So I hit a deer and totaled my wife's car two weeks ago

[petro]

In central Mn I can't count the amount of close calls, even while towing a boat. Never have hit one though.
Last year was towing up north in the middle of day one came running out of ditch while I was doing 65 on a divided highway. As I took the shoulder to avoid it, I must have missed it by inches, as it crossed the median a car coming the other way took it head on, I could hear the impact. A couple following us up said it was horrible.

 

[JGalt]

Deer off season are legal to eat as road kill in Ohio.

They let you take them home here too. But the law won't let you shoot them if they aren't dead, which is kinda weird. I don't mind if they're just standing there on the side of the road, because I can honk at them and they run off. But the goofy things sometimes pop out of the cornfield and dart right in front of you.

 

[xband]

They let you take them home here too. But the law won't let you shoot them if they aren't dead, which is kinda weird.

Venison Burgers are tasty when mixed with pork sausage.

 

[Devils_Advocate]

It was about 6 AM, pitch black outside, and the deer were in rutting season. The bastard was going at a full run and I didn't see him till I hit him. The damned airbag went off and the cabin filled up with smoke from charge. I pulled over and didn't see the deer in the road behind me. So I turned around and drove home while the car was still running. The car was a 2016 Nissan Versa that we bought new in 2017. It had about 150,000 miles on it when I hit the deer. I hit a deer last year with it, and did about $4,000 worth of damage. The insurance company paid to have it repaired, and the body shop did a good job. This time though, the insurance company totaled the car out. We got enough to pay the $5,000 we still owed on it, plus an extra $1,000. The car still started and ran when the guy came over to haul it off. I found out later that the deer wasn't quite dead. Someone called the Sheriff's Dept. and an officer shot it in the head. The deer's still lying out there in the ditch, but there are dead deer all along the roadsides here.

I kinda liked that Versa. It was a standard shift, and got almost 40 mpg. The wife named her "Vera."

View attachment 561412

View attachment 561413

View attachment 561422

View attachment 561414


So anyway, we found one just like it. 2014 model with only 50,000 miles on it. Standard shift too. We drove over to Keokuk, Iowa last Friday and picked it up. The wife named her "Vera 2."

View attachment 561421

Last weekend ( Saturday) while heading to College Station this guy about a mile ahead of me hit one and killed the deer.

He had mild damage to his car but the deer was dead as can be in the ditch.

My brother was with me and wonder if the guy saw the deer and I said most likely not…

 

[JGalt]

Venison Burgers are tasty when mixed with pork sausage.

I've had those, there were pretty good. Deer salami is great too.

 

[the other mike]

It was about 6 AM, pitch black outside, and the deer were in rutting season. The bastard was going at a full run and I didn't see him till I hit him. The damned airbag went off and the cabin filled up with smoke from charge. I pulled over and didn't see the deer in the road behind me. So I turned around and drove home while the car was still running. The car was a 2016 Nissan Versa that we bought new in 2017. It had about 150,000 miles on it when I hit the deer. I hit a deer last year with it, and did about $4,000 worth of damage. The insurance company paid to have it repaired, and the body shop did a good job. This time though, the insurance company totaled the car out. We got enough to pay the $5,000 we still owed on it, plus an extra $1,000. The car still started and ran when the guy came over to haul it off. I found out later that the deer wasn't quite dead. Someone called the Sheriff's Dept. and an officer shot it in the head. The deer's still lying out there in the ditch, but there are dead deer all along the roadsides here.

I kinda liked that Versa. It was a standard shift, and got almost 40 mpg. The wife named her "Vera."

View attachment 561412

View attachment 561413

View attachment 561422

View attachment 561414


So anyway, we found one just like it. 2014 model with only 50,000 miles on it. Standard shift too. We drove over to Keokuk, Iowa last Friday and picked it up. The wife named her "Vera 2."

View attachment 561421

You were pretty lucky to walk away from that.

Way back in 2019 ( before the world went crazy ) my youngest son and my wife each totaled their cars by hitting deer --within a month's time. It was crazy. Both walked without a scratch thank God.

