Keep the posts comin', y'all. It's great so see so much info shared.
"When in doubt, throttle out."
Yes, there's rarely a one size fits all solution, but throttling out can work if the circumstances and the riders skill level is able to manage it.
"My wife rides her own because of deer. I hate deer, they are so stupid."
Hope that is not the only reason she rides her own. Deer are stupid for sure. But sure are tastey!
"Glad to see this thread. I'm always scanning every bit of the road as far out as possible, but it's a good reminder to scan also the possible areas OTHER than the road where critters might be."
Glad I started it. I tend to try to tune in and act when I have a recurring topic pop up, especially when it recurs in all aspects of my life. Writing about it is kind of my way of processing it. I was a little freaked out when it hit so close to home in such a compressed time frame with mr. twisty and my brother...and thank goodness the outcomes of both were favorable. But it got me thinking that this is a fairly common situation we face on the road. If this thread helps any one of us better manage this going forward, it was energy well spent.
"Those things are HUGE!!"
One of my favorite rides in MN is from Ely to the North Shore of Superior. We tend to see moose there almost every time, in broad daylight. Its sobering to encounter one in a car, but its a reality check of how small and unprotected you are on a bike. And if its a mama with calves, forgetaboutit!
"I have a buddy who's a wildlife management officer around Cleveland and hit a deer on his CBR. He was in the hospital for a few weeks because of it."
If it can happen to someone who studies critters behaviors for a living, it can happen to any of us. Hope he is all healed and back on a bike.
"I notice that the little babies run like hell while the mom's and pop's kinda gallop along . . . ."
Those may be behaviors worth noting...
"This is true especially if there are wooded areas around, and there's either water, or grazing areas around."
+1
"He never even saw the second deer."
I think that happens alot. We know of two incidents, one in N. MN the other in S. Colorado, where the second deer actually ran into the rear passenger door of the car people we know were in. Imagine if it were a motorcycle absorbing that impact. Yikes.
We have pronghorns out here that view fences as a suggested boundary. They will jump over the fence and head towards the road. We almost hit one in the truck up in Wyoming. Any experiences with them?
That is very true - where there's one deer...there's more. Right after I moved (about 3 years ago) I was driving home in my silver diesel Dodge ram 2500 long bed crew cab. Not small. Not quiet. Not a "blending in" color. I saw a deer run across the road. Looked at where it came from, there were five or ten more behind it. I stopped. Completely. Sitting there, foot on the clutch, Cummins rattling away nicely. Five or six deer crossed in front of the truck, following the first. Then Gomer Pyle deer can't stay in line with the rest of the squad...and RAN INTO THE SIDE OF MY TRUCK. •••••••. If MD allowed me to carry that animal wouldn't have walked away, it'd have got six rounds in it right there. It shook my big diesel truck...would have definitely not tickled if I was on a bike.
Some years back wife, and i were in a pontiac sunfire. in lincoln national forest, new mexico at night At bottom of hill, saw 5 muledeer milling around in the road. two were laying down in road. road shoulders were gravel type with no traction. I just locked brakes up, stayed straight and never pushed clutch in. Killed motor when stopped. The two that were laying down just got up, slipping and sliding round as they had no traction on road surface either. they all trotted off into the dark. I stopped bout 3 feet from all 5. Twas an eyeopener for sure.
Back when I was a senior in high school (1972) a buddy and I were headed back home with our dates on what then was a country road. It was just about 12:30am when we hit a dapple gray horse that had gotten loose from it's pasture. Totaled out Jeff's Chevy and killed the horse. The four of us were uninjured but had the horse come over the hood instead of being thrown to the side, it would have been a different story.
There was cracked corn all over the side of Jeff's car. Gross!
I just hold my line, but 70-80,000 lbs with 5 axles on the floor & a Cummins out the front gives you some comfort.
Just come back from BC to Montreal on the TCH, much of it 2way, saw plenty of deer & smaller critters but no moose, my driving shifts were afternoon into the night so I had every light lit as much as possible, nonetheless you have to have your wits about you.
That is a beautiful drive... done it myself a number of times. I've seen furry things that were hard to identify, but never made contact with any of them.
I have hit a deer and crashed into a river in 23 degree weather going to Colorado. It took my 45 minutes to crawl out of the river and up the bank! I almost died of hypothermia. I laid in the road for 2 hrs before i got help.
So far i have hit 1 deer 2 cats and a skunk! The deer and 1 cat resulted in horrible crashes! So i don't ride at night anymore because 90% of the crashes i had were riding at dusk or even at night! people don't see you and all the animals are out or going to bed so they are active!
Believe it or not, Belinda, Pronghorn can't (or won't, or just don't) jump fences; I got this from a Fed. wildlife officer. Instead, they crawl under them-- this I've seen. Notice most highway fences where there are a lot of antelope have mesh from the ground to the second wire. Next time you're up there, check US85 in Wyoming. A close friend and riding buddy was riding his CVO E-Glide along a gravel county road near his farm in eastern Colorado and saw a buck pronghorn pacing him through a cut wheat field, when the sob cut hard left, and hit Jack broadside, knocking him clean off the bike and into the ditch. The bike rolled along until it stopped, leaned over on the crashbar. Jack had several cracked ribs, a punctured lung, a broken clavicle and dislocated shoulder, while said antelope loped away.
That sucks about your friend. When something like that hits from the side on a bike, there's nothing you can do. They are unpredictable and seem to be more nimble than deer.
I've seen them crawl under fences too, and maybe fence jumping is something they have recently evolved into doing. The one we saw near crazy woman canyon did something more like this one here:
They are unpredictable and seem to be more nimble than deer. And a hella lot faster, too. Now that they're learning to jump fences, holy $#!& watch out... Thanks for the vid...
In the slower...but Bigger critter problem I suggest caution where they raise Bison.
Bison have this habit of ignoring single strand barb wire. The thick hair and hide mean they don't get the "hey!" nerve signal until long after they've walked right through the fence. Bison farmers use multiple layers and often what seems like enough electricity to light up a stadium. And still spend a lot of time mending fences and rounding up strays.... who I have seen wander off after being hit by a Toyota.
Fortunately for motorcycle riders Bison are rare, like Moose, another Wall In The Road you may run into on your travels.
Cows, however are common, and it's important to know the "range laws" in the area you ride though.
This may have changed, ( so check for yourself ) but when I was a young man, ( last century..or 2 ago ) Nebraska was a "closed range" state, and South Dakota was an "open range" state.
What that meant was in Nebraska, if a cow gets loose, and you hit it with your car, no one knows where the poor critter came from since it's the Farmer's responsibility to keep them off the road.
In South Dakota a clapped out old cow instantly became a prize heifer when you hit one, since the Farmer was not responsible for keeping cows out of the road, you were responsible for avoiding them.
That is, of course, a massive oversimplification of a complex legal issue, but it means to us that some places you are far more likely to run into Bessie.
Deer, OTOH at least locally, are everywhere.
I'm going out to mow now, and expect to see a few dash away from my yard when I start the mower. They bed down in the maze out back.
