Warning! Warning! Danger!

[jimboreeno]

WOW.. Glad you guys are OK.
I have hit two deer. I used to have a Montero. I hit one at about 30 mph. It jumped down into the road from a hill and I hit it just as it's feet hit the road. Even at 30 it did $4000+ damage to the Montero. I then hit another going even slower several months later. It did about the same amount. I was near home and had to go get the pistol and come back to finish the poor thing.

Incidently, the 1st one broke the left deer whistle off the bumper and the second one broke off the right! I think they actuall call them in, not repel them!!

[Wildkat]

The Ron White school of deer hunting?

You know guys... most people use bows or rifles when they go after deer... less costly for you in the long run I would think...

[John]

Wow, Bummer

Hey kid, glad to hear you and Dad are ok. Could have been a lot worse. When I was living in Maine, I would see the results of semis' hitting moose, and cars that have hit deer. Not pretty. I was fortunate that I never had an encounter, bu I did have a near meeting with a cow moose, and and her calf up in the deep woods near Caratunk Maine. I was driving along a logging road, came around a blind curve, and there they were, kinda just trotting along the roadway. If I had been driving like an idiot, which I used to do back then, I would have had a moose hood ornament.
Again, glad to hear that you both made it through this unharmed.
On a lighter side, how many bikes do you two have now? Does this one make 7 or 8?

[HobbyMan]

6 and this is the last one. We were going for one of each model but not any more. WE are going to have our hands full with the excursion. Does the Midnight special have two headlight relays? THere is another relay that looks similar to the headlight relay underneath the seat. Originally we were going to sell one but now were feel like keeping them. I did not know that were were going to end up with six bikes. I thought wer would have sold one by now. Ohh well, maby I should start a museum.

[eroellig]

Hitting large animals ruins your day...

I had a close encounter with a deer once. We were coming back from Wisconsin in a full size conversion van pulling a travel trailer. It was late in the year and we ran into a snow storm. We heard on the CB that trafic was at a near stand still on I90 by Madison, so I ventured onto the local roads. The snow was drifting across the roads, so I was only traveling about 45mph, but we were moving. Then, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, looked left out the side window and looked a deer right in the eye....

BLAM!!!

The %#^# fool thing ran into the side of my van, right behind my seat and next to a passenger.

BLAM!!!

The trailer was wider than the van. It was dark and I couldn't turn around, so I kept going till we got to a town with a street light. Caved in the corner of the trailer. Somehow, it didn't do any damage to the van at all. If I never run into one again, it will be too soon.

A few years ago, I had one other that would have run into me, but this deer had a little sense. At the last minute, it sat down on its ass with its front legs held out stiff in front of it and slid to a stop. It bounced its front hoves of the edge of the pavement.

I had one that I almost hit just a few weeks ago. It was dark and I was buzzing home on I90 from Rockford. I didn't see it until I was almost on it. If it hadn't cleared my lane I would have hit it at 70+mph. My wife woke up from her nap when she was tossed into her seat belts!! I'm REALLY glad no one was right on my tail..... My headlights were dim from age and I couldn't see far enough ahead to see this deer coming. I have since replaced them and the difference in night vison is considerable.

My other closest encounter was a late afternoon when I headed out to a friend who lives in the contry. I could just FEEL deer looking for a chance to hop in front of me. I was almost spooked about it. So, I drove pretty slow and was looking for signs of deer all over as I drove. Sure enough, about a mile from my destination, a deer came FLYING over a fence by the ditch right in front of me. I stopped, waiting for more. Yup. Here he came. This one dove in between the strands of barbed wire instead of jumping over. You can bet I sat there for a little while to see if there were any more. These guys were running at full tilt and would have done some damage even if I had been still.

I'm really glad you guys are OK. I have a number of friends and relatives who have had serious damage from running into deer over the years. It's no laughing matter. Shiny chrome brush guards are no match for even a small deer. The only thing that works is to not hit them. There is a forest preserve near my home that is bi-sected by a public street, and I take it all the time. Early morning and late evening, especially in the fall, I travel significantly below the posted speed of 45mph. I see them standing along the side of the road too often to ignore them.

