Glad to hear you're OK. We were one of the first cars at the scene of an accident where a buck got hit by a car, and it freaked me out. I've got some venison thawing in the fridge, and am going to be thinking of those Bambi's when I use it to make some chili.

Glad you're OK (such as you are). Where on W&OD? My most recent encounters were eastbound early evening a few weeks ago between the Loudoun County Parkway overpass and the creek bridge (deer were crossing from the woods on the N side of the trail to the new golf course on the S side). But over the years, I've encountered deer by the wetlands and soccer fields west of Vienna, in Reston between Whiele and Hunter Mill, Ashburn (basically anywhere from RT 28 to Belmont Ridge Rd), and even the middle of Herndon (between Elden and Spring St). I actually have not encountered any since the DST-ST time change. But the season is young....

And this is one reason I added a 600 lumen Dinotte to the light show - I don't really need that much illumination for the trail or the side roads, but if the extra light gives me a few seconds more warning, and the strobe spooks them out of my way, it's worth it.

I was eastbound, on the short stretch between Sunset Hills and where they're doing the construction under the Toll Road overpass. I've seen them a number of times there, most of the times I'll yell and they'll move. This one just moved the wrong way. Time before was eastbouund, about a 1/2 mile east of Hunter Mill, right after it crosses the creek.

And I'm running a Dinotte *and* a 1w Planet Bike Blaze on strobe, so don't consider yourself safe! LOL

I have noticed a strange thing on recent bike tours, in each case a circuit of several days through rural PA starting and ending at my home near Trenton, NJ. I see quite a few deer in NJ and in the heavily populated areas of PA, but once I get into the more rural areas I don't see deer any more, except for the roadkill, and even that is less common. Deer really like the sub-rural landscape of the NE corridor.

I've seen deer throughout that section of Reston (Sunset Hills to Hunter Ridge), so not a surprise. I don't expect the Dinotte to scare them (until they come out with a nuclear-powered laser model), just (hopefully) catch a glint off the eyes or lighter color hide enough so I don't have my own close encounter of the 3rd kind.

Not just the deer are crazy - had a near miss this morning with a woodchuck near the Herndon rec center. Almost a good thing I didn't see him until AFTER we'd crossed paths - a head-on hit is probably safer than attempting a swerve and failing.

Well, I sucked up the pain and rode today. Ok, didn't really suck it up, 2x codeine Tylenol 4's made it tolerable.

And don't you know that I end up right in the middle of a herd of deer this am. 6 does and a big buck... that buck had a nicer rack that Mrs CCrew. Stopped, looked at them, they didn't move. Yelled again, they didn't move. FINALLY the buck moves off and the does all follow.

My heart was going a mile a minute, I'll tell you!

Hope you know I wasn't suggesting making noise would scare them off - just that it would make them look and know that you were coming and MAYBE would stay clear of you - but I guess if the "buck" was guarding his women then he would stand his ground until they were ready to move on. Animal husbandry ... who knew stuff like that would ever affect a bicycle commute!

I made my Bambi chili last night, and it was pretty tasty at lunch. Hope your moving better soon.

2x you've played whack a deer? Get well soon, and play some numbers.