What a bummer......We just had one of the ladies run into the side of our Lexus and it cost "only" $3 grand to repair. Thank goodness for insurance...

Sorry for your bad experience but you are so lucky to have escaped serious injury. It must have been shocking in so many ways.

Glad you both are ok! Scary. Had a pregnant co-worker who lives in my town hit a deer on the way home from work one night. She was in a SUV also and ok. I've seen deer all over the road coming and going from work, dead. I always look when driving on the parkway because that's where most of the dead deer are. A few weeks ago we were driving through town and saw three of them in someone's yard. Glad they didn't jump out in front of me.

Thanks, we are both okay. It could have been so much worse. Very thankful!

So glad you are safe but sorry for the scare and your car. I deer tried to jump my parent's grand Cherokee a few years ago, his back legs went thru the back passenger window, a few feet forward and he would have killed my mom.

Glad you are ok!

I wish the deer had enough land so they wouldn't have to go towards the highways. It's not really their fault - they are only doing what comes natural. I realize it's not the drivers fault either. I wish nature and civilization didn't have so many tragic conflicts.

That being said, I am glad you are okay. I can't even imagine how scary that would be. I sometimes wonder what I would do in a similar situation.

Thanks everyone. It happened so fast. DH didnt even remember saying Hold ON to me.....I agree, Chi83, the deer are being pushed out by all the construction. I hate to see them lying on the highway.... feel so bad for them.

Very frustrateed with insurance company. Same agent for 30 years, never filed a claim... but they are trying to give us the runaround about getting our car home for repair. grrrrr.

You all be careful out there!

Check your state law as our state says to the insurance company--pay or you cannot sell insurance in this state--ND
We have so many deer vs cars/trucks/farm equipments that they made that law years ago. As to your insurance agent?? just tell him to either pay or you will go to the state insurance commissioner and file a complaint. It may not be the agents fault completely, it is the upper levels. Be firm, document and keep tract who you talk to and what was said--dates & time.

When my oldest was only 5 months old, I was driving me, my mom and my son down to California. Outside of Redding, on the freeway, I was in the left lane and I saw a car quite a bit in front of me tap their brake lights. I slowed down, and POW...from the left side a deer came bounding out of the median and landed smack dab on the windshield. I SOMEHOW got over to the right and pulled off. Thank god there was no traffic, and the baby was facing backwards in his carseat. The car was a mess, but no one was hurt.

When you come out relatively unscathed, you're a winner in my book.

One thing though that you point out is what they're saying now - do *not* swerve to avoid hitting a deer. You can go into other traffic, lose control of the car and roll, go into a ditch or any number of other things. The recommendation now is hit the brakes, and hit the horn steady and yes, hit the deer if you must. The deer is more likely to move with a steady blast of a horn, so they claim.

There's disagreements over their effectiveness but for the few dollars, I put the deer whistles on my vehicles. If they don't work, I'm out a few bucks. If they do, it could save my life. And I've seen enough times where the deer turned and ran the other way when I came by them. So I'm comfortable in spending the few dollars even though I realize it's anecdotal.

Glad you're safe. Your vehicle can be fixed. Be glad you don't have the problem that northern MN is experiencing. Some people are trying to tame bears and now bears are being out in the roads more and more. Hitting a deer is nothing like hitting a bear.

How frightening. Glad you both are safe....and shame on that insurance company.

Very similar thing happened to me about a month ago. going 75 down the freeway at 5 in the morning to work. Next thing I know a deer was in front of me. Hit the brakes, held on and closed my eyes (Don't know why I closed my eyes). I was driving a little Neon. From the looks of my car, I scooped the deer up as the air bags never went off. Over 6K damage (so it was totaled). There is a hole in the windshield right where my face is...I think the deer's head hit it there. I was fine, we couldn't find the deer, so don't know if it survived (doubt it) or not.

Glad you're OK. VERY VERY Scary!

Vickey-MN

Good to hear you are both physically OK, tho I'm sure you're still shaking a bit. You did have a guardian angel looking over you -- you were in an SUV and you weren't driving alone. I would be a complete wreck (sorry, no pun intended) if it had happened to me while I was alone in the car.

Sending a VERY GENTLE hug your way!

I am so, so sorry that this happened to you. Things like that just get you so rattled. Thank heavens your injuries were no worse.

I recently drove from Philadelphia to New York state and back and saw at least ten dead deer at the side of the highway. They are such a menace. Pennsylvania is overloaded with them and the reason is overpopulation, much more than development. They have no enemies but cars and hunters and reproduce at a phenomenal rate. They have destroyed the forests so that sunlight is now getting through to the forest floor so that some species of plants are growing so quickly they are choking out others. It is really an environmental catastrophe.

They are pretty to look at but I really wish there weren't so darn many of them. Yes! Hit the deer not the oncoming car or a tree.

So glad you both are ok. It happens so quickly a person doesn't even have time to think.

That must have been so scary. I'm glad you're both OK, sorry about your new SUV, and I'm sorry for the deer too, I hate to see deer hit by cars/trucks/whatever.

I'm so leery about driving here because we have a lot of deer, too. And if you see any standing by the road, grazing, you can bet you'll see more. They seem to all feed on the same schedule- about 3 times a day, 8 hours apart. I think it has to do with the moonlight. I hate driving in the dark simply because of the deer factor. At least during daylight hours, you have a chance of seeing them in time to slow down or honk. And I know these roads here and where the deer are likely to cross, so if a local is going slower than normal, there might actually be a reason for it. I get real annoyed when I'm driving cautiously and tourists crawl up my butt on the highway, trying to shove me faster down the road.

