Hit A Deer On The Way To Work This Morning

[GreyKnight]

Due to silly traffic levels in the local towns I've taken to going the back way to work recently around the country lanes. This morning I was about half way to the office in the Mondeo when a full size deer (about shetland pony size) came jumping out of the hedgerow in front of me. There was oncoming traffic and the road was quite narrow so there was nothing I could do except brake hard, but I still hit the damn thing head on I was probably doing 30ish when I hit it. It bounced off my car and straight in to the path of the oncoming vehicle which hit it squarely on its other side leaving it very dead in the gutter. I pulled over and so did the other car, the poor girl inside was in bits so I stayed with her until her dad came to rescue her.

 

Luckily the damage looks superficial. My grille is pushed in, but should pull back in to place, the girls car had a damaged indicator, but otherwise it was okay. She was only in a tiny car, a Suzuki Alto or something, so I'm surprised there wasn't more damage. I pulled the carcass off the road as it was a big fat deer and there was blood pouring from its mouth all over the road which wasn't very pleasant (and I thought I'd better get it out of the girl's view).

 

All in all an eventful morning. The bizarre thing was that I was having a conversation with a work colleague only a day or two ago where I said that I'd never hit an animal while driving.

 

Fate I guess

 

Graham

[Ladders]

Oh deer!

[Laura]

Thats not nice for you I always say I wouldnt ever hit things either and even avoid the road kill already on the road but I know sometimes you just cant avoid it.

 

Like the play on words Ladders!

[Mish]

Bad luck, sounds horrible !!

 

At least you weren't in the Loti, would have been quite a different story !!!

 

[stockhome]

Unlucky

 

Well at least your ok thats the main thing

[AnthT]

was she fit??

[JonS]

Unlucky, for the deer too. Not hit once, but twice!

 

Bet you would of scooped it up as a passenger if you'd of been in the elise!

[richbk]

not a nice experience, but sounds like you and the girl (if not the deer) got off quite lightly.

 

i came across an incident on cannock chase where a focus had hit a large stag....jesus his car was was wrecked, looked like he had hit a lampost at 50mph, windscreen roof etc all damaged.

 

however its never pleasant, i unfortunately run over a dog, only injuring it ,but it shakes you up a bit.

 

on a lighter note, you should have put it in the boot and invited mloc round for a barbie tonight

 

richbk

[JonS]

not a nice experience, but sounds like you and the girl (if not the deer) got off quite lightly.

 

i came across an incident on cannock chase where a focus had hit a large stag....jesus his car was was wrecked, looked like he had hit a lampost at 50mph, windscreen roof etc all damaged.

 

however its never pleasant, i unfortunately run over a dog, only injuring it ,but it shakes you up a bit.

 

on a lighter note, you should have put it in the boot and invited mloc round for a barbie tonight

 

richbk

I heard once, that it is illegal to 'take home' something you have run-over, but if you come across something already run over, you are free to take it! lol Not sure of the truth in all that, but hey! Barby sounds good

[MikePMC]

not a nice experience, but sounds like you and the girl (if not the deer) got off quite lightly.

 

i came across an incident on cannock chase where a focus had hit a large stag....jesus his car was was wrecked, looked like he had hit a lampost at 50mph, windscreen roof etc all damaged.

 

however its never pleasant, i unfortunately run over a dog, only injuring it ,but it shakes you up a bit.

 

on a lighter note, you should have put it in the boot and invited mloc round for a barbie tonight

 

richbk

I heard once, that it is illegal to 'take home' something you have run-over, but if you come across something already run over, you are free to take it! lol Not sure of the truth in all that, but hey! Barby sounds good

 

I believe that "Law" refers to "game" as the act of running over it and then taking it is classed as hunting it!

 

If it's already dead on the road, then you have not hunted it.

 

Not sure if this applies to a huge deer though.

 

Mike

[Matt C]

was she fit??

 

....amused me greatly!

[GreyKnight]

was she fit??

 

 

Well she was more "cute" than "fit", a trainee sports teacher from a local school I managed to discover

 

Seriously though, I was just relieved that everyone was okay and my car wasn't really damaged as I could do without big repair bills right now.

 

Killing the deer doesn't really bother me too much I must admit. It was more the fact that I hit something while driving that shocked me a bit as you kind of think "blimey, that's what it would be like to hit a person". I'm from a farming family and completely used to seeing and handling dead animals in various stages of dismemberment That's why I was able to make certain the deer was dead and then happily grab hold of it by its hind legs and casually drag it off the road much to the horror of passing motorists The deer around us also keep stripping the bark off the young trees in our wood so we often have to shoot them anyway. Believe it or not lone deer that aren't kept within the confines of an estate are considered a pest in the countryside.

 

Ho hum.

[Matt C]

My housemate of old hit a deer and it wrote his car off. I think you were both lucky. I couldn't have pulled a deer like that, would have turned my stomach.

[Laura]

My housemate of old hit a deer and it wrote his car off. I think you were both lucky. I couldn't have pulled a deer like that, would have turned my stomach.

 

 

There is no way I could have gone anywhere near it. I hit a cat once, well technically it ran across the road and ran into the side of my car, luckily with my car at the time being so low it just hit the side and kind of bounced off instead of going underneath. Cat was perfectly fine, just had a bit of a headache I am sure but I was in bits. The worse bit was it all happened outside the owners house and they were so pleased with me for stopping to pick it up - I didnt have the heart (or guts) to tell them it was me that hit it!

[sclark]

I understood that if you kill it and take it the law regards this as poaching, which is illegal.

 

You are allowed to take road kill if it has been hit by someone else though (but you would only want to do that if you had seen it freshly killed I would have thought!!)

 

But I think this situation sounds a bit of a grey area - can you be certain which of you actually killed it?! Guess that they would say that you acted together so neither of you would be allowed to take it, but I don't know.

 

Quite expensive venison!!!

 

Cousin hit a badger in his Audi Coupe a few years ago, he felt awful until he got the bill for rebuilding the front of his car - £3,500!!!!