Based on experience with deer out in the woods, I've found that they're more likely to become startled and run off if you stop and stare at them. If you're moving, they're less likely to perceive you as a threat, so they just watch to see what you're going to do. When you stop, though, they realize that you see them and that's when they decide to get the heck out of dodge, as it were.
Squirrels, now, are the ones that I think are truly stupid. I ran over one with my bike once because it scampered to one side of the trail, then changed it's mind and decided that it wanted to go back to the other side just as I was passing it. I've begun watching them since then, and damned if that isn't typical of them. Rabbits are much smarter. They'll run alongside the trail parallel to you, then run away off to the side.
Welcome guest, is this your first visit? Click the "Create Account" button now to join.
Results 1 to 15 of 28
Thread: Deer In The Road
Hybrid View
-
07-31-2008, 01:28 PM #1
Ride your ride.
- Join Date
- May 2006
- Location
- Md suburbs of Wash. DC
- Posts
- 2,131
"How about if we all just try to follow these very simple rules of the road? Drive like the person ahead on the bike is your son/daughter. Ride like the cars are ambulances carrying your loved ones to the emergency room. This should cover everything, unless you are a complete sociopath."
David Desautels, in a letter to velonews.com
Random babblings and some stuff to look at.
-
07-31-2008, 01:45 PM #2
Registered User
- Join Date
- Dec 2005
- Location
- WA State
- Posts
- 4,364
My husband and I have a theory about this..... we think that they first run from you, then the urge to get to the nearest tree or maybe even "their" tree kicks in and they run to it even if it means crossing your path again...
Originally Posted by Kalidurga
"Sharing the road means getting along, not getting ahead" - 1994 Washington State Driver's Guide
visit my flickr stream http://flic.kr/ps/MMu5N
-
07-31-2008, 02:08 PM #3
Registered User
- Join Date
- Nov 2002
- Location
- Norwood, MA
- Posts
- 484
I guess the deer on my former commute (I retired in June, yay me) were unusually smart. I saw lots of deer, when my commutes coincided with dawn or dusk I would see as many a 13 on an 8.5 mi ride. They would stand at the side of the road and watch me. I always figured it was because they were in a wildlife sanctuary and their only real predators were cars, so they were vehicle aware. Too bad some of the drivers on my route weren't as smart. I always gave the dumb prize to the turkeys. They wouldn't move for anything and it wasn't unusual to see 5 or 6 cars waiting for the turkeys to get out of the road. Someday I would like to ride in a bicycle preserve.
-
07-31-2008, 02:10 PM #4
listen to the bees
- Join Date
- Jul 2006
- Location
- Riding my Luna & Rivendell in the Hudson Valley, NY
- Posts
- 8,411
We have TONS of deer here.
When I actually SEE a deer in the road or crossing the road, i'm glad because then I can slow down right away and I also know there may be others following it.
It's the deer I DON'T see that worry me. The ones that suddenly come bounding out of the woods a few yards in front of me and leaping right across my path as I'm going 25 mph along a country road.
I know that one day one I am likely to collide with one of these deer ambushes, and it won't be pretty.
This is what happened tome in my car....twice. Deer leaping out from the woods and colliding right into the side of my car as I was driving 25 mph down wooded roads near my home.
Lots of damage- fender/sidepanel replacements, side headlights, passenger window shattered, hood replaced (as the deer bounced off my car side and then landed on the hood). I can only hope some deer doesn't do this to me on my bike.
So....be glad when you SEE the deer.
Lisa
My mountain dulcimer network...FOTMD.com...and my mountain dulcimer blog
My personal blog:My blog
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
07-31-2008, 02:16 PM #5
Mmmmm... Broccoli?
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY
- Posts
- 820
All I can say is that as crowded as it may get here in NYC, that is a problem that we definitely don't have!
My bike:Slideshow at Picasaweb
My dog: http://hudsonthedog.com
My job: http://racheljimenez.com
-
07-31-2008, 03:06 PM #6
f/k/a Mr. S.
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
- Location
- Blessed to be all over the place!
- Posts
- 3,433
Originally Posted by rij73
All I can say is that as crowded as it may get here in NYC, that is a problem that we definitely don't have!
If you don't grow where you're planted, you'll never BLOOM - Will Rogers
-
07-31-2008, 03:28 PM #7
just call me wilma
- Join Date
- May 2006
- Location
- Hillsboro, OR
- Posts
- 5,023
Lone deer are one thing...be very aware of adults with fawns.
My dog was once attacked by a huge deer that had just given birth. I stood between my dog and the deer (before I knew why the deer was chasing my dog) and the deer came after me. Luckily, I was right in front of our deck, so I bounded up it and got inside. The deer then turned and left and I noticed blood on it's rear.
It was not 2 minutes later when we saw it through the trees nuzzling a tiny baby, barely standing and wet!
In that same neighborhood (where deer out numbered people about 10 to 1) I had other deer showing agression when their offspring were close. So I'd say deer have three thoughts "Is this good to eat" "Makin' babies" and "protect the young".
My new non-farm blog: Finding Freedom
-
07-31-2008, 03:46 PM #8
humidty makes me grouchy
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Location
- where ARE we?
- Posts
- 429
There was a guy about three years ago here who was riding down the road and a deer ran through a barb wire fence, hit him, kept going - leaving the cyclist tangled in the barbed wire.
I think deer are as bright as squirrels. I've seen them dodge back and forth like them and everything - and they're a lot heavier than they look.
Reply With Quote
