White tail deer avoidance strategies

[wrbix]

I've found a good rule for both car and bike regarding varmints in the road.

If I could eat it in one sitting, I don't dodge or brake ....

Lannis

Fit in a skillet?...Kill it!

[Paul Brooking]

In my teenage years I travelled the country highways to attend sporting tournaments (golf & soccer). This meant many early starts and late finishes
One night we were ending a very long day with a 200km drive on an unfenced highway. I was asleep in the passenger seat and we hit a cow. The driver had braked heavily so the hood took the cows legs out and the cow ended up coming through the windscreen. I woke up with several hundred kgs of prime beef in my lap as the cow died. The weight of the cow meant I couldn’t get out and eventually my lower half went numb as I got crushed by the weight. It took several hours for the crash responders to attend and by that time the cow had cooled and I was convinced my back was broken. They removed the cow with an axe and put me in the ambulance. The drive to the hospital was about an hour and by that time the blood had returned to my legs and I was painfully aware that it wasn’t a spinal injury.
No lasting damage, just an adversity to driving on country roads at night.


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[Testarossa]

My dad told me aabout a friend driving thru California around 1947 when a cow came across the hood and died in the front seat -- opening its sphincters in the process. Driver woke up half buried in cowshit.

I killed an elk with a Subaru on a clear midnight south of San Luis, Colorado. She came through the windsceen but then rolled off. Subaru was totaled and I picked glass splinters out of my knuckles, face and the plastic lenses in my spectacles. Very glad then to have been nearsighted all my life.

Coming home from Vail last week on the Mille I came around a corner, downhill from McClure Pass in broad daylight, and got on the brakes hard for a yearling deer standing on the yellow line. She bounded away and I slowed waaaay down.

[LowRyter]

two things.

First, I never ride in rural area when it's getting dark.  Just stop riding.  Ride in the day time.

Next, what does kangaroo taste like?

[oldbike54]

 Chicken .

 Dusty

[Paul Brooking]

two things.

First, I never ride in rural area when it's getting dark.  Just stop riding.  Ride in the day time.

Next, what does kangaroo taste like?

The flavor is hard to describe ... it bounces all over your palate ..... Boom Tish 

[LowRyter]

sounds yummy.     

Kangaroo is probably no worse than venison.  Still, hardly edible.

[Paul Brooking]

sounds yummy.     

Kangaroo is probably no worse than venison.  Still, hardly edible.

I've eaten both.
Kangaroo is a very lean meat with a slightly "gamey" flavor
Excellent in pies and when served rare as a steak.

[Italianmotofest]

Unfortunately it doesn't always happen at dusk or dawn.

2:00 pm on a Sunday afternoon. ATGATT prevented serious injuries. But I still broke multiple ribs on my right side. Six days in the hospital.

It also made it clear to me that a great riding partner is invaluable. Thanks Charlie!

[LowRyter]

Unfortunately it doesn't always happen at dusk or dawn.

2:00 pm on a Sunday afternoon. ATGATT prevented serious injuries. But I still broke multiple ribs on my right side. Six days in the hospital.

It also made it clear to me that a great riding partner is invaluable. Thanks Charlie!

so true, I've seen them run across the road in midday in July.

Glad you recovered.

[Shorty]

Top 5 deer crash states:  https://newsroom.statefarm.com/state-farm-releases-2016-deer-collision-data/ 

[Moto]

Top 5 deer crash states:  https://newsroom.statefarm.com/state-farm-releases-2016-deer-collision-data/

Good post. The page also shows rates for each of the lower 48 states, which vary widely. Drivers in CA, AZ, and NV have less than 10 percent the risk of hitting a large animal in the course of a year than in Wisconsin and other states.

[Nic in Western NYS]

Top 5 deer crash states:  https://newsroom.statefarm.com/state-farm-releases-2016-deer-collision-data/

Interesting report - by county would be better, especially for high population states that have both very urban and very rural counties (like CA and NY).

[Moto]

Interesting report - by county would be better, especially for high population states that have both very urban and very rural counties (like CA and NY).

The county-level data would be too sparse in many cases to give good estimates of the separate levels of risk, but there are data-smoothing methods for them that could help. State Farm's research director has probably given this some thought.

[Nic in Western NYS]

The county-level data would be too sparse in many cases to give good estimates of the separate levels of risk, but there are data-smoothing methods for them that could help. State Farm's research director has probably given this some thought.

Right - it just isn't helpful using per capita rates for heavily populated states if the animal crashes are happening in sparsely populated and less heavily driven areas.  Not many deer crashes in Brooklyn.

[bad Chad]

Doesn't just happen in rule areas either.  They are all over the Chicago suburbs, anywhere there is decent cover and food, they are there. 

[Chuck in Indiana]

sounds yummy.     

Kangaroo is probably no worse than venison.  Still, hardly edible.

You've obviously not had properly killed, cleaned, and prepared venison..
I'll admit that the first time I had venison I thought it was awful. It was. Done right, is is wonderful. 

[Lannis]

You've obviously not had properly killed, cleaned, and prepared venison..
I'll admit that the first time I had venison I thought it was awful. It was. Done right, is is wonderful. 

Nasty-tasting venison is almost ALWAYS due to the fact that the preparer did not clean all of the fat out of it.   Venison fat tastes terrible - it's not like beef or pork fat.   

Depending on what time of year, etc, a deer may be very lean OR it may have quite a bit of yellow fat in it.   You've got to get ALL of it out; cut out what you can, and dig the rest of it out a globule at a time with your fingers until nothing visible is left.

