got 2......

Been there! What is the $$ damage?

Dunno yet....

Hunting out of season, huh?

Sorry, I feel your pain. I'm on about number 12 or 14, lost track of them. I'm on good terms with my body shop man.

$4750......sheesh.

Last fall I was driving north on I-75 just a few miles south of Knoxville. I was in the left lane when 2 nearly ran broadside into my car. One made it across both lanes, but a truck nailed the 2nd one doing about 75 mph. It went airborne and through the windshield of a car in the right lane. I watched it all in the mirror.

I attempted to stop, but the guy driving the car made it safely to the emergency lane and stopped. Several other cars were able to stop and assist. By the time I got into the right lane I was nearly 1/2 mile ahead anyway. Hope no one was hurt too badly.

Time for a heavy bumper and grill guard if you travel in that country much.

yup. Funny thing is, I was looking at Pat and Scott's cowcatcher bumpers just before I left.....

There were 6 Ford pickups in the yard when you left and only didn't have a grill guard.....



And I still haven't hit one yet.....



And we were just joking about the mirror 'damage' and ding in the hood, that truck is or should I say was in good shape....grin

That's funny, I haven't hit a deer or elk since I started installing Ranch Hand grill guards on my truck years ago. Think I'll keep buying 'em for insurance if nothing else.

I hit a deer in my old dodge once. I fixed the damage though:

BSA, that truck is waaaaaaaay badazz.

I really don't need a project. I really don't need a project. I really don't need a project.....

Sometimes a bumper no matter how big won't help. I've had at least as many deer hit me as I've hit them. Of course that'll happen when your state's #1 for having the probability of a vehicle/deer encounter.

Use a rifle. Most of the time it's cheaper.

they frown on the use of rifles outta season up there. hence.......grin

I worked with my body shop guy to exclude factory bumper, he slid me that cash and I purchased and installed my own ranch hand bumper on one of my last deer hits.

I have a superduty now and don't think I can clear a ranch hand or similar bumper in the winter with my boss V plow mounted.

Did you lose anything functionaly with your deer hit? Radiator, after cooler etc? or could you still drive it?

Radiator was good, but lost the ac condenser and maybe intercooler. but drove it 900 miles home anyway. And yeah, I'm looking at cowcatcher bumpers......

the Ranchhands and such are nice , but they add allota weight up there where the pickup is already plenty heavy....

AC condenser was what I lost on my last hit. Drivable, just looked like hell for a while.

I had sort of a medium duty ranch hand with a bull bar to try to strong arm the deer out of the soft spot (radiator). Mine wasn't full blown winch plate heavy so the overall added weight wasn't terrible.

Last deer I hit was in my 4Runner doing 70 MPH... there it was with no time to avoid the darn thing...

I have a brush guard on mine, with a small welded rack underneath the brush guard, where I have a 31x 10.50 tire mounted on top of....

Like several times before I centered the deer impact right there....deer parts went flying all over the place...

only attention the truck needed was to wash off the blood and fur from parts of it.. and off the spare tire mounted up there...

I learned that from owning a VW Camper with the spare time mounted on the front of it...

a tire can take one hell of an impact and shake it off...

pretty much the reason I have one up there even if it does look sorta hillbilly....but since I am from the border country of SE WVa and SW VA.. looking hillbilly doesn't bother me whatsoever..



The hood makes a good varmint shooting bench for sage rats, as shown also.....

Southern Idaho is wide open and more often than not, you can see deer before you hit them. It helps but it's not a cure all. So far, I've never hit one but I've had a lot standing on the shoulder looking longingly at my front bumper. Last fall I came within inches of tagging a cow elk one night, though. She was standing on the shoulder with her head in the driving lane. I just about got her with the mirror.

I've hit a few deer and have had few run into the side of my trucks.

The closest calls I've had was a horse that reared up in dense fog. Had he not reared I would have smoked him.

The other was broad daylight traveling from Glendive, MT to Fort Peck reservoir on a camping trip. Came over a rise doing about 80 mph in the GF's little car and there was a 2000 lb black angus bull standing broadside in the driving lane.

I missed him by inches and he gave ME a dirty look.

WTF were you doing on his road?

A few years ago, while driving home from a vacation in the Colorado mountains, I hit a sage grouse at around 80 mph on a 100 degree late July day. Never saw it, but it hit the bug deflector on the hood and splattered across the windshield, leaving a nasty mess of splattered guts and gut contents that dried almost instantly. It seems like I'm always hitting something on I-76, the worst, well, maybe not the worst, but certainly the most interesting, was having a sagebrush lodge under the car and catch fire on the catalytic converter.

summer of 76 we were blasting down the highway south of green river wyoming and came over a ridge and went right through a herd of antelope in my brothers 69 chevelle. by the time we came back to get the car the next day, it was a seething mass of festering guts and maggots.

