How many deer have you hit so far...?

[jstubbs]

I've been extremely fortunate that the worst I've hit was a bird smoked my windshield last year driving on the QE2.

That said, a buddy of mine and I were driving in my truck going north from GP up to Spirit River. A cow moose charged out of the trees and was heading straight to the road and it would have been a direct collision but by some miracle it decided to turn around right as it was about to hit the shoulder of the road. Neither of us said anything for about 30 seconds after till my buddy and I both said "Holy ****, we could have died".

[Gade81]

Hit an owl at 110km/h years ago. Skidded up my hood, took out my wiper and slammed into my windshield. I watched it fly away.
About 10 years ago in a car with my pa and smoked bull elk head on. Major car destruction and parts of him came through the cab. Severely concussed and blue face, but otherwise ok. Like everyone i've had some close calls, But thats the gist of it other than gophers and other smaller birds

[CptnBlues63]

Originally Posted by Twisted Canuck

I actually just remembered being a passenger in a truck, coming over a small hill in rural NW Missouri when I lived there. Something had gotten creamed on the road, and there were 3 buzzards chowing on it. Two got out of the way, one came through the windshield, still half alive and squawking and stinking....ugh. That was a nasty.

LOL - friend of mine back in the 80's had bought the fastest production bike that year. It was a yamaha if memory serves me. He was driving rather fast through hilly country between Humboldt and Saskatoon (west of the Bruno turnoff) and came over a rise to see a dead deer in the middle of the road covered in crows. He avoided the deer.........no such luck with the crows. I think he hit 3. One left a hella mark on his lid, another ripped his riding leather (think beak) and between them, they almost took him off his bike. I believe he said he was doing over 110 mph at the time.

I hit several deer on the south side of Saskatchewan landing while driving professionally in the 80's. I had a regular route in those days that took me overnight in Swift Current every Thursday. Most of those were early Friday morning. Not much you can do in a semi when they come running out in front of you.

I've only hit one deer since then and that was back in 2009

I ran over several rabbits in a rig but you never even feel those.

Most memorable for me was right around sunrise one fine morning back in the early 80's while driving for the same company as above. I was heading west from S'toon and just around the Asquith area there's this little dip in the road. I come steaming up to it doing 65 and holy crap! There's a herd of sheep sleeping in the middle of the freaking road. Now this little dip is a creek and there's sharp shoulders on each side with at least a 10' drop off and water so I had nowhere to go. So I laid on the air horns while standing on the breaks. Two went under. The undercarriage of my truck was wool and sheep sh*t from front bumper to the back.

I was not happy about that but I had nowhere to go and not enough time/distance to stop.

[IL Bar]

Over the years I’ve hit two deer, one horse and a cow. All at night. All on gravel roads. Lots of close calls. And directions to my house include turn off the paved road. When I hit the horse I missed the first two and if the knot head didn’t turn around to run the other way I’d of missed him too. Hate horses to this day.

[blackburbot]

Got hit by a deer. Watching 4 deer in a field on one side of the gravel road while stopped. Heard a crunch behind me, looked in the rear view mirror to see a deer cartwheeling over the side of the box. 2 perfect nostril marks going up the box. Guess thats what you deserve for driving a white truck in the winter

[antler1]

Our company had just shut down a rig south of GP down HWY#40 that afternoon. Three guys got the brilliant idea to head to town that evening to get to the bar before last call. They were diving a little foreign truck with sideways jump seat in the back. They never showed up back at the camp that night. We found them all in the GP hospital the next day. They plowed into a cow moose at full tilt and it came over the hood and caved in the cab, knocking them all unconscious. The driver still had his foot on the gas and the truck ended way out in the bush where it finally hit a tree big enough to stop it. The driver hit his seat belt so hard it broke and he was ejected out through the broken windshield. The other guy in the front seat woke up some time later in the dark and severely concussed. The guy in the little jump seat in the back was pinned down by the roof panel and was out cold. So the one conscious passenger crawled out the broken windshield and somehow found his way back out to the highway. He was so shook up he couldn't even operate his cell phone. Then something happened that could really only be called divine intervention. The first vehicle to come by late that night was a husband and wife who were both EMTs. They administered first aid to the fellow on the road and went back in the bush to find and treat the other two guys while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. When interviewed later none of them even remembered hitting the moose. Some permanent injuries resulted.
If they had waited at camp till the next morning they could have gone home safely like everybody else.

