Hit a Deer this weekend...
10-17-2005, 12:17 PM
#1
Safety Car
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Location: Eastern NC; Retired x 2 (US Army: 70-90 AD) (US Army: 91-16 DAC); yea, I'm old.
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Hit a Deer this weekend...
a dead one...thank God...
Driving on I-81 near Martinsburg, WV around 3:30am Sunday morning (don't ask) with my wife asleep in the seat next to me doing 85ish in the center lane (I don't ever cruise in the left lane).
I move into the left lane to pass an 18-wheeler and just as I get alongside the tractor, we crest a small rise in the road and VOILA... there's Bambi laying dead smack across the center of the lane probably less than 100 feet in front of me.
First I said...then I almost did it...
Couldn't stop (another car behind me)...Couldn't swerve left or right (guardrail to the left; 80,000 lbs of truck to the right)...No place to go but right overtop of it...THUMP...
Wife wakes up screaming.
No warning lights...no DIC messages...checked the tire pressure and other guages...everything read normal...
Luckily we were near our exit and pulled into a very well lighted Exxon and I borrowed a 4-cell Maglite to check for damage.
No damage...only plenty of blood and guts on the air dam and wheel wells.
Later in the morning after getting some sleep, I went to the local self-serve car wash and pressure washed everything and then went through a brushless carwash with an undercarriage wash for good measure.
Drove home without any problems.
Driving on I-81 near Martinsburg, WV around 3:30am Sunday morning (don't ask) with my wife asleep in the seat next to me doing 85ish in the center lane (I don't ever cruise in the left lane).
I move into the left lane to pass an 18-wheeler and just as I get alongside the tractor, we crest a small rise in the road and VOILA... there's Bambi laying dead smack across the center of the lane probably less than 100 feet in front of me.
First I said...then I almost did it...
Couldn't stop (another car behind me)...Couldn't swerve left or right (guardrail to the left; 80,000 lbs of truck to the right)...No place to go but right overtop of it...THUMP...
Wife wakes up screaming.
No warning lights...no DIC messages...checked the tire pressure and other guages...everything read normal...
Luckily we were near our exit and pulled into a very well lighted Exxon and I borrowed a 4-cell Maglite to check for damage.
No damage...only plenty of blood and guts on the air dam and wheel wells.
Later in the morning after getting some sleep, I went to the local self-serve car wash and pressure washed everything and then went through a brushless carwash with an undercarriage wash for good measure.
Drove home without any problems.
Last edited by LJD51; 10-17-2005 at 12:23 PM.
10-17-2005, 12:23 PM
#2
Le Mans Master
Scary story! 
Glad to hear you, the wife & the car were all Ok.
I can relate somewhat, I have also seen dead deer on the roadway, didn't hit it though, did manage to nail a live one once head-on doing 75, not in the Vette though...enough to say no one was hurt but the deer.
Glad to hear you, the wife & the car were all Ok. I can relate somewhat, I have also seen dead deer on the roadway, didn't hit it though, did manage to nail a live one once head-on doing 75, not in the Vette though...enough to say no one was hurt but the deer.
10-17-2005, 02:05 PM
#4
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Deers can be scary creatures when you encounter them in a car. Visiting my parents (live in wild of SW PA) one fall, heard three cars strike three different deer within a span of 10 minutes and 1/4 mile 
10-17-2005, 03:46 PM
#7
Le Mans Master
Originally Posted by icedancr
Congrats on your good luck that it was dead and prone.
Here's what a live one does....
Here's what a live one does....
Ouch, that looks ugly.
10-17-2005, 03:52 PM
#8
Drifting
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CI 6-7-8-9-10 Veteran
St. Jude Donor '06-'07-'08-'09
was rather irritating.
Thanks to Forum member GBVette and his referral to Nansemond Auto Body, I was repaired like new and back on the road in 9 days, with perfectly matched paint on the replaced body parts.
Thanks to Forum member GBVette and his referral to Nansemond Auto Body, I was repaired like new and back on the road in 9 days, with perfectly matched paint on the replaced body parts.
