Got really lucky Saturday night not hitting bambie.

[Jettech1]

It was fairly late at night coming home from Tuscaloosa, AL.  Pitch black on an old country road.  Thank goodness for several things that helped me out big time.  One was I had my high beams on (Lasfit LED's) to where you can almost see the curvature of the earth, great brakes and a buck that hesitated.  I was going probably 65mph or so, not extreme for this road.  All of a sudden I saw a buck run out of the woods towards the road in front of me, for some odd reason that dude stopped dead in his tracks when his front hooves hit the pavement just across the white line.  I stomped on my brakes and got us slowed down but I'm not sure I could have avoided hitting him if he had kept going.  I swerved to the left out of his way and right before we went by him he turned and ran back into the woods.   Sheer luck on my part?  Maybe, but I'm so glad he stopped.  Why he did I have no idea.  That's the second time I've had a buck run out of the woods and quickly turn around and run back into them.  So I guess I'm twice lucky now unless someone knows more about bucks behavior than I do.  I know my luck will run out one of these days.  The deer here in Bama are EVERYWHERE!!!!

[txab]

"for some odd reason that dude stopped dead in his tracks"

"Why he did I have no idea."

 

 

Thus the saying, "deer in the headlights".

 

Glad you suffered no damage.

 

I've never hit one, but have had 3 run into the side of my vehicle

 

 

 

[Jettech1]

2 hours ago, txab said:

"for some odd reason that dude stopped dead in his tracks"

"Why he did I have no idea."

 

 

Thus the saying, "deer in the headlights".

 

Glad you suffered no damage.

 

I've never hit one, but have had 3 run into the side of my vehicle

 

 

 

Now this is kind of funny because that happened to me once.  I had just bought a used 1995 E320 back in 98.  I was coming home from work one night on a 2 lane road and had a truck coming towards me.  All I saw was a glimpse of a deer pass in front of that truck and smashed into my (new to me 2 weeks prior) E320.  That dude stumbled off and left hair in every crevice of that car.  Smashed in my drivers door, ripped off my mirror, and dented my left front fender.  3500 bucks later, 250 for me, my car was fixed and good as new.  LOL!!

Edited December 22, 2025 by Jettech1

[Chuck FB]

Mule deer are the number one animal around here also that cause vehicle damage, then I would almost have to say moose, elk yes in some key places and rarely a black bear. Moose is what by far kills people ( or an elk ). I've hit one smallish deer with a pickup and while there was certainly damage I lucked out that it was the bumper and bumper braces and took out the headlight plastic mount assembly and the grill. I've also hit two of them over the years with highway tractors but both trucks had moose bumpers on them but it managed to damage the one bumper as it hit on the corner and sneaked it back and may have caused a portion of the bumper bracket on the front of one frame rail to bust off a couple of mount holes and being a Pete it was very expensive to replace some of those parts and the aftermarket bumper was a 6 grand touch itself so had the work done at a body shop and in all it was 12 grand but through insurance and the 1000.00 deductible for animal collision. Then one finds out from the insurance company that if that happens again to that or any other vehicle under the policy within 3 years down the road, no coverage !. Insurance, they are in it to make money, not loose money !. 

 

And as to hitting a deer with a loaded 105000 lb truck/trailer, its just a little thump and watch the deer launch into the ditch like it came out of a cannon and not a scratch on that truck or bumper. 35000 lb empty truck/trailer, same thing as its instant death at 60 mph but it was the one that damaged the bumper etc. Then watch the coyotes and ravens go to town and there is hardly anything left of the animal by the end of the day. Both times was during the winter and dark in the morning and there is no veering with a highway tractor on slippery roads, hit the brakes without loosing control if one even sees it in time and that's about it. 

[OS RR]

Bout got one a while back on the way to work.. sun wasn't up yet, fog was so thick you could cut it. Couldn't see past the headlights. I was running slower than usual because of it, popped around a curve and there it stood.

 

I was surprised how quick the truck slowed down after stomping the brakes.

