Valkyrie - 1, Deer - 0.

[Dragonrider]

From Roy and Heidi with the Colorado High Country Cruisers...

Note the trail of blood on the road. This is never a good sign...


See the link
(warning, graphic deer bits pictures inside)

No Valkyrie riders were harmed in the making of these pictures.

[eroellig]

All I can say is "WOW".

Eric

[trbig]

Wow.... I think I know wat the towel on the seat is soaking up!!
I myself have been hit by a deer in a car... yes I said that right... he hit ME! Was driving 65.. (OK.. maybe 75) And saw him veer from the left side of the road towards me. I veered to the right...clear over on the shoulder... he turned and ran right into the side of the car. Bye bye side view mirror. He left hoof scrapes down the side of the car... then punched in the back quarter panel as he was spun around. I was pissed... but thinking.. hey, at least I get some deer meat. Turned around... NOTHING. GONE. No blood, no hair... I think he was over in the woods with his buddies...pointing and laughing.

Anyway... glad nobody was hurt. Statistics are showing more and more deaths every year from deer strikes. Deer populations are booming. Hunters are the only check on these numbers. Forget the Bambi loving tree-huggers. Buy a license, take your kids hunting (or grandkids) and save a motorcycle! Even if it is a Valkyrie!

Tod

[eroellig]

Originally posted by trbig
...
I myself have been hit by a deer in a car... yes I said that right... he hit ME! ...

Tod

I've had that happen as well.

I was driving a full size conversion van with a camper behind coming back south out of Wisconsin. We drove into a snow storm and I90 was backing up going south into Madison. I opted to bypass on a smaller road. Due to snow drifts across the road, I was only doing 45mph or so.

I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and looked out the drivers window. I was looking face to face with a deer. It ran right into me and impacted right behind the drivers seat. Didn't do any damage to the van, but the front corner of the camper, which was wider than the van, was crushed.

I believe that Wisconsin doesn't allow road kill to be picked up. Plus, it was dark with other traffic behind me. Plus, I couldn't easily turn around with a house hooked up behind me.

I had another instance, while in a cage, where a deer strike was avoided only because the deer in question sat down on his ass & performed a maximum performance braking manouver, bumping his hooves on the edge of the pavement!!!

Another memorable day, I was traveling to see a friend out in the country. It was near dusk and I could just FEEL all the deer around looking for me. I was driving much slower than usual the entire trip with my eyes pealed. Sure enough, not far from his house, one came sailing across the road just in front of me. I stopped, waiting for the next one and sure enough, there he was.

I've known a lot of people that have had cages damaged or totaled by deer strike. I've even known them to take out 18 wheelers! This dude is very VERY lucky.

It pays to know a little about their typical habits and when they are most likely to be active.

Eric

[rover]

WI DOES allow you to pick up a road killed deer, even if someone else hit it. You must call a traffic officer or DNR warden to issue a tag for it, then it is yours. I hit one and it went thru the windshield, and was sitting upright in the pass seat. ruined the car, but I was not hurt. I once hit one with the SF, killed the deer, and broke the hinge off the hard bag, but I did not go down. Lucky, I guess. The day before the one went thru the windshield, a man was killed, decapitated, when one went thru his windshield, just a few miles from where I hit the deer.

[eroellig]

Originally posted by rover
WI DOES allow you to pick up a road killed deer,...

Thanks for the clarification.

Eric

[Stralya]

Well over here we have the same problem with Kangaroos.

(Kangaroo: Aboriginal word for the phrase, 'F--ked if I know', as transcribed by Dr. Joseph Banks, Chief botanist on the 1770 voyage to Australia by Capt. Cook, when a nearby Aboriginal was asked by Cook as he pointed to the animal, "What on Earth is that?")

Stop laughing

The Kangaroo population here is getting out of hand. They breed better than welfare recipients, not that there is anything wrong with welfare recipients





Almost all of the accidents involving Bikes on Australian country roads involve Kangaroos.

I know you didn't see the deer coming and I truly admire your riding skills. No one I know could have stayed up after hitting that thing, however, had you been on an XS11 and you had at least three seconds warning, you could have dropped it down a cog, given it a fist full and leaped over the poor beast without even touching it, leaving the deer to ask his pals "What on Earth was that?"

How do you say 'kangaroo' in Deer?

[81xsproject]

That is funny about getting hit by a deer. My dad has lived here in the Cascade Range his entire life. He had never hit a deer in all those years. Finally, several years ago he and my mom bought what was both of thier first brand new car. In the first month at a low speed, a deer came out of nowhere and slammed right into the side of the car. A month after that, one jumped back into thier path on the freeway after an atempt to miss it. This one jumped straight up right before impact and somehow rolled right up and over the car. Niether insident did much damage beyond small dents. We dubbed it the deer magnet, they sold it a few years later and haven't even had any close calls since. Talk about off the lot depritiation of value

[trbig]

"Wow!! Is that all hail damage?!"

"Nope.... antlers and hooves."




