CCrew

Dayumm. Broadsided a deer about 5:15 this am on the bike about 2 miles into my ride. Saw three of them cross the W&OD from my left, but when I got to where they crossed one spooked and bolted back directly in front of me. Downloading the GPS track now, but dead broadsided it about 15mph.

Bike looks ok, brifter tweaked and the front wheel out of true. I landed in the grass on the side... wrenched my back big time. Walking at the moment like I'm 92. At 53yo I don't bounce like when I was younger

It took off for parts unknown, probably laughing the whole way... This makes twice for me in a year... sux.

10 Wheels

Ouch!

QuickityJacks

Holy crap! I thought getting chased by coyotes was bad! Glad you're ok.

KLW2

Never actually hit an animal on a bike but have come close with some...that had to be one heck of a shock! Hope you heal quickly...

bluegoatwoods

I nearly got one the same way on a motorcycle at about 45 mph.

She was actually clear of me, got spooked and jumped right in front of me.

I guess it's been about 25 years and it still angers me when I think of it. I know it sounds silly to get mad at a doe over this. But it angers me. I can't help it.

rhm

Bummer! geçmiş olsun, as they say in Turkish.

Hitting a deer... well, it was bound to happen to one of us sooner or later. I spooked a deer on a residential street a month ago... I got between the deer and the woods, and he decided it was time to go home, and he charged straight at me. I heard the hooves on the pavement, but didn't see him until WHOOSH he went right by me. He was a fair sized buck; I saw the antlers... that one could have come out much worse!

morph3715

I saw one yesterday on the W&OD trail but it was on my left and it shocked me but luckily he ran back into the woods and not into my path because that would have been bad. He was a big one.

Wanderer

Just as a point of information, most deer jump directly at the threat for their first move, if the threat is close enough. It's a skill to confuse and stop the threat. Their next instinct is to flee as quickly as possible.

If they are close - give 'em room!

thdave

Wow. They are crazy this time of year. Best wishes on your recovery.

waynesworld

Wow ccrew, hope it didn't hurt you too bad. Sounds like your bike fared better than any car I've hit deer with, though.

DallasSoxFan

That's adding insult to injury. The least it could have done is keel over and provide you with some tasty sausage.

TheLifeOfBryan

Here's hoping you'll soon be viewing it as "fun."

unterhausen

bambi: the one dish of revenge best served warm. Unless you make jerky.

JPprivate

hey ccrew, aren't you the fellow you decapitated a squirrel some time ago. You know the animal kingdom is after you, it seems

CCrew

Yeah, I got a squirrel, AND I broadsided another deer about this time last year, not 1 mi from where I got the one this morning. I get no love from the animal kingdom!

tarwheel 

I worry about that happening to me. We have a tremendous deer overpopulation problem in my area. They eat all of the flowers and gardens to the nub in my neighborhood, and you often see them crossing roads (and as roadkill). Riding to work one morning, I passed a large buck standing at the roadside at the bottom of a steep hill. I was going about 35 mph at the time, and I would have been seriously hurt if he had jumped in front of me.

mconlonx

Maybe not in your area, but in ours, it's hunting season. People out meddling in the woods means deer are popping up in unexpected areas at unexpected times. I tend to look harder than usual for deer, especially at dusk and dawn, from late-Oct through early-Dec.

nwmtnbkr

Glad you're ok. I'm always cautious on the bike and in the truck since the wild life out number the humans here. We've got tons of deer, elk, moose, grizzly and black bears, mountain lions, wild turkey, and much more. This time of year is especially hard on all the wild life; there's very little food for them. It's hunting season, plus the grizzlies are in hyper-eating mode prior to hibernation so the poor deer and elk can't even rest. The number of cars striking deer really goes up here in the winter. One night last week a young doe got hit in the road in front of my house. The state trooper who responded to the scene fired three shots to kill the poor thing. Hopefully you won't have any more collisions with wild life and the deer you hit won't have any other collisions with humans.

xtrajack

That is my biggest concern about commuting, I have seen deer and moose along my route when I am driving my truck, so I know that they are out there.
Last year I was able to get within twenty feet of three of them, they crossed in front of me and just stood there off the road.