[59whiskers]

Had a muley buck run into the side of my truck at Camp Wainwright during the 2018 hunt driving back to check in station in the dark.. Seen a flash of big antlers hit my driver side door and cave in the truck box drivers side. could not find any trace of the buck. Lots of close calls with moose, elk, horses, cattle, DUI drivers, black ice,,etc.

[EZM]

30 years ago - Hit a deer doing 120km/hr near Bragg creek (seen it literally last second as it ran across, stopped and turned right back) - I pretty much just got on the brakes. Totalled my blazer from front, all the way down the side and kept my driver side mirror as a souvenir. The poor bugger was 100 feet away when we stopped thrown in the opposite ditch.

[Big Red 250]

Day time driving down a gravel road, came around a curve and see a porcupine crossing the road about 100 yards ahead of me. A bit of room for me to go by it, so I did. I never heard a thump or felt a bump so I figured everything was ok. Getting home, I walk around my car and in the side wall of a front tire are 3 or 4 quills stuck in. I figure I just grazed it.

[elk eater]

25 years ago my father hit a deer in his cavalier. Wrecked the hood fender and spun around and caved in the door. He had the repairs done in Edmonton as he lives out west and when they were complete he picked up the car and stopped by my place on his way home to show me what a great job the body shop had done. I looked the car over and it was laser straight like nothing had happened. We chatted for a few minutes and he headed on his way home. 10 mins later I received a call from him to come pick him up cause he had just hit another deer !!!!

[EZM]

My Uncle hit a moose on his way back from BC hauling a U-Haul full of grapes to make wine. Was probably in the early 80's ….Needless to say, he wasn't able to stop in time or swerve so he hit the moose.

So, as he was there inspecting to damage, with the moose laying there, up rolls a RCMP officer.

He helped him bleed and load the moose in the back of the truck.

2000lbs of grapes and 500 pounds of moose meat ….. lol.

The truck was a 1977 jimmy - other than the grill, a headlight and some minor dents, the truck was fine.

Today's SUV's would have exploded plastic all over the highway and spilled rad fluid all over and worse. They don't make them like they used to.

I still remember when my uncle pulled around the back and my dad and him were unloading the Moose.

[john-brennan]

My wife has hit 3 in 2 different occasions during the rut.

[Alberta Bigbore]

Latest was this past fall... going out hunting. A herd of does ran across the highway. A small yearling slipped on the asphalt, and my f350 drove over her like two speed bumps with no damage. Also this year i had many close calls. Its like they were trying to get me to hit them. Have hit two deer, a few grouse and a snowy owl in years past.

[JD848]

In 1999 I was passing a pulp truck around 8 pm and I just got ahead and three moose took out the whole side of my new f250.I killed 2 and the other one who hit the back of the box ran off.

Just got it fixed and young bull ran out ditch and took out both doors.


I hit a black bear with my service truck and I had just welded and solid plate on my front end,it sounded like shotgun and he bounced about 6 feet in the ditch.Bust up y grill,but I was lucky.

I hit a dog with a brand new new summit skkidoo, snapped the plugs right out of the motor and totaled it off.

I was tired trying to get home on some logging road when bang a darn owl hit my wind shield,scared to crap out of me,it was loud.

Last was travelling with snow machine trailer behind me and 3 wolves ran right out front ,i tried to miss them ,but ran over one and the trailer clipped the other two,so I stopped and backed up and one wolf must have flew 20 feet and was gone.dam there tough.

JD

[caged]

Only close calls no collision ever.

