Hey, is that a DEER? CRASH!
I could have also titled this, "MIRACLE ON SCENIC HIGHWAY".
Last night I had a full-on miracle happen.
Around 8 PM I was out grocery shopping and for some reason noticed I was REALLY, REALLY CALM. Like dead calm. The reason that's remarkable is that I really hate shopping and am always kind of antsy and in a hurry to get done. I also had just finished with "errand day", many of which are irritating, at best.
So as I'm driving home this weird calm feeling stayed with me and I was driving REALLY SLOW. I'm not a fast driver anyway, but coming home at night I usually want to just get on with it. Unfortunately I also was so relaxed approaching the house that I also hadn't flipped my brights on.
So as I'm nearing the driveway I saw a flash to the left of me, crossing our property. I turned my head VERY QUICKLY and thought to myself, "Oh I bet that was a coyote... weird, it's kind of early for them..." and as I look back to the road a deer flashed into my right headlight RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and I realized... OH MY GOD IT MUST'VE BEEN A DEER AND HERE COME THE OTHERS...
Mind you, I'm driving a Navigator and it's a big heavy thing, not inclined to swerve like a sports car, and all I could do was jog to the left a TINY BIT and hit the brakes.
I do remember there being a weird delay, as though I missed it, which was virtually impossible...
Then "THUMP CRASH... CLONK CLONK" and literally said out-loud (to the dog who was with me, I guess! LOL)
"OH S*** I HIT A F****** DEER. OH NOOOOOOO"
I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! SO I hit the brights, sped up, wheeled into the driveway, threw the dog out (to her dismay!), grabbed my partner, who grabbed a shovel - I didn't have time to grab a lasso or anything but I knew I might have to come back and get something to rope it and pull it off the road if it was hurt... first I just wanted to get back there and see what I'd done. As we're driving I'm saying, "You're not hitting it with a shovel, are you?" "Well, no but I don't want to get me either!" 'We need a lasso... I'll need to drag it off the road!" "We need to see what's going ON first!" "OK..." As I'm whipping the car around like a maniac...
And...
NOTHING. There was nothing!
We drove around a bit, flooded the pastures with the brights, checked the gutters on either side of the road... NOTHING. No blood, no sign of anything...
Then we went home into the floodlights and examined Navvy.
NOTHING. I thought... No damage to the car. Not even a scratch.
Then I saw a teeny bit of fir wedged into a piece of chrome! CRAP!
OK here's what I think happened - Because I was going so relatively slowly, instead of 50+, I think the deer had a chance to hesitate before crossing. Then as I swerved he probably pulled back and hopefully I just grazed his butt and hooves trying to kick away.
I'm praying the deer is OK! I hope he's not even limping! I am an animal FREAK. I was a volunteer rescue person for the Humane Society for years and I would have been devastated to think I had hurt one of these amazing, precious, gorgeous creatures that come to take advantage of our watering stop and green grass daily! And many have babies again right now, going in to winter. The death of a mom means a near-sure death of her babies.
Cars blow by our place WAY TOO FAST commuting the scenic highway - it sure can't be scenic when it's going by in a blur, though! We had two deer killed right here in the last year.
I consider it an absolute miracle that I was going slowly. A MIRACLE! Maybe my Angels were working overtime to keep me calm and moving slow and ALIVE last night.
That couple of miles per hour difference probably saved that deer's life!
Something to keep in mind: Animals don't understand things that don't move as quickly as them, you know. Just because they live near a road, doesn't mean they realize that a car in the distance can get to them in a second. That's why they stand there stupidly - A DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS - it just isn't within their comprehension, and they also do NOT learn it over time. My partner is convinced there is no reason to believe this deer won't do the same thing tomorrow! DANG IT.
The moral: (Like I'm not obvious) It might pay to chill out a little and not be so busy and pre-occupied that you're disregarding the world around you. A little bit of calm and cautiousness seriously pays off!
Drive carefully, precious people. ;) The life you save could belong to this little angel... or yourself.
-Alexx
Recent Comments
64
My son in law jit one last night lots of damage to his pickup! and the deer! Glad you are ok!
Aww... are they all ok? I'm guessing they killed the deer right? Not to be gorey, but I would've had to shoot it. I couldn't let it suffer if it looked like it was down for the count, ya know? -Alexx
Oh dang, well I hope he has a low deductible. The few times we use the insurance are the times we really need the stuff, right? I'm so sorry for them. The exact thing could've happened to me last night! At least he is OK! -A
The deer was killed fast, and my son in law is fine just upset because his truck in only two months old!
I know the feeling. We hit a deer one night on the way to a Christmas gig I was playing in. Of course I was 4 months pregnant at the time and got scorned badly by my doctor for not seeing him afterwards. The poor thing didn't survive but jumped off the road where we couldn't see him. Completely destroyed the front end of my car, but being a dedicated musician we continued on to the gig with the car in a complete state. On our way home we stopped and reported the accident. I know we should have reported it right away but not thinking at the time.....well only that I was really late for the concert. They did notify us that they found the deer a few feet off the road.
It can be scary....I've also had a few close encounters with moose while living in Newfoundland. Now there's something you don't want to hit.
Glad you are ok! That is the important thing! We really do need to keep our eyes on the road at all times and slow down. It's the time of year for them to be out here so I needed the reminder.
