grr... boogers...

[flowerbug]

just had a deer run into the side of Mom's car.

was running an errand for her. wasn't going fast enough i guess it had time to zero in and splat.

it got up and ran away. both door and fender got smushed.

will have to call insurance company Tues and all that. i think the deer fur in the cracked/bent metal will be enough of an indicator of what happened... 2nd time at that corner, by the park/woods. it's normally pretty busy there with deer so i don't go fast, but this one decided to just run into the side of the car anyways right after i came around the corner. actually i think had i managed to slow down even more it would have been worse as the grill/hood/windshield would be a much more expensive to replace...

i guess that's why we keep paying high prices for insurance here because it is rare that anyone hasn't hit deer.

i've also hit one with my car so that makes 3 so far for us.

i don't really like to drive much, well i do, but it is a hazard.

i think i should invest in a tank... *sigh*

 

[Nyboy]

I swear sometimes the deer act like they want to get hit

 

[flowerbug]

I swear sometimes the deer act like they want to get hit

technically, this one hit me... but yes, sometimes by stringing out into a long line of them instead of bunching together they become harder to see, but being meadow and woodland creatures that's probably just what they do. perhaps adapted from being chased by wolves for eons. the weak and slow would be the ones most likely brought down while the rest would escape...

 

[Ridgerunner]

When a deer ran into the car my wife was driving a few years back our insurance company (Liberty Mutual) did not raise the rates. They said that was considered something not in our control so no rate increases. But yes, that is already included in the rates for everybody. It is one reason why rates are so high.

I'd call the insurance company now to get the claim on record. Or maybe there is a way to do that online. And take photos, you probably have already since you've been through this before.

Deer are a constant hazard here, we see them all the time and have had several other close calls. The worst place is where someone is feeding them pretty close to the road but they can be anywhere. We slow down even during the day and drive with the brights on where we can to help with visibility at night. They still shoot out from the side if the road a lot.

 

[flowerbug]

@Ridgerunner the corner where this happened is right by the park/woods so there is always a lot of deer going through that space. we go slow by there out of habit, but like you say, sometimes they just are running and you'll not see them in time when they pop out of the woods. we pay pretty high insurance premiums between the two of us. i'm just mad because we had the car fixed last year when someone dropped a wheelbarrow off an on-coming truck and it hit Mom's car at 55mph. that was the whole left side of the car. luckily she was not hurt and it didn't shatter the windshield, but it did bend the window post so that was a major issue in the repairs as they had to take the windshield off and put it back on... this time it should run a lot less. but won't know until next week.

i'll let the insurance people take any pictures, we're not going anywhere this weekend, so the deer hairs/etc. will be there...

 

[Nyboy]

Try living somewhere they are not hunted no fear at all

 

[canesisters]

@Ridgerunner the corner where this happened is right by the park/woods so there is always a lot of deer going through that space. ...

Someone should put up a 'Deer Crossing" sign a little further along where it's safer for them to cross......

 

[flowerbug]

Try living somewhere they are not hunted no fear at all

i've had them bed down overnight 20ft from where i'm perched... in the north garden. one hard winter we had a herd of about 40 of them chewing the cedar trees and eating anything else they could get at. i tried spraying everything with a mix of carnivore (first pee of the day) urine, cayenne, and any other stinky thing i could come up with. they'd come back 40 minutes later. same with any attempts to scare them away with gunfire or even chasing after them. i could hear them running away in the crunchy snow and then they would stop and wait and then i could hear them coming back... fences have really been the only thing that has worked reliably...

they would need to fence along that road and i'm sure that won't happen. the trees that keep falling take the very old fence along there down anyways on a regular basis. the park people just cut the trees apart, but they won't repair the fence...

here is a pic from one winter...

@canesisters we'd need an elevated road to avoid them... always a lot of them around here...

 

[Carol Dee]

i've had them bed down overnight 20ft from where i'm perched... in the north garden. one hard winter we had a herd of about 40 of them chewing the cedar trees and eating anything else they could get at. i tried spraying everything with a mix of carnivore (first pee of the day) urine, cayenne, and any other stinky thing i could come up with. they'd come back 40 minutes later. same with any attempts to scare them away with gunfire or even chasing after them. i could hear them running away in the crunchy snow and then they would stop and wait and then i could hear them coming back... fences have really been the only thing that has worked reliably...

they would need to fence along that road and i'm sure that won't happen. the trees that keep falling take the very old fence along there down anyways on a regular basis. the park people just cut the trees apart, but they won't repair the fence...

here is a pic from one winter...

@canesisters we'd need an elevated road to avoid them... always a lot of them around here...

We live near a county park that used to have herds like that. I drive by many times a day. at least 2 times during my bus route at dawn and in winter dusk! Since hunting has been allowed in the park it is nit as bad. Still in Rural Iowa deer are a pretty common road hazard. I have had many close calls. DH has only been run into 1 times. So knock on wood we have been lucky so far.,

 

[flowerbug]

@Carol Dee i just hope it is a low speed event when it does happen. so many people die from trying to avoid them and even then... i had a friend suffer brain damage from the front half of a deer coming through her windshield after being hit by a car in front of her. she's not ever been the same since...