Close encounter with a deer- good lessons

[Vinny76]

So last night at 9pm I was riding my VTX 1800 Tourer home from work. It was a little below 30 degrees out so my face shield on my full face helmet was fogging up. I was fidgeting with it to let some air in to get rid of the fog, doing about 60 mph down an old country road. As my left hand was opening the face shield to let some air in to get rid of some of the fog I notice a large deer standing right in the middle of the road ahead of me about 50 feet. Thats not very far when your doing 60mph. I hit the brakes quickly and honked the horn with my left thumb, and the buck just stood there staring at me. I didn't really have time to swerve much and I ended up passing him doing about 30mph. As I passed him I was close enough to reach out and touch him with my left hand, and I could see it was a very large buck, probably 10+ points. If at any point he had decided to keep walking across the road I would have run right into him for sure. Thank God, I ended up missing him and cruising on down the road.

Here are some lessons that were reinforced to me:

- Put anti-fog inside my face shield before any ride where the temperature will be cool enough for the face shield to fog up. Normally I would have it on, but this was the first night of the season that the temperature had been this cold.

- If I'm doing something on the bike that is distracting any of my full attention from the road... SLOW DOWN. If I had slowed down to say 40mph I probably could have completely stopped in the above situation.

- Drive slower than usual anytime it is dark out. The speed limit on this road was 55, and while 60 might have safe during the day time, during the night I should really be doing about 50 there, assuming my attention is fully on the road.

Anyway, hopefully some of ya'll can pick up a tip or 2 from my experience, and if you have any to add to it then fire away!

[Greg Riddle]

GLAD YOU MISSED IT

I hit a deer on a nighthawk 750 3 years ago. was doing about 35 when i hit it broadside. killed the deer and a pair of underwear. lucky i didnt go down

+1 for antifog

[foothillrider]

Originally Posted by Vinny76

- Put anti-fog inside my face shield before any ride where the temperature will be cool enough for the face shield to fog up. Normally I would have it on, but this was the first night of the season that the temperature had been this cold.

- If I'm doing something on the bike that is distracting any of my full attention from the road... SLOW DOWN. If I had slowed down to say 40mph I probably could have completely stopped in the above situation.

- Drive slower than usual anytime it is dark out. The speed limit on this road was 55, and while 60 might have safe during the day time, during the night I should really be doing about 50 there, assuming my attention is fully on the road.

Anyway, hopefully some of ya'll can pick up a tip or 2 from my experience, and if you have any to add to it then fire away!

Excellent advice, I had almost exactly the same experience on tuesday night, riding to work at 8:30 p.m. (I work Graveyards), low temps, faceshield fogging up. The road I ride is a Mountain road with a twisty 30 mph section where I have seen a lot of deer.

As I was trying to get my shield up, I saw it a little late in the opposite lane--I passed it going about 35 mph leaning into a curve, and it didn't move, thankfully. Since my left hand was on my faceshield and I knew better than to panic break at that point, I pulled the clutch in to quiet the bike, and rode on by him. I too could have reached out and slapped him. I was on top of him before I knew it.

I don't know if that was the best thing to do or not, but under that one circumstance, it worked out OK.

Be Careful, Deer are out all over the place!

[edgee]

Glad you're safe. Do you think the deer whistle would work?

[Danny Lewis]

30 degrees




glad to hear your ok, it sounds like it would have made a good wall mount though.

[SteveF]

Originally Posted by edgee

Glad you're safe. Do you think the deer whistle would work?

I live out in the country in an area overrun with deer. Never deer hunted before but it just got personal after my wife hit a small one and now I have to buy another grill for my F-150.

I've never seen any evidence that they work. Deer have extraordinary hearing and can hear you coming from a long way off. Why they make a conscious decision to run in front of a vehicle is a mystery. I'll like to hear the "loud pipes protect you from deer" crowd explain the behavior of this little woodland genius.

You Tube

You Tube

Steve.

[locodude]

luckily on my late night commutes to work I'm usually the only vehicle on the road, I just set the cruise on 50, lights on bright. I can stop pretty darn quickly at that speed. I practice my quick stops regularly on that road. So far I have had to stop twice for deer in the road. Be careful out there.

[Bull117]

Curious...do you have stock pipes? I saw a deer jump a wire fire fence and was headed across the road when he heard the bike and turned around.

There is a reason for the term 'Deer in a headlight'...

Bull

[RBS]

What are you folks using to anti fog your face shields? Iv;e tried a couple of differant brands, but none seem to work .

[VTX Mojo]

Glad you made by him ok. There is a lot of deer around where I live. I dont do a lot of night riding but I still see them in the daylight. I have never had a close call with one on the bike just the car.
I did have a close call with a buzzard once. That can scare the hell out of when they fly up in front of the bike and you can see the red around his eye because he was so close.

[Vinny76]

Edgee,

Not sure if the deer whistle would have worked... but I'm thinking probably not since I was laying on the horn and it just stood there staring at my anyway.

Originally Posted by Bull117

Curious...do you have stock pipes?

Bull

Bull, yes, I do have stock pipes. On that subject I used to have a shadow with very loud pipes and the deer would scatter way ahead of time when they would hear me coming. Many times I saw deer ahead on the road and they would hear me and run. I'm convinced it was my loud pipes. However now I run the quiet, stock pipes on my 1800 T. There are pro's and con's to loud and quiet pipes for sure. I like listening to my mp3 player when riding solo, and being able to talk with the wife when she's with me. Not to mention the loud pipes get really annoying on longer trips.

[edgee]

Originally Posted by RBS

What are you folks using to anti fog your face shields? Iv;e tried a couple of differant brands, but none seem to work .

RainX windshield anti fog, but each application is good for one day only

[Jody1971]

Good job of missing him. We are infested with deer around here. Afew years ago I was coming home after dark and a deer came across the road in front of me from my left. I had to get on the front and rear brakes hard and I pushed the bike to the left. When I went by him, I was close enough to wipe his azz. If I had stayed straight, I would have hit him broadside. I had to pull over and clear my head before I went on. Deer are every where, day and night, everyone ride safe and watch out for them. Maybe I can hit a couple with my Remington .270 this year.

[big mo]

I have two bikes I ride. I usually ride my 1800 only on Tuesday and Thursdays from 8-10 am and 1 to 3 pm. So most people will not see me on it as most of my buddies ride Harley's. I ride my Harley all other times. I ride it exclusively at night as it is much louder and better sounding than the Honda, so deer can hear it. I also do a lot of extensive martial arts and reflex training which I believe helps me in these situations. You may want to try this Vinny76.

[speedsville]

Originally Posted by RBS

What are you folks using to anti fog your face shields? Iv;e tried a couple of differant brands, but none seem to work .

FOG CITY insert on the back of the shield.
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...ac=2&zmap=3820

I have also heard liquid soap works very well.
Larry