Eric

[MikeFromMT]

When I lived in Montana you'd have to be a fool to drive at night, I avoided it most of the time but on the rare occasions that I did I have VERY good (not street legal) lights and I'd always drive 45mph on the highway, the funny thing was nobody'd ever pass me, "deerslayer" bumpers are very popular there as well. A friend of mine hit a moose at the end of my road in her Wrangler one night
I just found fresh elk tracks in my garden today, Washington/Idaho is a little better than Montana but not much.
I'm glad you're unharmed HobbyMan.

[Poprock]

Close enough! Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly. Sorry about your truck, glad you both survived. At least you have a MNS to console you. Love those things.

[bkr]

Large Animals

Glad you guys are ok. Had a bad one with a BIG moose 2 years back. Coming from a toy ride at 9 pm on a back road ,rounded a turn at 45-50 mph. 3 moose in middle of road. Never got a chance to lay the bike down. Hit the big guy in the a** ,up came his rear leg and took my left ex. pipe off,broke the w\s off,mirror , left boot (new). Slid down the road 100 ft. into the ditch and waited for the moose to come for me. He never did. Broke both hands .Fract. left hip,rt. ankle,lots of bumps but i lived. The moose is DEAD. Also had a large laundry bill that night, esp. underware. My Midnight Honda got repaired ( 950.00).

[bkr]

Lg. Animals

First message would not Del. Sorry.

Gotcha covered (deleted) John

[Wildkat]

Re: Large Animals

Originally posted by bkr
Had a bad one with a BIG moose 2 years back. Coming from a toy ride at 9 pm on a back road ,rounded a turn at 45-50 mph. 3 moose in middle of road. Never got a chance to lay the bike down. Hit the big guy.... [/B]

Wow!! I can't even imagine hitting one of those suckers... Everytime we go to Maine.. that's my deal... not hitting them... but just trying to find one... We went to New Hampshire while up there one time... went driving down a lake road to find moose... saw nothing... until it started getting dark and then saw one... in the middle of the road... a young cow that was still as tall as the mini-van we were in.... I'd heard stories of them being big... but being from Texas you get accustomed to "tall tales"... this time we saw a real tall tail...
Glad you made it out of that encounter as well as you did...

[bkr]

Warning

Hey Kat, was very lucky so the Mountie said. (96.5% do not survive hitting a moose ) Did John disconnect the plug wires on the FJ to slow it down ? Ha- Ha Was 69 at the time and the bumps & bruises are catching up to me.

[HobbyMan]

Well, we are now looking for a 20ft trailer to haul it down back to Texas. Sometimes a trailer with over a 7k lb limit is hard to come by.

[Erik the Red]

Originally posted by jimboreeno

Incidently, the 1st one broke the left deer whistle off the bumper and the second one broke off the right! I think they actuall call them in, not repel them!!

jimboreeno- you must've had them on backwards!

Hitting deer is fairly common here as well. That's why I have a knife in the truck at all times. You never know when you'll get some backstraps or a roast out of an unfortunate incident. Mmmm, venison!

HobbyMan- glad you guys are okay.

[HobbyMan]

Bought a trailer today. We were going to rent one because of the cost of car haulers. It has been a week and the trailer rental place was just jacking around trying to get us a trailer. We didn't know this originally, but the wrecker is now going to charge us for storage. Its like 30 a day. That already is a big chunk of the cost of a trailer. Screw this, we just got a used 2006 20' trailer with two 5klb axles and a 7.5k lb winch today. My Dad is going up tonight or tomorrow to pick up the car. This will give me a chance to get a closer look on what is destroyed. He should be back saturday. Lets hope he doesn't have any more encounters with animals.

[Fddlefoot]

What happened is we are training the animals up here to protect the xs's we have here as endangered species keep any one from removing one to the piont sacrificing themselves we are thinking of calling them "XS Secret Service of Colorado" or XSSOC. But am glad you guys are okay and yeah moose are much worse.