Has anyone here actually been hit by a deer? I'd like to know what the effects are. There are quite a few of them at work and just last week one dashed across the road about 20 feet in front of me. It was at night (I work rotating shifts) and I didn't see it coming at all. The streets are well-lit but the land outside them is not.

It's not uncommon to see as many as 10 of them at a time there. Last year (while driving) I saw two of them, so slowed down. A third was further down the road but standing still. I was driving slowly, but at the last minute it decided to take off and it ran right into my front-right corner. It was hauling ass. It flipped up onto the windshield and rolled off. I got out to try to find it, but didn't see it anywhere. Then I spotted it hopping away out of the corner of my eye! Unbelievable. I was expecting it to be dead. It put a dent in the panel above the wheel-well (don't know thew technical term for the panel), and a smaller dent on the door. I still don't think I will have it repaired ($700-900). More and more I don't care for putting money into a car.

I can only imagine that getting hit by one would definitely result in a quick flooring of your ass. Hopefully it wouldn't trample you afterwards. I doesn't seem unreasonable to think it could be fatal. This thread has made me think... maybe I should wear some more protection than my helmet, and possibly even look into some type of deterrent. My boss said that he uses his (car) horn to drive them away so something similar for a bike may help, but it definitely warrants more study.

The only sure advice I can offer now is that they often travel in packs, but you probably already knew that...