 

[harmonica]

good job

 

[petro]

My buddy hit one years ago on a busy fast divided highway just a mile from my house.
The deer almost went through the windshield and there he was stuck with the horn blaring, couldn't open the hood to shut it off, and two scared screaming little kids in the backseat with a bloody carcass stuck on the front.
Total chaos he said.

 

[DudleySmith]

Man, that one really tore up that car. Glad you weren't hurt. I've hit a deer twice; both times people stopped and asked me how much I wanted for the carcass, lol. I guess they thought I got to claim it or something.

Some parts of the country they're too numerous and aren't being thinned out by hunters properly. Other places, like Texas, have a serious wild hog problem.

 

[xband]

I've had those, there were pretty good. Deer salami is great too.

Kudos to the chef including raw deer jerky.

 

[JohnDB]

There's 1.2 million of those bastards here. They're pretty animals and I don't hunt them because I never cared for the taste of them. I'd eat them if I needed to, but the processing plants here charge about $120 and my freezer's always full of meat anyway. But I do let the neighbors do a deer drive though my property every year.

If they are up to doing drives...that means it's a serious issue of overpopulation. But at least they are doing them. Pennsylvania had a serious issue with them. I'd see millions of dollars worth of damage in deer carcasses on the roadside every time I drove through.

But then again it was one of the most expensive states to even try hunting in from those who I had spoken to about it.

It's a choice of living with predators to take the deer out or living with the hunters who aren't always great about making sure the field of fire is clear.

 

[Indeependent]

It was about 6 AM, pitch black outside, and the deer were in rutting season. The bastard was going at a full run and I didn't see him till I hit him. The damned airbag went off and the cabin filled up with smoke from charge. I pulled over and didn't see the deer in the road behind me. So I turned around and drove home while the car was still running. The car was a 2016 Nissan Versa that we bought new in 2017. It had about 150,000 miles on it when I hit the deer. I hit a deer last year with it, and did about $4,000 worth of damage. The insurance company paid to have it repaired, and the body shop did a good job. This time though, the insurance company totaled the car out. We got enough to pay the $5,000 we still owed on it, plus an extra $1,000. The car still started and ran when the guy came over to haul it off. I found out later that the deer wasn't quite dead. Someone called the Sheriff's Dept. and an officer shot it in the head. The deer's still lying out there in the ditch, but there are dead deer all along the roadsides here.

I kinda liked that Versa. It was a standard shift, and got almost 40 mpg. The wife named her "Vera."

View attachment 561412

View attachment 561413

View attachment 561422

View attachment 561414


So anyway, we found one just like it. 2014 model with only 50,000 miles on it. Standard shift too. We drove over to Keokuk, Iowa last Friday and picked it up. The wife named her "Vera 2."

View attachment 561421

And you waited 2 weeks to tell us!?

 

[JGalt]

And you waited 2 weeks to tell us!?

Well, I was gonna wait until the wife bought another car. I was sorta embarrassed.

 

[petro]

I live in a rural area and gave up night riding a motorcycle because one time all I saw was a flash of brown crossing my headlights far too close for comfort.
Buddy got a raccoon right in front of me once, I missed the other two. He rode right over that sucker. He once got a deer with the snowmobile too doing 50. Said he just ducked behind the windscreen and it flew right over him.

 

[HenryBHough]

Be thankful it wasn't a moose or one of these......

They usually are the sole survivors......

 

[Missourian]

Deer cause of death listed as Covid...

 

[DGS49]

On the business side of things, if you got $6,000 for a Versa with 150k miles on it, you need to do the Happy Dance. I would have dropped the collision insurance a while ago.

My story is from about a dozen years ago. Evening drive during the rutting season, the driver's side glass IMPLODES, sending tiny shards of glass throughout the car. Specs of glass are embedded in the side of my face and had to be removed with tweezers. I had no idea what had happened until we pulled into a brightly lit parking lot, and saw deer fur around the edges.

I have been very lucky, and haven't had any significant deer encounters since then, although the local deer population is quite large.