10-17-2005, 05:27 PM
#13
Racer
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Okay, so somebody has to ask the dumb question, might was well be me: Anybody try the deer whistles that you put on the front of the car? Sheriff's department her in Va. uses them on every car and swears it cuts deer strikes by over 50%. They could easily be hidden in the mouth of the grill and thought it might be worth $5.00 to try it (unless all the other Vette owners are going to laugh at me!).
10-17-2005, 06:11 PM
#14
Le Mans Master
Originally Posted by tom4416
Okay, so somebody has to ask the dumb question, might was well be me: Anybody try the deer whistles that you put on the front of the car? Sheriff's department her in Va. uses them on every car and swears it cuts deer strikes by over 50%. They could easily be hidden in the mouth of the grill and thought it might be worth $5.00 to try it (unless all the other Vette owners are going to laugh at me!).
10-17-2005, 06:54 PM
#15
Originally Posted by tom4416
Okay, so somebody has to ask the dumb question, might was well be me: Anybody try the deer whistles that you put on the front of the car? Sheriff's department her in Va. uses them on every car and swears it cuts deer strikes by over 50%. They could easily be hidden in the mouth of the grill and thought it might be worth $5.00 to try it (unless all the other Vette owners are going to laugh at me!).
10-17-2005, 07:30 PM
#17
Melting Slicks
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St. Jude Donor '09-'11
Originally Posted by tom4416
Okay, so somebody has to ask the dumb question, might was well be me: Anybody try the deer whistles that you put on the front of the car? Sheriff's department her in Va. uses them on every car and swears it cuts deer strikes by over 50%. They could easily be hidden in the mouth of the grill and thought it might be worth $5.00 to try it (unless all the other Vette owners are going to laugh at me!).
10-17-2005, 07:39 PM
#18
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CI 6-7-8-9 Veteran
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St. Jude Donor '07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
Originally Posted by icedancr
Congrats on your good luck that it was dead and prone.
Here's what a live one does....
Here's what a live one does....
I remember that
As for the dead deer episode, at least there was minimal damage, and all we okay (except for the deer of course).
For the C6...not that azzhole deer!
10-17-2005, 10:38 PM
#20
Burning Brakes
Originally Posted by LJD51
a dead one...thank God...
Driving on I-81 near Martinsburg, WV around 3:30am Sunday morning (don't ask) with my wife asleep in the seat next to me doing 85ish in the center lane (I don't ever cruise in the left lane).
I move into the left lane to pass an 18-wheeler and just as I get alongside the tractor, we crest a small rise in the road and VOILA... there's Bambi laying dead smack across the center of the lane probably less than 100 feet in front of me.
First I said...then I almost did it...
Couldn't stop (another car behind me)...Couldn't swerve left or right (guardrail to the left; 80,000 lbs of truck to the right)...No place to go but right overtop of it...THUMP...
Wife wakes up screaming.
No warning lights...no DIC messages...checked the tire pressure and other guages...everything read normal...
Luckily we were near our exit and pulled into a very well lighted Exxon and I borrowed a 4-cell Maglite to check for damage.
No damage...only plenty of blood and guts on the air dam and wheel wells.
Later in the morning after getting some sleep, I went to the local self-serve car wash and pressure washed everything and then went through a brushless carwash with an undercarriage wash for good measure.
Drove home without any problems.
Driving on I-81 near Martinsburg, WV around 3:30am Sunday morning (don't ask) with my wife asleep in the seat next to me doing 85ish in the center lane (I don't ever cruise in the left lane).
I move into the left lane to pass an 18-wheeler and just as I get alongside the tractor, we crest a small rise in the road and VOILA... there's Bambi laying dead smack across the center of the lane probably less than 100 feet in front of me.
First I said...then I almost did it...
Couldn't stop (another car behind me)...Couldn't swerve left or right (guardrail to the left; 80,000 lbs of truck to the right)...No place to go but right overtop of it...THUMP...
Wife wakes up screaming.
No warning lights...no DIC messages...checked the tire pressure and other guages...everything read normal...
Luckily we were near our exit and pulled into a very well lighted Exxon and I borrowed a 4-cell Maglite to check for damage.
No damage...only plenty of blood and guts on the air dam and wheel wells.
Later in the morning after getting some sleep, I went to the local self-serve car wash and pressure washed everything and then went through a brushless carwash with an undercarriage wash for good measure.
Drove home without any problems.