Got me a deer on Thursday!

[goslin23]

While driving to my inlaws up in the Texas Panhandle Thursday at 12:30 A.M. on Highway 283 just south of Santa Anna, Texas, the LOML and I noticed a couple of deer standing by the road and started talking about people hitting them and such. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, a big 'ol buck decided he needed to be on the other side of the road and before I could barely tap my brake pedal... WHAM! Got my 1st deer. All I could remember was seeing tan and antlers and that god awful THUD of a 200+ pound animal being hit by my Durango.

Both of us were a little shook up but not hurt in any way. I pulled to the side of the road to survey the damage and to make sure everyone was okay. At 1st glance (what I could see in the dark and with my crappy flashlight) was a nicely buckled (pun intended) bumper and a little antifreeze dripping. I decided to drive to the next town to get into some light to get a better look. In shock and not thinking clearly, we drove off not even checking on the deer but we didn't see him in the road so we thought things were okay (they were in that regards).

We pull into an Allsups (those places smell like fried burritos, don't ever go there) and I proceed to survey the damage closer. Turns out that my condenser coils are bent as is the radiator. The electric fan shroud is in a million pieces and the motor from it was keeping the engine fan from turning (good thing it's on a clutch system) and the antifreeze was leaking from a puncture in the lower radiator hose. The funny thing is that there was a couple in a car next to us and said "we saw you hit that deer back there", gee.. thanks for stopping and checking on us (another story for another day). I got all the pieces pulled out of the shroud so the engine fan could turn freely and we drove up to Abilene to our hotel (pre-planned). I put some stop leak in to slow the hose leak and topped off the antifreeze and we continued on to the inlaws in Panhandle. Had a good turkey day and made it back home. The SUV goes into the body shop Monday.

We thought about flying up there but is was too expensive... D'OH!

Here's the results...

[cabinetman]

I thought you were gonna tell us about the lighted ones at HD. Actually from the outside, your SUV's major damage looks like just the bumper and lower spoiler. Hoods can get expensive, bumpers aren't cheap either. Not too much blood up there, you were fortunate not to have really wrecked.

I heard a story (don't know if it's true) 'bout a guy in a convertible going through the mountains and a moose landed inside the car, thrashed the heck out of it.

[gsmittle]

And here I thought you were gonna send us all some sausage

Glad to hear you guys are OK. Hitting a deer can be a MAJOR accident. Don't know what to say about the other couple--maybe they were bringing the turkey to dinner....

We stopped once in the Colorado mountains to help a broke-down motorist, and he said that three other cars had already stopped--all four were from Missouri.

g.

[LCHIEN]

sorry to hear about the vehicle, glad you are OK.
How fast were you going? I'm surprised the air bags didn't go off.

Hint of the day, keep a roll of duct tape in the car for radiator hose or other misc. repair (OK, i"ll put a roll in may car later today when I think of it).

[crokett]

I am glad you weren't hurt and I too am surprised the airbags didn't go off.

I've never hit a deer but I had one hit me. He ran into the side of my Saturn some years ago. Those plastic body panels didn't hold up. Cracked the driver side fender, took out most of the door and hooves/antlers left holes all down the side of the car. As my buddies said for about a week I had an 'external map pocket' on my door.

[Pappy]

And here I thought you were gonna send us all some sausage

Can't pick up a road kill deer in Texas. I hit one is SC several years ago and cleaned it. Never again!

Glad there wasn't more damage or any injuries.

[Brian in Dawson Creek]

Glad you’re OK … You can never get ready for that experience; it’s a shock every time. Around here in the winter time the roads are littered with deer, you can tell where the carcasses are by the murder of crows in the ditches.

Like others I’m wondering why the air bag don’t go off between a collision with a deer and am automobile. Could it be that the sensors may be on the bottom of the bumper? I was once watching a co worker driving through a field and he was just creeping along and drove into a small trench over grown with grass that he couldn’t see. He had a cigarette in is mouth at the time and upon impact with the trench the air bags smashed the cigarette into his face, he hopped out of the truck swiping hot ash off of his face. He also had a friction burn from the air bags.

No damage to the truck at all … a gentle tug and it was out of the trench

Brian

[JimD]

Glad you were not hurt and the damage was not so severe to prevent you from making your trip.

The worst vehicle/deer collision I heard of happened close to use while we lived in PA. A family of a mother, front seat passenger, father, driving, and child, in back seat, hit a deer in a sedan. It knocked out the windshield in the collision, came through the passenger compartment and went out through the back glass. The car was totaled and the mother killed. The officers that responded to the incident killed the deer, it was still able to walk but would have undoubtedly died.

When you see the incidents of people veering off the road and hitting a tree I wonder how many are trying to dodge a deer. Even with the one fatality I know of from hitting one, I think you odds are still better to hit it than to take drastic evasive action.

Jim

[goslin23]

sorry to hear about the vehicle, glad you are OK.
How fast were you going? I'm surprised the air bags didn't go off.

Hint of the day, keep a roll of duct tape in the car for radiator hose or other misc. repair (OK, i"ll put a roll in may car later today when I think of it).

I was going about 70 and the split second I had to tap the brakes maybe slowed me down to 60. I didn't try to turn because of the speed, I didn't want to end up rolling or going into the ditch.

My wife and I talked about the airbags not going off and are still not sure why they didn't. I'm sure that would have freaked us out more than hitting the deer did!

There is a new roll of gorilla tape in the console now At the time though, I couldn't see where the hose was punctured because of the plastic rock shield under the radiator shroud. I ended up taking the car to a mechanic and had the hose replaced on Friday. I would have done it myself, but it was snowing and freakin cold!

We counted the dead deer on the side of the road on our way home and on the highway that we hit our deer there were 7 plus 3 more on the next road we turned on. I'm thankful that the damage wasn't worse and the the LOML, my dog Sam and I are fine.

On my way to the body shop, I'll let y'all know the damage total.

-=gos=-

[Slik Geek]

I was going about 70 and the split second I had to tap the brakes maybe slowed me down to 60. I didn't try to turn because of the speed, I didn't want to end up rolling or going into the ditch.

My wife and I talked about the airbags not going off and are still not sure why they didn't. I'm sure that would have freaked us out more than hitting the deer did!

The amount of damage is surprisingly "small" given your speed at impact. It could have been much worse.

I suspect that the reason the airbag didn't deploy is that they are triggered by deceleration. Given that the deer was only about 3% of the mass of your vehicle, your vehicle wasn't slowed much by the impact.