Tod

[trbig]

OK... gotta tell this one too. My dad and I had made hunting trip plans when I was a teen up in Wash. State. The night before we left, it snowed pretty bad, so my dad had asked to borrow a buddy of his' new Ford 4X4 pickup. The truck was only a couple months old. We were driving down the road, which had woods close on both sides, when all of the sudden WHAM!! Never saw a thing! We got the truck stopped and looked back.... and a DONKEY was on his front knees, shaking his head to clear the marbles... then got up and trotted back into the woods! Just beyond the trees, we could see there was a farm he had gone towards. We drove to the farm's entrance and there was a locked gate. We climbed the gate and were walking towards the house, when the biggest german sheppard I had ever seen came running at us growling and barking his head off. He came within just a few feet of us, and made it perfectly clear we were NOT welcome on his turf. If we moved at all he got worse, so we just stood there. Finally, an old man came out of the house, sort of trotting our way... (Well, his arms moved alot more than his feet did) and when he got within about 50 yards of us, he hollared "Did he bite ya'?... Did he bite ya'?" When we told him, "No, not yet!"... He actually said "Dammit!" lol.. He was pissed off that he HADN'T bitten us!
Anyway, it was his donkey that had gotten out, and he ended up paying for the damage to the truck eventually, but you should have seen the look on my dad's face when we had to pull into the drive with this guy's new pickup, with the back side of the cab and the bed completely smashed in... lol. That thing had ROCKED that full size pickup.

Sorry... off the motorcycle and deer subject, but had to tell.

Tod

[motoman]

Live less than a 100 miles from where that happened. Know the exact spot, as I know those roads like the back of my hand growing up in Durango. That whole area south, in the mountain roads you have to watch for 'critters' as those two lane roads are closed in for visibility from vegetation. Any time of day there crossing the blacktop. Early morning and late afternoon or dusk are your worst odds. Avoid early starts and dusk riding in this part of country................Keeps the odds that aren't in our favor anyways on a bike in your favor! Remember, we're not in a cage, so plan your travel differently............just a word to the wise.

[Meatloaf]

Just when I thought I couldn't like Dragons any more than I already do....

When funds permit, that's bike #2.

[fredintoon]

cows is worse

Back in '43 my uncle Ron was riding his BSA home at midnight after working the evening shift. Wartime slit mask over the pathetic 6V Lucas headlight on an overcast night down a country road in the blackout.
Bang!
Uncle wakes up with him & the C11 in the ditch under a dead cow. Drags self & bike out from under, restarts bike, finally gets home some hours behind his time.
Finally gets through the blackout curtains at the front door into the light to greet his worried family. Who promptly go into screaming hysterics.
Coming home late soaked head to foot in cow's blood will do that.
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[orc_lover]

Back when I was younger and dumber.

Back in 91 I was going to my old security guard job out on 2222 and 360 in Austin Texas, long ass dangerous windy road with lots of up and down hills curving everywhere, lovely ride. Was on my BMW K75s doing a fools 80 mph having a hellova time for near midnight on my way to work. Out in front of me about 10 yards I see a doe jump just to the right of me off the road, and glancing to the left is this lil young deer that probably weighed all of 50-60 lbs or so chasing after it. Less than a second later and I hit it dead on T-boned at full speed without even touching the brakes, and thank god too cause I went right through it without barely a shudder in the forks, If I had done anything else when I hit it, I woulda been dead probably. All I remember was blinking a couple times and ending up at work about 5 miles later, I musta been in shock driving on mental autopilot at that point cause I was numb.

I parked right at the door and stumble into the front lobby, where two of the security guards were, didnt even bother to take my helmet off. One of em screams and starts swearing the other one grabs my shoulder and sits me down at one of the chairs and I am just staring at him still trying to get ahold of myself. Reason they were freaking out? I was covered in blood and guts head to toe, my bike looked like it had ran through pools of poop and blood (even had bits of hair here and there, was a nightmare). Everything that was inside that deer was all over me and the bike. Physically however me and the bike didnt even have a scratch. They called somebody to follow me home, I took the night off and had a long long shower.

Next day I went out there where I had hit the lil bugger with my mother and step-father, poor bastard looked like a artillery shell had hit it. Cut in half found both pieces, one on the road the other 12 yards away on the side. My stepfather said judging by all the breaks, deer was dead on impact.

That was the toughest damn bike I ever had. I drive alot slower these days.

[Jerry]

Been over Dallas Divide many times by bike and cage. Know where this spot is, not far from the east entrance to the Last Dollar Ranch, and not yet at the foot of the pass.

Glad no one was hurt.

Couple suggstions that may help. One, be cautious of places where trees and tall grass start to come right to the edge of the road. On this particular stretch of highway, the terrain is open both above and below this spot, making this a good place for animals to cross.

Two, time of day does make a difference. Be even more vigilant during morning and evening hours, as deer tend to be more active in the cooler hours. An adjunct to this is try to be aware of hunting seasons, when deer are more likely to be on the move during all parts of the day as hunters force them out of thickets and other hiding places.

Last, there are few times when deer will be traveling as individuals. If you do see one, even if it doesn't look close enough to be a danger, slow down as there are probably other animals nearby that you haven't seen.

Dallas Divide is part of the 2 excellent riding loops in SW Colorado. One route is to go SW out of Grand Junction to Gateway, then down to Placerville and over Dallas Divide to Ridgeway, then back north to Grand Junction. Another loop begins in Durango, north to Ridgeway, west over Dallas Divide into Telluride, then out of Telluride (some backtracking is needed) down the Dolores River canyon to Dolores, then east back to Durango. Personally, I think this is the best ride in Colorado, particularly in the fall when the Aspen are changing color.

For Very Long Ride, head out of Durango to Pagosa Springs, over Wolf Creek Pass, up to the Black Canyon of the Gunison, west to the Delta area, south to Ridgeway, then Dallas Divide / Dolores River back to Durango. Hell of a ride! Deer can be found in any / all parts of all 3 routes, so in addition to 1,000 foot drops with no guard rails, twisting roads overlooking streams and lakes, 10,000 ft + passes, you get occasional deer guts on the road. Be careful out there!