[Shawnee]

FWIW....


ODOT warning: Watch for deer on roadways
By James Cummings Staff Writer Dayton Daily News

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Bucks chasing does tend to be single-minded, and deer don't pay much attention to the rules of road etiquette.

That's why the Ohio Department of Transportation issued a warning Monday, Sept. 29, urging motorists to be on the lookout for deer crossing roadways for the next few months.

From October to December when deer are in their mating season, the number of deer-vehicle crashes in Ohio tends to spike, according to the transportation department. In 2007, 26,304 such accidents were reported and they led to 11 fatalities and 1,166 people injured.

Many deer-car crashes go unreported, so the actual number of crashes may approach 60,000 each year, the department said. From October to December, about 4,200 crashes occur each month compared to about 1,500 a month through the rest of the year.
Brett Beatty, assistant wildlife management supervisor for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in southwest Ohio, said deer populations are at their peak right now before the beginning of the hunting season. Deer may be particularly numerous in urban areas where there is no hunting and no predators, he said.

Beatty said Ohio has about 600,000 deer running around right now, and he said that population has been steady for several years.

:cool:

[Nathanael_Greene]

Funny how supposed animal-lovers despise the thought of hunting, but have no problem with deer being killed by cars--even though it means people getting killed in the process.

[matrem]

Yep, witnessed one (yearling)this morning in Knox county.Can't imagine it got reported either.

[Jst1mr]

Early November, just about a mile down the road on the way to deer camp...a 10pt, 240+lb rut-crazed buck barrels out of the woods, head down, at full speed from the woods on the left side of the road. Not a chance to avoid! Buck impacts the driver's door/front fender of my full size Chevy pickup - sounding and feeling like a cannon shot. The antlers shatter my window and pierce (lightly) my left bicep, the window is blown in and sprayed throughout the cab (including my face, hair, etc.), the side mounted mirror is torn off and ends up in my lap. Took care of business and drove off to deer camp w/ no window and very cold temp - b-r-r-r-! $3900 damage (to the truck, the buck had a neatly broken neck). Remains the only one I haven't been able to avoid in 30+yrs of driving in northern WI...and that's saying something!

[351 WINCHESTER]

I had a friend that was comming back from a wedding in Ga. and hit a deer with his volvo. The deer came inside the vehicle and killed him.

[Bartkowski]

but have no problem with deer being killed by cars--even though it means people getting killed in the process.

I knew someone who didn't see that as a problem either. He sarcastically suggested that if we kill deer to stop accidents in the suburbs that we should kill older drivers too. It's hard to change someones opinion when it is that twisted.

[akolleth]

two seasons ago I was meeting my buddy at the end of deer season on his way back from his cabin down in southern Ohio. As I came near the truck I saw he had smaller buck laid out in the bed of his truck.

I complimented him on it, and he had an angry look on his face. Then he told me to look on the other side of the truck. It was all smashed in.

He had been skunked all week at the farm, then smashed into one on the trip home. :D

[Grumulkin]

I wonder if anyone can beat my deer hitting history:

1. California in 1976 I hit a deer while on my 10 speed bicycle.

2. Hit 2 deer on different occasions with different vehicles doing minor damage. I just had to replace some bent chrome trim and broken plastic.

3. Ohio, around 1988. Hit a deer in a snow storm doing about $1,300 damage to the vehicle.

4. A few years ago, a deer bolted across the road from about the only brush around whist I was doing about 55 mph. I heard something hit the car so it counts as a hit but it must have been something soft like the tail since there was no damage.

I have, of course, had other very close calls.

[Double Naught Spy]

I had a friend that was comming back from a wedding in Ga. and hit a deer with his volvo. The deer came inside the vehicle and killed him.

That was one pissed off deer. It was only a matter of time before they started fighting back.

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Ha, ha. Of course, he probably means that the deer went up and over the hood and came through the windshield. But funny.

Dang there must be a lot of deer in Ohio!

I love it when the anti-hunters suggest things to curb their numbers in lieu of hunting, such as capturing all the does and spaying them. Stuff that has astronomical costs to the taxpayer, when releasing hunters actually benefits the taxpayers via tags/licences.

[ShunZu]

I love it when the anti-hunters suggest things to curb their numbers in lieu of hunting, such as capturing all the does and spaying them. Stuff that has astronomical costs to the taxpayer, when releasing hunters actually benefits the taxpayers via tags/licences.

+1. I make a motion that we capture and spay all anti-hunters to keep them from proliferating. Do I hear a second to the motion? :)

[Art Eatman]

I don't recall now, but a Yuppified exurban area in either New Jersey or Maryland got a local-area halt to deer hunting. "Don't be cruel!"

A very few years later, nature had taken its usual course in the absence of predation, and deer began having interactions with Volvos and BMWs. Well! Oh! The horror! There was an attitude adjustment.

Hunting resumed...

A friend of mine was on an Amtrak, and danged if a doe didn't run smack into the side of a car, somewhere down around New Braunfels.

Generally, a deer when spooked (not talking bout a buck that's heavy into the rut) will turn back toward where it was safe. So, always try to steer toward the front of a deer's path. Odds are that it'll turn back.

Cows are the opposite. Danged things don't like to be headed from their intended course. So, steer behind a cow.

Horses? All bets are off. No matter what you do, a horse is going to try to stay in front of you. It's a death-wish, suicide thing. Trouble is, a horse is the perfect height to come through your windshield.