[WillyOneStyle]

THE WORST:
-I was pulling into the Bear Hills rest area near wetaskiwin on a hot summers day, 2011. people with holiday trailers and RVs were parked in the shoulder on both sides of the entry lane. An elderly woman crossed a ways in front of me, her husband stayed back gawking at his RV. As I was passing he turned and as soon as I was passed him he took a step. I slammed my breaks as hard as I could, but my trailer fender took him down; maybe 10 km/h. I was as panic stricken as I have ever been, by the time I got to him he was picking himself up. He was apologizing profusely, his wife was giving him 'the look' . I saw them about ten minutes later, he would be sore, but ok.

-In 2000 I was a safeway bag blew out in front of me only to turn it's snowy owl face at the last moment

THE SCARIEST:

-While motorcycling 2 up on a gravel road there was a cat in the middle of the road, moments before we got to it it turned into several kittens and a cat all over the road. I just stayed the course and did not look back.

-After a blind corner I skidded my motorcycle passed two cars on the passenger side and almost hit the line of ducklings they'd stopped for

THE CRAZIEST:

My mom used to work at the Terratima lodge as a cook. On her way home one night in her (fairly new) Sable wagon she hit a big bodied deer. The airbags deployed, she slowed down, got the airbag out of the way and drove the car the remaining 100 kms home. I believe she drove it like that to get two insurance estimates as well.

[Iron Brew]

New driver, dad liked to drive but was tired and got me to drive. Mum in the passenger seat, dad passed out in the back. It was night and I was coming round a corner and hammered on the breaks. Mum yelling at me, dad hit the seat from behind (he rolled off the bench). i get stopped, Mum yelling, Dad yelling and a big black draft horse sticks it's head in the window. Dad stopped yelling. I was pretty much in the ditch on Mum's side. Apparently this horse was notorious for escaping and doing just that.

Got leave from Petawawa and was headed to Lanark. Buddy was asleep in the back, his girlfriends car. Another buddy in the passenger side. Coming round the corner in the dark and there's a skunk. No time to avoid it. Put it between the wheels. Just a very faint skunk aroma. (this would have been 1988) We really did think we'd got away with it. About 5 years ago I casually mentioned it to my buddy (who'd been asleep now married to the girlfriend and had no clue). Turns out we didn't get away with it. She smacked me upside and said she'd sold the car cause she kept getting whiffs of skunk and couldn't find it or get rid of it so goodbye car.

My first truck. A 1980 toyota. Loved that truck. Anyway, they didn't go real fast, which was part of the reason I'd bought it. I was driving past some potholes in the Canadian shield and I saw a mallard drake launch himself. Timing looked like right through my (air conditioning didn't exist) open drivers window. I slammed on the brakes, and it hit the windshield in front of me. It was just like a WW2 movie where the plane gets shot, goes up in the air, rolls upside down and crashes. Right into a big chunk of shield granite. It was just like the movies too except it was a big cloud of feathers came up on impact.

[Imagehunter]

Nothing in Canada so far, but growing up in Germany I've hit wild pigs twice.
They're a total nightmare as you often encounter them in big families. First one I hit was a big male and it didn't die on impact, I went out to see it if was dead and it tried to come at me, not a great experience since the have big teeth.
The second time was during my time in the military, transport at night, driving with trucks through a rural area and a family of pigs came running out of a cornfield. We didn't really see them, suddenly there were the impacts and loud bangs and when we stopped we saw the mess. Took us two days to get all the parts out of the grill and engine.

[MRM]

I have only hit one deer, but unfortunately it was with a Motorcycle at 100 KMPH with a girl on the back. Both lucky that day for sure. There was a family on the side of the road that were watching the deer (I was looking at them...) and the Mom was a nurse. Nurses are great! We were pretty banged up, but were released from the hospital the same day.

[Junglefisher]

I've hit a lot of rabbits, 8 kangaroos and untold numbers of birds, mostly parrots. Once took out a 3m scrub python on Christmas day, that was probably the one that upset me most. All I've hit since moving to Canada is a garter snake that I thought was dead until it slithered in front of me at the last second.

[Greatwest]

One deer about 20 years ago it ran right into the side of my truck a half decent white-tail buck to boot. The bugger jumped a fence and come up out of the ditch and ran into front quarter panel and passenger door. Turned around and the deer was no where to be found.

