by **flaboyjim** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 4:07 am

When I got home tonight and took my wife out to dinner - we drove her GMC Envoy. On the way home, a 10 point buck ran out in front of us and tore the left side of the car up. It peeled the front fender back about 2 feet and crushed the driver and passenger door. Highway Patrol estimated the damage at $6000.00. I have hunted in the woods of Florida for most of my life and never even had a shot at a deer this big. He weighed in at over 200 lbs. For Florida - that is a giant!!! It just got me to thinking - what if I had been in the buggy? Has anyone had that experience and lived to tell about it?

fubar · Post by **fubar** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 4:52 am

I took on a bumble bee once, fortunately had my goggles on. That is about the size limit I have for hitting animals. Did they let you keep the road kill????

newmanx59 · Post by **newmanx59** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 12:29 pm

As close as I could tell, I had a deer jump over the hood of my Manx. I'm not positive because when I saw him I locked up the brakes and layed over in the seat. From what I was able to see, he went over the front end of the buggy.

I did run over the neighbors black Lab though. The dog actually lifted the front end of the buggy off the ground as I went over him and I felt the rear tire actually run over him before I could get stopped. After all of that, the dog jumped up, looked at me and ran home. The only thing wrong with him was a very small abrasion on his front leg. It scared the heck out of me, I thought I killed it.

Gene-C · Post by **Gene-C** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 2:13 pm

Well my first thought was something runs better than a deer, a GMC :laugh1: Then I thought to say something like how they would bounce off of a Ford. But, I'm better than that.

Seriously though I hope everyone is ok. I think about this a lot when I'm on back roads. A couple months ago we went through the Canaveral Wildlife Refuge in the buggy. Speed limit 55 on a road where a hog is hit once or twice a week. I kept my eyes wide open.

When I drive I usually rest my arm on the side of my buggy. Seems my hand is a bug magnet.

Anyone else experience this?

flaboyjim · Post by **flaboyjim** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 7:17 pm

But now,She has to drive a Ford!!!! - the rental company only uses the cheap stuff. But it beats walking.

Gene-C · Post by **Gene-C** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 8:35 pm

I don't have a deer story but this one from a buddy over on the Volksrods forum is wild. Hey guys. Sorry for the scare, but I've been out of it for about 2.5 weeks now due to the wreck, and am just now getting back on the computer. I'm not really sure how you all got wind of it, but that goes to show how far-reaching the volksrods world really is! I'll try and boil down the details. For starters, the Miata is/was my daily driver. I commute 115 miles a day and I'd rather do it in a nimble little roadster than my gas-guzzling truck (32mpg vs. 18mpg). I have a lot of other cars, but those are all classics, and either projects, or not something I want to drive daily. Plus, the Miata was going to be the basis for my V8 monster Miata project. That's out the window now. I went for a drive on Monday August 8th at about 10pm. I live out in the sticks, so it's fun to drive around on the country roads at night. I was only about 1/8 mile from my house going up and down the hills when I reached the bottom of one hill and started up the next when my lights lit up a deer in the road. I swerved to avoid it, and in the process found a second deer in my way! I kept going to the right, but there is no shoulder on the road and my tires got caught in a rut. I was now on the grass, and doing about 45mph. I hit the brakes but that was a lost cause. I hit something, the airbag blew and I was knocked out. I woke up, upside down, hanging from my seatbelt with the metal frame of the convertible top across my neck. One side of my face was through the top and into the dirt under the car, and the rest of me was still up in the car. I couldn't get my head free and the car was sinking on my neck. Needless to say I was getting panicky. I remembered I had my cell phone, so I fished it out of my pocket, ripped another hole in the top, and brought the phone so I could see it. Unfortunately, my glasses got blown off by the airbag and without those or contacts I can't see ****. I punched in 911, put it on speakerphone and got the emergency folks. They were there in a few minutes to get me out. It was good that I was still conscious because I could tell them to lift the car up and get the pressure off my neck first, which they did, and after that they they cut the top off and I climbed out. Apparently, I had clipped a third deer (which died) and that blew the airbag. The car slid sideways into a tree about 8" in diameter. The tree impacted between the front left wheel and door, and crushed the drivers footwell. The tree then broke in half and the car rolled over on top of the tree. I was off the road about 50 feet, upside down in a stand of trees. Without my cell phone I wouldn't have been found until morning, and by that time the car probably would have crushed my neck. I am so lucky I can't even begin to explain it. Miatas aren't exactly the most crash-protected vehicle out there, but I think that hitting a deer, and having the body of the deer come through the window and roof would have been worse. We have a LOT of deer accidents around here and they often go through windshields killing people. I didn't want that to happen, so I swerved. My injuries were bad, but not anywhere near what Pete went through, and I have good health insurance so there isn't a lot that I have to deal with. Thankfully. When the footwell was crushed, my left ankle was broken, along with three toes on that foot, and my right ankle was sprained. I split my head open when I broke the sidewindow with it and that got me a nice gash in my head that required staples. I was cut by glass, and abused by the airbag (burns and scrapes on my arms and face), but nothing too serious, and most of that is now healed. My ankle required surgery and they screwed it all back together last week. I get a permanent cast this week so I should be able to drive after that. I also suffered a partial collapse of my left lung, but that also healed and has re-inflated. In reality, the Miata is probably far safer than many of the older cars we all own. It had airbags, crash protection, and most importantly 3-point seatbelts. Please, everyone, upgrade your seatbelts. Without these I would have been thrown from the car, and may have been crushed by it. Yeah, I was bruised and beaten, but it could have been much worse. The rescue workers and paramedics all told me that they expected me to be dead given the damage to the car and the condition they found me in. I'm going to be out of commission for about 6 weeks while my ankle heals, which will further delay all of my projects. Ugh. Plus, I have to figure out a way to build a car to drive to work everyday from the remnants of the Miata. I have a Mazda 323 that I bought three days before the wreck to put the Miata engine into. I had planned to swap the engine, drive the 323, and do the V8 conversion on the Miata. Well, I guess the 323 will now become the main mode of transportation and I need to sell the parts I got for the V8 conversion. Boy, is that going to suck.