Full-grown hog? It's almost better to hit a tree. Running over a hog is about like running over a large boulder. Up, up and away! If you don't center it, there are good odds of a rollover.

Never forget, however, that none of these notions are anywhere near "always".

Like the soccer mom said when she saw the "Deer Crossing" sign: "But, how do they know to obey the sign?"

[308win]

Dang there must be a lot of deer in Ohio!

Yes there are; estimates range between 6 and 700,000 this year.

[QUOTE]Running over a hog is about like running over a large boulder./QUOTE]

I ran over a feeder pig in 1967 in my Austin Healy Sprite (6" or so of ground clearance); it rolled under the Sprite and ran the other way; the Sprite was rocking side to side with all four wheels off of the ground. Most of the time a small pig will do that (roll).

[svtruth]

East on I90 from Buffalo in early June we counted 15 dead deer in 60 miles. I'm guessing there were as many in the woods.
We also saw several live ones at the edge of the road, apparently contemplating suicide.
Any one hunt that area?

[Jst1mr]

Generally, a deer when spooked (not talking bout a buck that's heavy into the rut) will turn back toward where it was safe. So, always try to steer toward the front of a deer's path. Odds are that it'll turn back.

I'd only give you about 60 - 40 odds on that....
The key is whenever you see a deer along the road, be prepared for it to do anything... and if you see one, expect there to be at least a couple more you haven't spotted yet. Some people speed up to get by the deer faster - bad idea. Some say honk your horn - I've seen that startle about as many deer into running in front of you as the other way. Those whistle things for the front of your car? Well, let's just say those belong on the long and infamous list of products that Billy Mays hawks on TV 'nuff said?

When you see one on the shoulder of the road, slow down and prepare to stop...all the while keeping your eyes peeled on your rear view mirror for the oblivious idiot on his cell phone who is about ready to rear-end you....

[Water-Man]

svtruth...Yes. I lived in Buffalo 1976-1978. Deer hunting was good and I always saw alot of dead deer along the interstate.

[p35]

The legend is that Saabs (at least back before GM when they were designed by aircraft engineers) were designed and tested to hit a moose square on without injury to the occupants. Had to do with a senior management type that died that way.

Nowadays, of course, they're some generic GM vehicle with a Saab skin.

[Friendly, Don't Fire!]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcfEMGlzDN0

[koja48]

If ever I feel the need to "sight-in" a vehicle, I'll give you a call . . . you are most definitely experienced!

[308win]

An college acquaintance of mine hit two deer and a pony in the space of about a month. As soon as he would get his car out of the body shop it was right back in the shop.

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

If you have no choice but to hit the deer or oncoming traffic, hit the deer. If the choice is between oncoming traffic or a cow or horse, it's a tossup, but you'd better oughtta miss the cow or horse and hope the oncoming traffic swerves out of your way.

[Lon371]

+1. I make a motion that we capture and spay all anti-hunters to keep them from proliferating. Do I hear a second to the motion?


I second the motion. Heck I would even help build the cage:)

I just put a spotted fawn in the freezer. Hit in the hind quarters by a car. Was able to save from the rear hips forward. I hate seeing that, BUT it sure does taste good.:)

Lonny

[Mountie855]

We have the deer problem, and worse, a moose problem, especially right now in the rut.

Hitting a moose often results in a totalled vehicle, and frequently death or severe injury to its occupants.

To top it off, rutting moose can be really aggressive, as detailed in recent articles in the Maine SDportsman, where snowmobilers were followed, blocked, and charged by a moose.

[Legionnaire]

Summer of 1978, hit a deer on U.S. 40 in Kansas, while riding my Yamaha 750. Deer was killed, and my bike was a mess. But aside from a concussion and a mass of abrasions, I was in pretty good shape; no broken bones, amazingly. Of course, I've been trying to get even ever since ...

[printcraft]

Quote:
I had a friend that was comming back from a wedding in Ga. and hit a deer with his volvo. The deer came inside the vehicle and killed him.


That was one pissed off deer. It was only a matter of time before they started fighting back.


LOL. My smile for the day!
Not funny on the first but the second quote.

My cousin and I were going to actually "hunt" a couple of years back during a
"deer thinning" hunt at a state park here. (too many deer, not enough food for them)
We had to have special tags for the hunt. We were about 1 mi. from the park about 5 am,
he asked me to make sure he had his tags in his pack.
I turn around to look in the backseat and hear the proverbal "OH S###".
I look up to see deer face plastered on the windshield in front of me.
Trashed the deer.... the hood, windshield, passenger fender and headlight (Dodge Sundance)
Had to take the deer to the station. Ranger laughed when he saw the car, said 1 slug would have been cheaper.
Deer did go home with us. Good Eats.

[qajaq59]

Like the soccer mom said when she saw the "Deer Crossing" sign: "But, how do they know to obey the sign?" Years ago when I worked for a newspaper a woman called the Suburban desk and said, "The state should move the deer crossing signs further up the road because the deer were getting hit by cars at that crosswalk." She actually thought that the deer were crossing there because the sign told them to. The whole city room was rolling on the floor laughing for an hour.

[308win]

Years ago when I worked for a newspaper a woman called the Suburban desk and said, "The state should move the deer crossing signs further up the road because the deer were getting hit by cars at that crosswalk." She actually thought that the deer were crossing there because the sign told them to. The whole city room was rolling on the floor laughing for an hour.

Yes, and these people vote - how funny do you find that little piece of trivia?:D Just think, your hunting and shooting could hinge on their actions.