It takes time but it's got to be done.

Lannis

[LowRyter]

You've obviously not had properly killed, cleaned, and prepared venison..
I'll admit that the first time I had venison I thought it was awful. It was. Done right, is is wonderful. 

The deer meat I've eaten was from Colorado.  Mule Deer are big, sorta like a 400 lb rat.

I've heard about delicious Ohio White Tails that feast on soybeans.  The White Tails here forage around the cross timbers.

[LowRyter]

Nasty-tasting venison is almost ALWAYS due to the fact that the preparer did not clean all of the fat out of it.   Venison fat tastes terrible - it's not like beef or pork fat.   

Depending on what time of year, etc, a deer may be very lean OR it may have quite a bit of yellow fat in it.   You've got to get ALL of it out; cut out what you can, and dig the rest of it out a globule at a time with your fingers until nothing visible is left.

It takes time but it's got to be done.

Lannis

So meat without fat sounds dry and tasteless.

The best I've ever had was venison sausage from my neighbor in San Antonio.  It was South Texas Whitetail mixed with lots of pork and pork fat, seasoned and smoked.  Perhaps the best sausage I've ever eaten ...of course I was loaded at the time.......   

[Lannis]

So meat without fat sounds dry and tasteless....

We've covered the "killed" and "cleaned" part ....

Now we're into "prepared".   There are a lot of good ways to cook venison so it is not "dry" OR "tasteless".

Beef or pork or chicken can be prepared so that it is dry and tasteless.   You avoid that problem with venison the same way you avoid it with beef or pork.

I've heard people say (and maybe here) that they don't eat pork because it's dry and tasteless and tough.    What a waste!

Lannis

[Trialsman]

Well I'm in one of those "Top Five States", PA so we have plenty of deer.  Beyond what has already been discussed, I could add two things.  The first is that my right hand fog light I aim up the edge of the road so you can see well into the fields ( many times where they are likely to be grazing ).  Second if you see one while you are on your constant scan look behind it.  As an example one darts in front of you.  Very likely there is a second waiting to cross and will at the wrong time!  This is done while you are slowing.  If you have to center punch it and keep the bike straight.  Night time is a higher incidence but dusk is the absolute worst time.

[drw916]

Four years ago, hit a deer on my Griso.  I saw it coming, was hard on the brakes, and darn if it didn't change directions and hit me head on.  I was lying in the ditch checking that my fingers and toes still worked when my neighbor came out and dispatched the still twitching deer.  He then came over to me and said "I hate to see anything suffer".  Let me tell you, I was up and out of that ditch in a flash.

[sidmonsters]

I live in an area with plenty of deer.  Good and bad--I bowhunt and the pursuit gets me outside in all weather and has to help with the winter blues, but then there's karma to consider when on the MGs.  If I can't avoid being on the bike during low visibility "deer hours" I cut the speed back to 40mph and hug the centerline.  If someone comes up on me from behind I move right, wave them around and then follow them at a minimal safe distance (and turn off my brights and LED aux lights to be courteous), letting their car be the deer plow.  Figure the odds of a deer cutting in behind the car is much less than one getting smoked on the car's hood.  Certainly can be exceptions, but don't often see deer cross the roads shortly after a car has just passed.  And at 40mph, I hope I can survive an unplanned venison dismount.  We all hope a lot of s--t when we throw a leg over, don't we...?
Steve
(I frequently have to drive on emergency calls in the middle of the night to farms, and in 21 years have only hit one deer and a couple hard braking close calls.  Nice to be in an F250 for those...)

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Carry a gun and shoot all deer near the road.  Eventually only the deer that avoid roads will be alive
 to propagate other road avoiding deer.

[Paul Brooking]

Carry a gun and shoot all deer near the road.  Eventually only the deer that avoid roads will be alive
 to propagate other road avoiding deer.

Oh deer 🦌🦌🦌


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[Kent in Upstate NY]

My mother spent a few years is Africa with the Peace Corp. She told me that her drivers intentionally hit animals on the road. They then loaded the road kill into the trunk to take it home for dinner.

[swooshdave]

If you've ever seen an elk on the side of the road when on a bike you really how small you are and how big they are.

Just last weekend when my brother and I went up to the Virginia Rally a deer bounded in front of him on the Parkway. Luckily it was only one.

Apparently one of the other Guzzi riders on the way to the Rally wasn't so lucky. 

[Lannis]

If you've ever seen an elk on the side of the road when on a bike you really how small you are and how big they are.

Just last weekend when my brother and I went up to the Virginia Rally a deer bounded in front of him on the Parkway. Luckily it was only one.

Apparently one of the other Guzzi riders on the way to the Rally wasn't so lucky. 

Yes, we heard that Robert Taylor hit a deer southbound on the Parkway south of Roanoke, was taken to the hospital in Roanoke with some injuries requiring a hospital stay, was "out of bed and walking with help" by Sunday, and was facing an operation on Monday (25 June) to get fixed.

That was sort of second-hand and I haven't heard anything since.   

I looked three deer right in the eye on that same stretch last Friday between Roanoke and Mabry Mill ... just good luck that it wasn't me ....

Lannis

[swooshdave]

I looked three deer right in the eye on that same stretch last Friday between Roanoke and Mabry Mill ... just good luck that it wasn't me ....

Lannis

Yes, it was just a mile or two from Mabry Mill. Not sure what would have happened to the GS if my brother had hit it but I know I'd be typing this from a hospital or morgue if I had on the Guzzi!