Thanks again guys! I appreciate your concern!

Grant "http://volksrods.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12050&hl=miata"

fubar · Post by **fubar** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 9:26 pm

I read somewhere that in Alaska, when a moose, yak, or some sort of beast pulls out in font of you, the thing to do is turn off the lights and drive straight towards it. I would think that it would take a lot of liquor to have that sort of courage...

Gene-C · Post by **Gene-C** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 2:34 pm

Both Jim's and Michaels's experience are good argument for a roll cage rather than just a roll bar. I really don't want one, but, this thread has made me reconsider. A buggy windshield wouldn't be much of a match for a deer or anything else for that matter.

Gene-C · Post by **Gene-C** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 4:00 pm

While riding my sled, I was on a old RR grade doing about 55-60 mph. A deer jumped across the trail out of the brush. I was VERY close

I grabbed a whole bunch of brake and braced for impact all at the same time! All I saw before I closed my eyes was hair! it wasn't a nice deer hide it was individual hairs. I don't know how we didn't hit! All I know is when I stopped I got up off my sled and I puckered so hard I puckered me seat as well!

On a side note, on TLC or Discovery the other day they had a little thing on the Bigfoot truck. Of couse the showed them crushing cars, but what amazed me was how much weight the windshield would carry before busting.

shaihulud · Post by **shaihulud** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 4:42 pm

Hmmmm!! You have deer and we have kangaroos and emus (pronounced eemyou not eemoo). It is little different when you hit one. Skippy is unpredictable and you always seem to hit the one you didn't see after dodging the first one. Kangaroos are most likely to be on the roads at dusk after a hot day. They freeze in the headlights or just keep on coming from out of the bush. We have what we call roo bars and you would call bull bars on our cars. Most SUVs in the cities have them and some people are trying to get them banned from cars that don't need them as they are considered to be pedestrian killers. I had one on my buggy but it was only a token as a roo would slide up the bonnet and come straight through the windscreen. I'm glad to hear that you are all O.K.

5150bossman · Post by **5150bossman** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 12:29 am

Need I say more..... :laugh1:

fubar · Post by **fubar** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:02 pm

How do you protect yourself from a suicidal donkey?????????? That would mess up a Kenworth.