Also a close call with a big old Buffalo near a buffalo farm. The whole herd got out of the fence and as I was headed back to Sask from working a hitch in Alberta about 2am the big bastard was standing right in the middle of the highway. I was so close when I come to a screeching halt that I’m pretty sure you couldn’t have walked between him and the grill on my truck. I could see the steam and snot coming out of his nostrils. Those animals are a lot bigger then one thinks when you are that close to them.

[EZM]

A couple of us here on the forum know a paramedic who years ago, was in BC, and was called to a Elk/car collision not far from town, so off they went to go treat the injured.

They arrived to find an elk had flown through the windshield and was mostly inside the car basically pinning the injured driver. The other lady who was riding in the passenger side got out of the car by herself under her own power and passerby people were helping her.

The good news was the lady on the drivers side of the car, although injured and pinned by the elk was alive.

The bad news is the elk was also still alive and would absolutely freak out anytime anyone approached the vehicle and was thrashing causing more injury to the lady.

They tried approaching a few way (having called the RCMP for assistance) but could not wait. So they finally were able to sneak up and cover the elks head (the elk was, luckily fading fast and loosing energy/life quickly) and they were able to remove the lady from the car eventually.

Crazy.

This guy has the best (worst) stories you can ever imagine.

[KegRiver]

Got my drivers license in 1969, started driving trucks in 1972.

Hit a lot of critters over the years, most were non lethal hits. I was young, my reflexes were lightning fast and I drove under the posted limit most of the time.

So most were more a bump then a hit. But I did kill three Deer and a fair number of birds and small animals over the years.

Early 1980s, driving sleeper teem with a buddy, heading south from Hay River, 2:00 am on a dark rainy night, just north of the border owl in the middle of the road heads straight up instead of off to one side. Took him with the middle of the windshield on our 365 Pete. Put perfect thunderbird pattern in the glass. Spent the rest of the trip to Edmonton holding the windshield so it didn't blow into our laps.

Mid 1980s, On the forestry road south of Hinton. Spun a Moose with a 1972 Toyota Corona. He stayed on his feet and ran off. I went looking for clean underwear. Minor damage to a ugly little car, not fixed.

1980s, hauling fright for Federated Co-ops, heading north to the city, just south of Millet come down the hill to Pipestone Creek at first light and there's twenty or so Deer in the middle of the road.
Lights didn't pick them up till too late to avoid. the Deer to the right headed left and the ones to the left headed right. Took out two, one on each end of the bumper. One died before it hit the ground, had to finish off the other with a tire iron to end it's suffering. Minor damage to the truck bumper.

A few years ago, heading to work in Manning late one fall morning. Had to slow for Deer a couple of times. Just north of the third, approaching the tracks, small herd of does and fawns to my left, slowed down and kept an eye on them as I passed, started to accelerate back to speed just as a Buck blasted out of the right hand ditch.
Caught a glimpse of movement in front and then the whole world went crazy. Motor dies, air bags go off, alarms sounding. I slide to a stop and sit there stunned. I half expect the Deer to bounce up and run off but nothing is moving. Get out to see what happened to him and find him in the grill, still alive but just barely.

By the time I extracted him from the grill he is done. Deer a total write off, truck is too.

Had a Moose wipe it's nose all down the side of my truck on the Carcajou road back in the 1990s. We both walked away from that one without a scratch. But I had to stop and sit till my legs started working again.

Rolled a Bear just past the Buchanan Creek bridge. He did a barrel roll landing back on his feet and kept going as though nothing had happened. No damage to either of us or to the truck.

Took out three Donkeys at the bottom of the last hill into Carcajou in the 1990s. Driving a Grande Fury 111, last light of the day, light colored animals on a road with a dusting of snow. Had to call a neighbor to put all three out of their misery.
Car fared better. Had to replace the hood and one door and one mirror. Looked ugly as sin but drove as well as ever.

The rest were birds, skunks, gophers and such.
I only listed lethal hits on the poll