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Middle of the day a baby doe ran right out and into the side of my Jetta. I know we all like to say to just hit it and do not swerve, but at that moment my reaction was to swerve and brake hard, fortunately I was only going about 40MPH. The deer bounced off and shot back into the woods, I think it was fine. Just a reminder for me to stay vigilant. I see so much road kill on my long commute up I89 every night, big animals too. I drive home from work at 11PM and this time of year see animals almost every night.
This is why I rarely drive the Porsche to work (which means rarely drive it at all).
last night I saw another huge blood stain on I89, followed by skid marks, coolant and oil spill, then off into the median which looked like a rollover.
Odds are I will eventually smack a deer or bear doing 80 on my commute. Hopefully when it does happen I can drive right into it and avoid a more serious accident.

Watch out for those animals!

M,

You are so right, the natural reaction is to swerve and it is very hard not to. When I was in the dealership world the worst accidents we saw in our bodyshop were when someone swerved to miss an animal and hit a tree instead. MUCH more damage when you hit something that does not move.

By the way, my mom is from West Cornwall (outside of Middlebury) and I have many relatives throughout the state. I have travelled many miles in a 356 on Vermont roads and I especially like rt 100 (duh, what's not to like about rt 100?), rt 125 and even rt 30 in the southern part of the state. Main roads of course, and there are too many beautiful roads off the beaten path to begin to mention here.

Hi Sebastian,

So true, but a Moose may be an exception! Lots of bear here now too, we have had one coming around all week. He took (9) 5 gallon jugs of vegetable oil out of a shed over the last few nights. A few of them where torn open on the lawn, but the rest were dragged off into the woods. Heard of many bears getting hit by cars recently.

Yes, I remember you mentioning you had family here. I was just on rt 125 with the Porsche a couple of weeks ago (last time I drove it). There are a couple of big climbs and plenty of great turns, really fun road in the 356. I live close to RT 100 and travel it often, also a fun road but plenty of speed traps in the small towns, Rt 125 is much more fun and I have never seen a cop on it.

If you ever find yourself out this way feel free to contact me!

M Penta wrote:If you ever find yourself out this way feel free to contact me!

If things pan out I will be in a couple of weeks. Will let you know!

Deer are no joke, my rule is brace for impact, but do not deviate in course.

I was able to drive away from this one, the next one I was not, it popped the transmission cooler behind the grill, losing all the gearbox fluid, it was tow truck time.

Big John gets the cops to come out and tag the deer, no use wasting good venison, his motto is
"From the grill, to the grill."

Some years back I was on my way to work before dawn in Sudbury, MA in my then daily driver, a Land Rover Discovery. I saw a deer, braked, maybe changed course a little, and got by the deer but it ran into the Discovery's left rear corner. No damage to the Rover but the deer looked groggy for a few seconds.

I once saw a VW Vanagon which had survived a double moose strike near Banff, Alberta. They'd gotten their speed down before hitting the moose but the right front was pushed back quite a bit. Hitting a tree may be better than hitting a moose: the front of a car will slide under the moose then the windshield makes contact.

Hit one on my way to work at Fort Rucker in 1987. $4,000 worth of damage to my brand new 944. The dear knew best, I sold it a couple years later as by far the worst Porsche I've ever owned.

Chuck

Not quite a deer but the Mrs is always telling me to swerve to miss cats, birds, foxes that are on the road. I wouldn't because as you say you will cause more damage by crashing!

Sabastian, I may be around that weekend. Are you driving out?

"From the grill to the grill", haha have not heard that one before.

Jim, that is one of my worst fears when driving the van through moose country, in fact I go back and forth on selling it for the very reason (that and all of the distracted idiots on the road). We are still planning a trip to Moose head lake in Maine this Summer, maybe the van should skip this trip.

Sorry to hear about these wildlife strikes, or accidents due to avoiding them (such as Dave's unfortunate incident in his 356). It does make me kind of nervous to drive the 356, especially at night.

I did see that bear the other night. I heard something and looked out to the shed with a flashlight, sure enough he was climbing out over the wall with the last jug in his mouth and he did not even care I was there. Turns out many people on my road have had problems with bears this year, some have pictures of bears looking right in the window, or breaking screens to get in! Some local bear dogs are around keeping an eye on things, crazy dogs are not the least bit scared of them and are pretty good at what they do apparently..

M,

Sorry to say I am not gonna make it to VT this time. We are going to Plymouth, MA and flying so it's not going to work. I will let you know the next time I will be there!

Many years ago my brother in law swerved to avoid a cat and totaled his Pinto(!) by rolling it. The car was almost brand new and was actually not too bad. At least the cat didn't rear end him.

I almost hit a deer driving home from Fort Carson, Colorado in my '58 coupe. Snow-covered road, the mountain on one side, a cliff on the other, a beautiful buck in front of me. My only option was to head for the mountain hoping it would go the opposite direction. I got within 10 feet of it, braced for impact with either the deer or the mountain side and at the last second it bounded off the cliff side of the road.

No Doz was not needed the rest of the trip....



Mike

Driving a 58' in snow on CO mountain road, and almost hitting a deer...That has to be a pretty memorable experience!

Well, late last night I almost hit another deer. This time I was doing 80 and it crossed immediately in front of me and car next to me. I did brake hard but did not swerve, it was a close call. Before that I almost hit a really big porcupine.

Its almost as if the deer simply see's the light in the road and wants to get into that light.

Probably best to pace people, but there are few cars on the road when I drive home at night so not always an option. Slowing down is another option I suppose..

I have tried those deer whistles in the past, should probably try them again. Maybe even install them behind the grills of the 356, or under bumper? can't hurt..

'EDIT' The most credible research on deer whistles I could find concludes the following: “Considering the challenges of producing sound at appropriate intensities and distances from a moving vehicle, deer hearing capabilities, human safety concerns, and our observed lack of behavioral responses of deer to sound treatments, auditory deterrents do not appear to be appropriate for prevention of deer-vehicle collisions.”

They were first used in Austria in the 70's, not sure if they are still popular there today. I have not found any higher quality devices then the cheapo plastic ones, but apparently there are some electric devices available also.

My mom and dad put a whistle on their car when they visited my brother in Northern California. It obviously didn't work when they hit a deer.

Yep, a memorable experience for sure! Both me and the deer lucked out!

I really feel for you guys in deer country. When we visit my wife's brother outside Pittsburgh, the turn pike is littered with road kill deer.

Mike

Folks I knew from North Central Pennsylvania years back just plain didn't want to drive at night. I understand the critters have moved into the Pittsburgh suburbs for the tasty landscaping and no hunters.

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The incident that raised my pulse the most was without a car. I was jogging on Pine Hill Road in Hollis, NH, I saw some deer about 70 yards off the road, then I heard a screen door slam.

I still wasn't prepared for the herd of deer charging down a driveway straight at me. Ok, it was a small herd (1 doe, 2 fawns) but it was still unusual and unexpected.