Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Critters on the road - hit or avoid?

So on any given day they'll be some Critter on the road that I need to either smack with the truck... or avoid.
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Would you run down a possum?

How about a snake?

Coyote?

I try to avoid, as long as I don’t wreck or cause a wreck
I have a weakness. If possible I try and rescue turtles and snakes.

Same here.

I've stopped and turned on flashers, got out and ushered baby coons across the road.
Rescued turtles too,

I am watchful of squirrels and other critters.

But a possum gets converted to speed bump.

Did swerve to hit a squirrel once, but after somebody coming the other way smashed his back end flat, he was still thrashing so I finished him off.
Poor bastard.

I suppose the rather upset lady behind me didn't see the initial problem.

I'll hit the brakes, but I will not swerve for animals. My life and the lives of my passengers are far more important than any animal's life.

Kids principal swerved to miss a deer, hit a tree.
Never made it out of the hospital.

Dude lived across from my hunting spot did the same thing down the road a ways.

No other cars hit in their evasive maneuvers.

Was hunting and heard a crash on the road nearby. Others stopped. Gal swerved and took it head on into embankment.
While cops and ambulance were there, more deer ran right through em.

I was in a treeline 150 yards straight down from the wreck. I let the does pass. Coulda shot one but figured the people would freak.

Fugg the deer. I can always buy another car,
I don't swerve.

Told my kids the same thing.
Brake and maintain control.

Pops got a new engine in his Blazer because he bought it new and it was in good shape.
Young gal swerved to miss a cat and trashed three cars (plus hers) in front of my dads house.

Totalled his Blazer,

Aint that the way it works LOL

I hit the gas AND aim for squirrels

if they’re dead, already hit by someone else, I’ll run over the lump again. Nature’s little speed bumps


If I have my tandem trailer, I usually have someone on my six, I’ll hit a greasy dead possum and sometimes it will flip it up airborne, just for them


I’ll stop, and put myself at peril to rescue a box turtle. And relocate them to our farm. (Springs, creeks, mature forest)

If its something you can eat, hammer down.

When I am driving I always keep an eye out for animals in front of me ,oncoming vehicles and vehicles behind me in case I would need to swerve .
I respect all animals whether they are Snakes or Possums,cats dogs ,rabbits ,coons anything.

I grew up in the country and used to either shoot any snakes crossing the gravel road on the farm or occasionally if feeling real brave would get out and stomp a cotton mouth.
That was stupid of me for a couple of reasons.
First I was damn lucky I did not get bit and second they posed no harm to me nor to anyone else.
Now if there was a Cotton Mouth in the yard where people walk that is a different story.

Now ,the way I see things is that I wont kill any animal unless I am going to eat it or it poses an Immediate right now threat to me.
To Kill an animal just because I can is stupid to me anymore.

I have hit a couple of Possums accidently and will stop if traffic conditions will safely allow me to and if they are not dead and suffering will get out and shoot them in the head to put an end to their suffering.

If there is a turtle crossing the road and a vehicle is not in front of me of behind me will pull my truck over off the road and pick the turtle up and put it on the side of the road it wants to go to.

Again this all depends on the conditions and traffic.

I never swerve. Haven't had that many animals jump out in front of me but I just hit the brakes as a general rule, except for possums - I hate possums and they are small enough to avoid damage to my vehicle, so are fair game. I ran over a cat when I had a motorbike - didn't see it in time to do anything so I just ran over it. It went under the front wheel and hit the sump guard (I was on a trail bike - KLR600) and then ran off.

If it's a critter of the Commie, BLM, or ANTIFA variety, you should accelerate and mow it down - especially if you're in a truck with a stout bull bar.

if it's a regular critter, try to avoid it if you can safely do so. Barreling into a tree, ditch or another motorist to avoid a squirrel is not advisable.

Sometimes you have to drive through wire fences to hit them

Why do you hate possums?

They eat fleas and Ticks by the thousands.

Friend of mine had a Pet possum that he raised from a baby,Kept in his house and was a very loving animal that laid in his lap when he sat in the recliner.
The Possum played with the dogs and cats outside .
They liked her too .
She died of old age and my friend cried like a baby.

He was ex Military and one of the roughest toughest men I ever knew in a fight and a hunter who lived in the country and he and his family lived almost exclusively off of game he killed or fish he caught and what he grew in his garden.

He knew the difference between killing to eat or in defense of family and Country and Just wanton senseless killing,taught his boys the same from an early age.

When I was a Kid I would just kill them for no reason ,same with Snakes and birds even songbirds whose only transgression was to live and sing.

I am 60 now and no longer kill just for a target or just because I can and ashamed of myself that I ever did.

Box turtle makes excellent soup.

Antifa makes excellent bear chow... ravens can be picky.

The situation kind of dictates for me. Interstate, county highway, country road, time of day, high probability of game crossing, etc. I drive slow when possible, at night always. I will go out of my way to allow animals passage, if I am alone on road and can do so safely.

Don’t swerve...controlled brake for me. If the animal evades, it lives another day.

Son and I were headed out deer hunting one afternoon and witnessed a car in front of us swerve hard to miss a squirrel...a squirrel. Lady lost control flipped car. Two year old infant was ejected from the car seat somehow and obviously died. All this over a damn squirrel. Our son was probably twelve at the time and sadly, learned a big lesson that day. I can still see it in my mind.

When I first started driving, the first piece of advice my father gave me was to never swerve to avoid hitting an animal. He had a friend that had swerved to avoid hitting a dog, and lost control, wrecked and was killed. I told the same thing to my kids, and now to my grandkids. I brake or slow down when I can, otherwise, I just let what happens happen...........except for squirrels, as I never give those destructive little critters a pass.

Miss them if you can. Body work is expensive

I live in the suburbs and I'm fairly sure they don't give me any benefits. Numbers have increased over the years for some reason. The worst thing about them is that they get into the roof spaces and make horrendous noises at any time during the day and night.

They are heavy footed for such small creatures. I have a tin roof over the patio next to my bedroom and I get woken up by then stomping across it most nights. They did lift some tiles and get into the roof at one stage but I fixed that. While they were there they'd stomp around any time - if you'd heard them you'd swear that someone had broken into the house and was moving around furniture.

They harrassed and scared my elderly mother in her home too.

They are native so we can't kill them. I can only get lucky and run them over by accident.