Pinyon

I hit a deer a couple of years ago. I was going down a foothill road in the neighborhood of 38-40 mph (not sure that day, but ride there a lot), and these three mule deer scamper out from behind some willow trees on the side of the road. Not much time to react, but I slammed on the brakes and missed the first one, but broad-sided the middle one going 32 mph. I would have missed her, but she sort of hopped down same direction that I was traveling.

I was very lucky, because I hit her while she was in mid-bound and still in the air. My front tire slid under her belly, and most of the bike impact was took place from the top of my forks to my handlebars. The impact turned me sideways, and my I slapped her with the entire right-side of my body. The bike crumpled under us, and we sort of "flew" together for a second or two hip-to-hip and face-to-face (deer breath smells, by the way). Being in the air together really slowed me down a lot, so I only slid like 10 ft when I landed. I'm sure that the deer was hurt rather badly, but she ran away. I walked away with a little bit of road rash, a dire need of a new front-end for my old bicycle, and a healthy fear of stuff running in front of me when riding downhill in the mountains...

CCrew

Yeah, they actually had a blurb on the radio a bit ago. Seems there's a double whammy for the deer... it's hunting season AND mating season. I've seen 4 hit by cars in the last two days in places you don't normally see them. Northern VA is particularly bad, because there's a deer overpopulation problem and the yuppie suburbanites think allowing hunting is the devil. Not that I'd want a lot of them with guns in their hands anyway.

I've always known they were in the area I hit it in, and I've had numerous close calls. Normally I'll see them and yell, which sends them crashing off into the brush. This one this am wasn't all that bright I guess, because it came back my way while it's two henchmen waited.

Or, I just seemed like a really virile buck, what with my reflective vest and headlight and strobe, and the animal attraction was too strong... yeah, that's what it was

Thanks all for the well wishes. Back's pulled big time but other than that I'm fine. Codeine Tylenols for the win . Bike had the front wheel tweaked out of true and the left brifter tweaked, already had it on the bike stand and fixed. I'll take a couple days off the bike to recover and I'll be back commuting prolly Monday at the latest.

Plutonix

FWIW, we had a severe deer over population in some parts here until they got the ok to cull them. As the herd grew food became scarce and they became less shy about cars, peds, bikes etc. I had several close calls when one or more would be behind a tree or around a corner. Yelling or calling to them would do little good. Often they would not even look up, even when you are 10 feet from them.

I find they scatter readily to my bell while they tend to ignore even car horns. They dont ordinarily dine alone, so if I saw even one within 10yds of my route, I would start ringing the bell and they would generally dash away, dash away home. I dont know if it is the pitch or because it an unusual sound to them but they tended to react.

I give them fair warning so I dont have to slow and to not surprise them into a close call. They tend to run away from it and not do the stupid squirrel thing of crossing to the other side of the road, even if Mom or Cousin Billy were on the other side.

They culled the herd so the numbers are much better, but I still tend to ring the bell because of their past lack of response to AARP Men on Bikes.

Get better soon! I did an endo a week or so ago and my hand is just now well enough to work the brakes.

rumrunn6

feel bad for you. lesson to us all - when approaching a known animal path shout or make some other sound.

Reminds me of a story: once when driving to upstate NY late at night along a desolate stretch of Route 17, a high speed but winding mountain highway I got a bad feeling about possibly hitting deer - so I blew my horn. To my amazement the whole hillside along that stretch lit up with eyeballs because they all turned to look at the sound of my horn. There must have been 100 deer on that hillside! It kinda freaked me out. Needless to say, for the rest of the ride every now and then, or when I got spooked - I blew my car horn.

MNBikeguy

Of all the obstacles we contend with, I never considered deer on the list. Sorry to hear of your bambi smackdown.
They're thick around here, but either Virginia deer are ruttier / dumber, ... or more likely, you move down the road a heck of lot faster than I do. I haven't come close to one yet.
Get well soon.

bikegeek57

hmmm... you guys need one of those signs... Deer Crossing... and maybe the Deer will be more vigilant?