Deer In The Road

[Mr. Bloom]

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!

[GLC1968]

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".

[grey]

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.

[LBTC]

You guys are funny!!! Unfortunately, I'm not.

All I have to add is - stupid or not, deer are known for having bad eyesight. Teenagers not so much.

Be careful out there.

H&B
~T~

[SlowButSteady]

I'm so afraid of hitting one on my bike and have had a couple of close calls...including almost falling off a bridge over a train track. I yell at them and brace for impact. Last time I was meeting a car on a country road and I thought the car was going to hit the doe and spatter her into me and then the other deer in the bushes jumped out into the mix, too.

There's always one in the bushes.

They're not all cute Bambis, either. A couple of weeks ago I had to suture a dog, a small beagle, that had been attacked by a doe. I expect she was guarding her fawn. Neighbors of the dogs owner chased the deer away. She was lacerated and bruised all over.

[Mr. Bloom]

This is my fear, I see one, but there may be 10 about to run into the road.

I think with these responses that I'm resolved that my teenage kids don't listen to me...so why should I expect deer to pay attention to me

[OakLeaf]

Now really, don't you ever panic and just FREEZE? That's what's going on with deer I believe.

I've heard from enough hunters that deer are actually pretty smart. But they can get to a place where terror overwhelms them, especially when they're exposed to things like headlights and fast-moving vehicles that don't make any sense to them from an evolutionary standpoint.

[Mr. SR500]

Lots of deer here as well. They tend to just hang out until you get close. We just slow down, sometime yelling - I still like watching them run.

Last year a guy hit a deer during RAIN, trashed the bike, maybe a broken collar bone - but I forget for sure.

[Flybye]

My grandfather was driving on a dirt road in a remote part of Idaho and there was a steep slope on one side of the road. A deer jumped INTO the back of his pick up and rode there for about .2 of a mile. It must have taken awhile for his brain to register that he was moving even though his legs weren't. He finally jumped.

Teenagers have the same thought processes as deer.

I remember those years quite fawndly - woops - I mean fondly. Or is it fondle - ey???

[mimitabby]

I've heard from enough hunters that deer are actually pretty smart. But they can get to a place where terror overwhelms them, especially when they're exposed to things like headlights and fast-moving vehicles that don't make any sense to them from an evolutionary standpoint.

exactly. For the same reason you see every other animal dead in the road. a million years of evolution did not prepare them for cars whizzing by at 25+ mph and bicycles which make almost no noise and might be going even faster than that 25mph. Act like you want to eat the deer, maybe it will help! chase 'em!

remember, that deer you might be looking at might have never seen a bike before.. or know what to do about it!

[7rider]

Act like you want to eat the deer, maybe it will help! chase 'em!

I've tried that. Growling, yelling. Chasing them after them like some kind of crazy woman. Return a sense of fear in them, I figure. Suburban deer, at any rate, with no hunting pressure, almost seem to have a strange sense of entitlement about them and little fear of passing humans. "My yard." "My azaleas." "My road." Yeah, I'm anthropomorphizing, but on my rides when I see deer....I"m not feelin' the fear.

[VeloVT]

I think Oakleaf has it right.

I also think freezing is a defense mechanism. I think it actually works in the woods. I have seen deer while hiking in the woods, and driven by deer that have just leaped across the road and frozen when they hit the woods, and when they freeze in the woods, they really do sort of disappear -- they blend in with trees and brush. Apparently the primitive part of their brains just hasn't caught up with this modernity thing and doesn't realize that if they freeze in the middle of the road, a) we can see them and b) the danger doesn't go away.

I think deer are beautiful.

[Mr. Bloom]

I think deer are beautiful.

Me Too...at 50 feet! not 50 centimeters