Oh my gosh! I ran with the music crowd for a few years (managed an awards show, managed a band) and don't I know that you had to go no matter what or face the REAL music, right? But man, the travel, especially in the late nights/early mornings was such a killer. I wasn't sorry to leave that behind one bit, as much fun as it was at times. The other thing I'm not missing is waiting for 5 ear-bleeding bands to play before we went on. We would leave home at like 4:30 on Friday night, get to Hollywood to set up with everybody, then wait for like 5 excruciating hours, play a half hour, break down and load for an hour... then drag our sorry asses home while pounding caffeine, and roll into home about 4:30.
Thank God we never had an accident and your accident was only the car that got damaged.
MOOSE? Well that would be worse than hitting a cow, right? They're giants! Yes I needed a reminder too... and boy I sure got it. ;)) -Alexx
There certainly can be lots of running around. I usually try to travel with someone else. My husband was driving me that night. Thank Goodness!
Moose are huge beasts. Very few actually survive a head-on collision with a moose where I grew up. I remember the first time I seen a deer, I thought they were so tiny. There are no deer in Newfoundland, just moose.
Moose should come equipped with running lights, right?
Edutton (below) reminded me it's "rutting" (mating) season in the US and I don't even think of these things yet. I'm a city slicker in the country lol. A little less mating and more looking before they cross might be a good idea!
My partner says, "Well the road people should put those 'DEER CROSSING" signs somewhere else so they don't cross the road here!"
Oh man, that joke's gettin' old. As soon it starts to come out I just say, "NOPE! DON'T DO IT... DON'T TELL THAT JOKE AGAIN!"
-A
Haha yes....It is rutting season here too. We live in the woods so I see them regularly in the garden. They eat my bushes.
I try to keep them by the house, with the watering hole and throwing fruit out on the yard and stuff. Once they get near the road, they really like the big tree out there and I know that as cars approach they can't see them about to step out, like they could if they were strolling through the pasture. I may have to have a hack at that tree before next spring. And it's got plums on it that they love to reach up and yank out of the tree. It's pretty hilarious but a really bad spot. It's REALLY hilarious to see the giant-ass wild turkeys up in the tree shaking it, then falling out like a sack of potatoes HAHA -A
Kangaroos are my problem. My wife is the kangaroo spotter as we drive. They have a bad habit of jumping sides ways so you do not know which way they will go and very quickly. Lining in a bush town we travel to the cities for medical appointments 3 hrs away leaving in the morning dark hours.
REALLY? You guys need a spotter? Oh lord that is really something. Have you ever hit one? Are you in Australia, then T? -Alexx
We live in an Australian bush town on the range. Between bush town you will find every half mile the remains of different types of Kangaroos as they come out at night and get hit by interstate trucks. I have seen deer but never very close up.
Hi Alexx, Up here in New Hampshire they are in rut right now.You never know in split second there it is right in the road.Never hit one yet but come very close.They can total your car pretty quickly. Drive safe.
It's funny how you say "In a rut!" like they are depressed our something... but I know what you mean by that. Yes, I'm going slower permanently, I think. My partner drives a little sports car and whizzes around the curves for fun but man... I just hold my breath the whole time on these rural roads in the dark. -Alexx
I was driving a minivan on the night of my grandmother's funeral, and I hit 4 deer at once at 65mph, and you wanna know something? Those little pricks ran off like nothing happened and left the grill + bumper in pieces!
O.M.G. ARE YOU SERIOUS????? Oh nooooo! HAHAHAHA "THOSE LITTLE PRICKS!" Hey, they may all be limpin' to this day, man! -Alexx
Still didn't get my deer meat! LOL It would have been good, honest, unintentionally killed deer meat!
Beautiful pics of some beautiful creatures! I'm glad it seems the deer was O.K. and that your car was O.K. as well.
Blessings,
Debby
Strangely, I wasn't a bit concerned for myself but like I said, it was weirdly calm all evening. I am so thankful not to have created e a suffering animal situation. A sick animal virtually stops my world, man! -Alexx
I'm with you on that Alexx. A hurting animal stops my world too!! Even moreso if I felt responsible!
Thanks for making us aware of the precious things in life and the importance of heeding the slower pace of life.
I'm just so thankful that you are still around to tell the story. :-)
See more comments
I had to cut my story short as my wife called out . She has heart failure so my job is to jump which I did just had a problem with the TV. As I was saying as we left the town I was informed that a kangaroo was just off the side of the road.
Every couple of hundred yards you will see or smell the remains of a kangaroo on the side of the road
. On our car we have two sets of shoo roos which as we get faster on the road they make a noise like the silent dog whistles which can only be heard by dogs and kangaroos.
Most are killed by trucks at night on the highways.
I have repaired many cars in my smash repair shops over the years from kangaroos.
What is a SHOO ROO? Can you attach a pic, T? That's a cool name! -Alexx
A SHOO ROO is what you put on the front of the car to frighten away the Kangaroos as you drive past them.
They act just like the silent whistles that are used to call dog back from hunting.
People cannot hear them but animals can.
My wife had me put 4 on the car and has 2 spare ones.
She has seen many cars damaged by roos in the smash shops that I have been a manager in.