[KARNUT]

I hit one in NJ driving a 61 super 88 Oldsmobile convertible. Identical to the one in the opening credits of full house. Friends were spotlighting the deer. Left a small dent by the headlight. Had many close calls, one hit.

[Jettech1]

7 hours ago, OS RR said:

I was surprised how quick the truck slowed down after stomping the brakes.

You and me both.  That's the first time I've had to stomp on them and it was damn near violent but it never veered off course.  The steering wheel stayed dead on all the while I thought my eyeballs were coming out of my head...lol  It was a shocker and almost defied physics.  Definitely nice to know those brakes will haul that truck down like right now!

[eguzowski]

Glad you are ok!  I took one on at 70mph in my half ton, full airbag deployment and a couple days of soreness for me, $35k (and still counting the estimate) repairs and they totaled it out.  Not a real fun experience but fact of life here in western PA

[Chuck FB]

8 hours ago, eguzowski said:

Glad you are ok!  I took one on at 70mph in my half ton, full airbag deployment and a couple days of soreness for me, $35k (and still counting the estimate) repairs and they totaled it out.  Not a real fun experience but fact of life here in western PA

 

I don't know when my insurance company started offering this but I had inquired before I had even ordered the truck as to what the insurance was going to cost depending on the price of the truck and if a 1/2, 3/4, or 1 ton. Through that quoting she mentioned that there was a certain coverage they offer only for the purchase of a new vehicle ( could not be a demo vehicle ) and has to be done at the time of first insuring it as well and can't drop the coverage and then decide to put it back on. I don't have the exact wording in front of me but its a no depreciation clause and my insurer will allow a person to carry that insurance for 5 years from the time the vehicle was purchased. So if something were to happen to it, written off because of any reason like a crash, hitting an animal that wrote it off or fire, stolen etc, the purchase price of the vehicle would be paid out up to that 5 year mark when the coverage ends, rather than a depreciated value. Items added onto the vehicle outside of the purchase price would not be covered though. Its always a numbers game with insurance as they are in it for the money but it might be something worth asking about through ones insurance company to see if they offer it and if then buying a new vehicle in the future can decide if that is a coverage one wants. 

[Chuck FB]

On 12/23/2025 at 8:53 AM, Jettech1 said:

You and me both.  That's the first time I've had to stomp on them and it was damn near violent but it never veered off course.  The steering wheel stayed dead on all the while I thought my eyeballs were coming out of my head...lol  It was a shocker and almost defied physics.  Definitely nice to know those brakes will haul that truck down like right now!

 

Good to know your brakes and the tires you have on it have some ability. That reminded me now of something as I came back and read your comment again, about my 95 chev and how I had a couple of scares in it with standing on the brake pedal and NOT getting the action at all that I should have gotten out of them, not even close. No anti lock brakes energizing and zero skidding and it was because the first time I had some brake work done on it I had taken it to a Midas shop to have it done as I was short of time at that moment and also assumed they would be able to turn my front rotors which I then found out what crap they turn into because of corrosion and the rotor falling apart. In any event my rear brakes had life left in them so they remained as is with the GM drum shoes but I had the front rotors and pads replaced and they of course recommended ceramic brake pads ( because its an upsell ). I thought they seemed to work ok at first but I had never actually had to make any sudden stop. The first time I found myself having to stop fast I couldn't, the pads were just not able to bite down hard enough onto the rotors due I suppose to lack of hydraulic pressure for such a hard pad. These days there very well may be various types of ceramic pad and systems that apply more pressure but I took them off and put what they called a hybrid pad on from Raybestos and that seemed a lot more like the original braking performance. Never a good feeling to need brakes and realize they are not up for the task even though they are cool and should perform good but instead feel like someone smeared grease on them due to such a glass hard pad that lasts a long time because its not aggressive enough for the application.  

 

 

Edited January 7 by Chuck FB

[customboss]

Wolves reduce deer on roads. Who knew!

[Skeeeeeeeeeeeter]

In my area, this is one of the reasons hunting regulations are more relaxed around the interstate... Just doesn't help that there isnt much area to hunt