We've built up so much of the deer's habitat, they have nowhere to go. I'm glad you're okay . I would be a nervous wreck. I feel for the people and the deer who are now being chased by hunters and their dogs so they run in the highways. I really think there should be an invention..a high power sound which they can hear and we can't to attach on cars. Would save lives, deer and human, and insurance bills.

Contrary to the general opinion, urban sprawl & hunting pressure have very little to do with why the deer are hanging out by the interstates.

If you travel I-80 across Pennsylvania you will go for miles where there is nothing but forrested hills and not a man made structure in sight, yet the dear all seem to prefer to hang out by the highway. It was thought that hunting pressure might be the cause, but if that were the case the presence of deer would be greater during the very limited hunting season, but that is not the case. The deer are there year around.

About ten years ago the Pensylvania Fish & Game commission conducted a two year study to figure out what was attracting the deer to the roadways and they finally determined it was two things.

1. There is generally a 50 to 300ft strip of land adjacent to the roadway where the trees have been removed and the vegetation is constantly mowed leaving a meadow of fresh succulent grasses, whereas there is little to no grass in the forrest areas, and the meadows within the forrests are grown up with weeds and briars, so the deer find the roadway a better feeding place.

2. In winter the roadways are treated with salt as they plow the snow, and when melt occurs the salt residue is carried into the grasses beside the road, and the deer are coming for the salt.

Thank you all for your well wishes.... and Cynic... you are so right... I correct my previous subject WE WERE TRULY THE WINNERS here. we are okay.
Lazypup, i found your post very interesting , read it to DH. We just 'assumed' it was the factors of the hunters with or without dogs, running the dogs into the highways and / the urban sprawl. Your post really makes sense.

Some of you may remember the beginning of the supposed fuel crisis when we had the big trucking shutdown in 1974.

The word was out that the trucks would shutdown at midnight, so the State of Ohio closed the Ohio Turnpike to cars and only allowed 18 wheelers on the turnpike from 4pm until midnight in the hopes that everyone would make it across the state or get home and parked before the deadline, thus reducing violence on the highway.

In those days I was driving a conventional "R Model" Mack truck pulling a 40ft flat bed and I was heading east from Toledo to Youngstown. With no cars on the highway it was wall to wall trucks running about 70mph. About 30 miles west of Youngstown someone on the westbound lane called on the CB and warned us to be on the lookout for a small herd of deer in the median and possibly attempting to cross the westbound lanes. Running in the right lane I slowed down a bit and left about 100yds interval between me and the truck ahead, but I had a truck about 40ft behind me and another coming up in the left lane passing me. Suddenly a huge buck deer jumped across the road from the center median, landing on the right half of my lane. I couldn't hit the brakes or the truck behind would hit me, I couldn't swerve left because there was a truck there. Whaaaam, I hit the deer, which flew up over my fender instantly tearing the air cleaner and the rear view mirror off the right side of my truck, but just before the mirror went, I was my trailer swinging into a jackknife to the right side. I immediately stabbed her down one gear and pushed the thottle to the floorboards hoping to power out of the jackknife. The entire truck swerved right, across the breakdown lane and out into the grassy area about 30ft before hitting a pothole in the dirt and swerving me back to the left, across the breakdown lane, across the driving lane and part way into the left lane before I could gain full control and get it back in my lane, then slowed down and stopped in the breakdown lane, all of which had transpired in 30 to 45 seconds from the initial impact. I sat there for I don't know how long trying to regain my composure, then I got out and assessed the damage. The front bumper on a mack truck is a 12" solid iron I beam, but on the right side that bumper had been bent back about 10". Another 2" and it would have hit my right stearing tire and locked my stearing. The hood an fenders are a solid fiberglass casting, but a huge chunk was torn out of the right fender and the large 30gal barrel shaped air cleaner was torn completely off the truck, as well as the right hand rear view mirror.

I looked back about 200 yards behind me and the deer was still standing, although it was obvious that its rear leg was nearly torn off.

I got on my radio and called to a local base station, which in turn called the state police, and in about 10 minutes an officer showed up. As he was examining my damage I showed him the deer badly crippled and still wandering around in a daze. We were both afraid it would wander back on the highway so the officer finally had to shot it with a shotgun.

Now keep in mind that all four wheelers are designed to crumple up to absorb impact, but I was driving a solid Mack truck that was over 50ft long and weighed in excess of 15 tons empty.

The mere fact that you survived the incident without major injury is remarkable, and certainly a sound reason to say this truely was a Happy Thanksgiving for you and yours. I realize the loss of your vehicle, but that is only a machine and it can be replaced, but with the grace of God, you are all safe and secure.

We have many deer accidents in this area - we are in the Washington foothills and very near a massive forest that runs all the way over the Cascade Mountains, so I guess it's what we chose to life with. The deer have been less of a problem though than the elk. They are also all over the forest and in our field; when they run, they can be very dangerous to things that are in their way.

I try to not drive after dark because I just can't see the animals that may be near our country roads. So far I've been fortunate to not have any collisions.

I am so glad you are safe. There was a reason you got rid of the sedan and bought the SUV. This was the reason.

Now, besides needing a tow vehicle, you know why I drive a gas hog SUV!!! I don't care how much flak I get about the poor mileage it gets. I know I am much safer driving it than I would be in a car. It has a solid, full frame under it, where most cars have almost nothing for a frame, and are almost all fiberglass. What's to help protect us there? Nothing.

Tami

Lazypup, that is interesting about the grass and salt near the highways. Never thought of that. I see them all the time, even along the Atlantic City expressway.

By the way, if you see one crossing the road in front of you, you can bet that others will soon follow. Don't speed up thinking that all is clear.