Be careful out there boys and girls, I hit a deer

Out here in the west, especially in Eastern Utah and all over Wyoming, you have to watch for antelope. Those critters are just plain suicidal. I used to work for an electrical power coop (G&T). We built a 400mw power plant out near the Colorado border. The water for the plant was pumped out of the Green river to a high point reservoir and then was gravity fed from there to the plant. During the graveyard shift, it was the job of one of the control room operators to get in a pickup truck and drive the 10 miles to the reservoir to take some guage readings. One night in the dead of winter (it gets way below zero out there) he came around a curve and his headlights showed an entire herd of antelope bedded down on the asphalt. I guess it retains some heat from the daytime sunshine. He was only going 45 mph (highway patrol investigation confirmed his speed). Guess how many antelope died that night? (scroll down)..... ..
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TWENTY SEVEN DEAD!! Div of Wildlife Services and BLM both were on the scene and counted up the carcasses. Some didn't have a mark on them....just ran off and died of heart attacks, I guess. Damage to the truck wasn't that extensive: grille, headlights, hood. It was still driveable. If I hadn't seen the pictures and talked to the eyewitnesses, I wouldn't have believed it either.

Car-deer accidents are no strangers to my family.

Too many does and the ones in my corner of the world all seem to drop twins who grow up and drop twins who grow up and drop twins, etc., etc., etc.

We are trying to figure out how to make the state pay and be responsible for accidents caused by deer since the state brought them in here in the first place. My dad and I figure that if the state conrols the hunting and population of them then that makesthen the states deer and thus responsible just as cattle owners are. haha so far that arguement has not worked that i know of but .. heheheeh

Even with the coyotes here in Tennessee they are still getting thicker and thicker. From my house to the highway is about 2 miles and it is rare that I don"t see at least one everytime I go out.

Doe vs. 1999 Chevrolet Blazer

Blazer wins, but sustains $1,200 in damage.

Seriously, am glad you are ok. I have hit one myself. Nothing anyone can do, but keep watching the sides of the road. Sometimes, even that isn't enough.

Mike

Several years ago I bought a new (used) pickup. Next morning I was going to work and on a stretch of highway that is noted for deer crossing, there was a nice buck standing with his hind legs in the ditch and his front legs on the shoulder. This guy just watched me go by like saying "just checking on what you are driving now".

Dan

I was heading to the field with the Sterling and two deer were standing in the road up in Adams county. I could see them from a half mile off. Laid on the air horn, started slowing down, pumped the brakes, rolled down the windows and yelled "Hey, Stupid!". Nothing worked, they just watched me slow to a stop within ren feet of them. I almost had to get out and shoo them off the road!

Maybe it's a game for them. You know? Venison Roulette...

Rockin' Farmer

I've read that there are more deer just in the suburbs of the cities nowadays than there were in the whole country the day Columbus landed.

They are like people; populations have exploded.

Allan

When I moved to my present location in 1980 we had a good system. About 3000 acres of woods owned by 3 people lined by dairy farms. The hunters; deer; and coyote were all happy to stay in the woods. The land was all leased to hunters which with the coyotes kept the population in check.
Then one day urban sprawl hit our area. One owner sold off 500 acres to build a 5 acre tract subdivision which cut off his other 500 acres from the area so he terminated the hunting lease. Another owner sold off his whole 1000 acres to a country club/golf course developer for future development; so that left only 1000 acres to hunt.

The city folks moving in complained about the coyotes so the state came in and removed them.

So you can see where we are now. The deer have no natural enemies and the hunters have been pushed out. They did try to hunt using dogs to chase the deer onto the leased land but that did not go over to well. Imaging that..... Its 6 am on a Sunday morning and here comes a deer followed by a pack of dogs right through your new subdivision yard and garden. Boy that did not go over well at all.

So now every one is complaining that the deer eat everything in site. Your flowers; veggie garden; everything. Best part is they want the state to do something about it. And these are the same people that complained when we had coyotes in the woods killing the deer.

Guess you just can not please some people no matter what you do.

Here in Louisville, and across the Mighty Ohio River, in Southern Indiana, there is a housing boom going on, the likes of which I never would have believed. Deere and wild turkey (the bird, not the liquor) are multiplying like bunnies. They are actually "safer" in and around all these homes, than they were in the wide open spaces. No one can hunt in close to homes. Deer seem to sense that, and "hang out" near subdivisions.

About 25 years ago, wild turkey were all but extinct around here. The Indiana Dept. of Natural Resourses started releasing them into ceratin areas, to attemt to revitalize the population. It worked TOO well. Now there is literally THOUSANDS of them in every woods around here. SO...The DNR decides that there are too many of them. The turkey's only natural preditor? Rattlesnakes! They raid nest's, and eat the turkey eggs. The DNR WAS going to start releasing rattlesnakes INTO POPULATED AREA'S. At least untill "the plan" leaked out.

TYPICAL governmental logic....John

I really admire the bird. Very witty and beautiful..... but that face..... YUK!

Glad you added the "leaked out" comment. Otherwise would have bothered me all day thinking about the danger in their "political" decision.

Mark

My son (5 years old) has been caught a couple times trying to sneak his BB gun down to the fenced poop pond to try and shoot at the flock of turkeys (20 or so) that land there everyday to drink and then for some reason can't fiqure out that they have to fly over the fence to get out. They usually spend about three hours walking the fence before they finally take to wing and fly out.

The wild ones here are scarce and smart

Mark

Yep, they are a trip, especially that first one; shakes ya up a little. Seems like you never see the deer you hit.

Out here, over in Wyoming, I-80 has 15-17 foot 'deer fences' running it's length in heavy animal areas to keep the deer and antelope off the road-way.

Then, there are always the landowners who won't keep their fences up; ever plow into a herd of Black Angus cattle in the middle of the night? That’ll make ya late for the dance! :>)

Allan

A month ago there was a semi and three cars totalled here by some Angus in the road. That adds up to a bunch of money for that ol' farmer.

Sure makes that barbed wire look a whole lot cheaper than it did the day before! :>)

Allan

A friend out in Colorado hit a moose and the body went into his windshield -- fatal for the moose and nearly fatal for the friend.