That is an ugly visual!

Parts started showing up here. I decided to not do the body work and use that ins. money for upgrades. I got a new condenser, grill, header panel, headlights, led smoke taillights, smoke cab lights, steering damper and new shocks, hubcaps, and a fab-fours bumper. The bumper showed up faster than any of the other stuff...



new header panel and condenser installed.


new stlss wire grille.




upgraded '08 towing mirrors.


The other stuff is coming in tomorrow, Saturday and Monday... Can't install the bumper till the headlights are in.

Sweet.

Good call!

Once you put that new bumper on, you'll never hit another deer with that truck.

nd, you're prolly right. I busted up the whole front end on a '80 chev taking out a big ol' cow elk. I built a heavy 8" channel iron cow-catcher right after that fiasco. Only hit one measly antelope after that........

The things a guy has to do.

It's amazing how un-suicidal the critters get when they see that your radiator is off limits.

lol.

Had snow yesterday so I had more time to work on the truck. Got the head, clearance and taillights on. Installed the bumper and the driverside mirror. Gotta take the door apart again today, as I somehow screwed up the wiring.......

I like it! Wasn't sure about the grille, but that bumper replacement makes it look just right.

I think those led black taillights look good, too. I haven't done the trick-out deal since I was a pup.....

Got the passenger mirror, ventshades, smoke led fender lights, steering stabilizer and shocks on today. All that's left is bugshield, new windshield, charge the AC, fix the power window. I'm happy with the way it turned out.....

Looks really good, Don.

all bathed and tucked in......

Careful...it might eat that Camry if you leave them alone over night.

Either that or it will make little baby Toyota diesels...

my luck would produce japanese f-150's.... or worse yet, the Ford Couriers.....

Now that you have your new bumper installed ...


LET'S GO DEER HUNTIN' !!!

The AC is charged up, the power window now works again, and the bugshield is on. New windshield is the last thing to do.....

Slapped on a couple more carbon fiber accents to match the bugshield and ventvisors. Gas cap lid and mirror covers. I think it spiffed it up some...

Nice work, it really has come together nicely. How are those shocks treating you?

that cow catcher would look nice on my '15.

Actually not a lot of damage for hitting 2 deer and it was driveable.

hamr, It rides like new again....

rem, they make those for that, too....

oeh, I agree. Just found the price of the damage surprising. I guess I'm outta the loop on real-world costs.....

the carbon fiber kick continues.....I tossed a new shift knob on the Ford.

whittled my brand out of a chunk of corian for the new bumper today.

That is one sweet power wagon!!

Huntsman, good call on mounting the old gear pattern on the dash, the ZF-6 can confuse folks who've never driven one.

I like how your brand turned out as well; what did you use to carve it out?

jigsaw and router/roundover bit.

That is a good lookin' ride. You will enjoy the Bilstein shocks.

E-bayed a osram 462W LED 31" lightbar for my bumper. By gawd, I can light them up the hell up, before I smoosh 'em now.....








These things were $150 a couple months ago and the seller has them down to $109 or best offer. I offered a Benjamin and he took the offer. I reckon for a Bennie, it was worth the gamble. This mutha is BRIGHT....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/31-Inch-462W-5D-Cree-Led-Light-Bar-Flood-Spot-Offroad-Pickup-Suv-Truck-Vs-32-34-/291617441776?hash=item43e5c107f0:g:askAAOSwys5WWEqu&vxp=mtr&autorefresh=true

Huntsman, thanks for the link. Been thinking about some extra light up front and this may be the ticket.

Is your truck a PSD? Does that solid front bumper replacement cause any issues with air flow restriction? The one on my 6.0 PSD has a large opening, which I considered installing a winch in, but didn't want to cause any issues.

Double post for some darned reason....

No air issues. Even the with the lightbar blocking a little.

I just snagged one of those light bars for $100 after making the same offer you did. Do I get a decoder ring now?

Send my commission check soon.....

Dims, hi-beams, lightbar....

Don that's a good looking ride, nice work. Lights look good too. Let us know how they hold up.

I put one of those Golight remote-controlled spotlights on the ford today. Now I can get that 'Deer-in-the-Spotlight' look, before I run'em over....







a vid of the wireless remote...

[img]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c124/huntsman22/tractor/th_MVI_1054_zpsxgsuicdr.mp4[/img]

That light bar looks great and it puts out a ton of light. Your truck looks good!!