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

This hardly happens to me..i think i ran over a squirrel one time.

Cashisking: Where I live I am constantly avoiding "critters" on the road!
I am talking from small birds and Ground Squirrels to Elk and Moose.
In the past year I have had to avoid many dozens of creatures including Antelope, Mule Deer and Whitetailed Deer - I had to wait for a Skunk to get out of the middle of my drive earlier this week - arrogant little pest would not yield the right of way as I wanted to get by.
There is a stretch of I-15 very near my home here in SW Montana where the Deer cross so heavily in the fall/early winter that they bring in solar powered electronic billboard signs warning drivers of their crossings.
I have seen as many as a dozen carcass's in a two mile stretch here - and the D.O.T. comes and removes the carcass's rather often!
Sad that so many creatures get crushed by vehicles.
I choose to drive much slower than the speed limits and other drivers especially at night!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

In my fusion, I try to avoid critters, even bugs. Smoked a possum a couple weeks ago and felt like my ass end jumped a foot in the air.

If I'm in my truck....I got full coverage.

UR in AK ?

and drive a Fusion ?

WTF ?

DO NOT SWERVE...

Daughter and grand daughter witnessed an accident last weekend. Father swerved to avoid a dog. Still hit and killed the dog. Vehicle overturned. Father died on the scene from his injuries even tho he was able to exit the vehicle. Fortunately, two year son was properly strapped into his car seat and survived. Albeit, now without his father. All for a dog that died anyway...

When I was an EMT in Pennsylvania, PA had approx 40,000 deer/vehicle collisions per year. Approximately 40 human fatalities as a result. Predominantly from swerving to avoid the deer.

DO NOT SWERVE...

I'm probably the reigning king of deer collisions. I'm on a first name basis with the guys at my body shop and they give you a coffee mug every time they fix your car, I now have one section of my kitchen cabinet full of them. I live in an area with the highest deer densities in the country and am often coming home at around 4 am, the prime active time for them.

What I've started doing that has helped immensely is as soon as I see evidence of a deer anywhere along the road is to lay into the horn, multiple staccato blasts seem to do better than a constant one. Usually that gets their attention enough to jolt them into action, they'll either wheel and run the other direction or if they're slowly walking across the road they'll kick it into high gear and get out of the road.

Since I've been doing that my deer hits have gone way down. It's an instinctive reaction for me now, as soon as I even think there's a deer around I lay into the horn.

GET OFF MY ROAD......



OK, bring 'em on now....

When John Denver wrote a song about our roads, he was taking artistic liberty to leave out the reality of the typical country road.
Many curves on the windy roads would be considered swerving. Thats why I found the game "Pole Position" easy as a 14 year old.

We get plenty of practice dodging critters by dodging Pot holes constantly. You guys are talking about whether to swerve or wreck. Sometimes you have to wack a mole with tires. Most of the time, well, you do what you can and complain about the high taxes and bad roads.

We don't have all that many roads where you don't have to swerve on a daily basis. I used to have to replace wheel bearings and other front end components every year after the parts warranty ran out . It's a necessity to drive something that has heavy duty ground control components, especially the front end.

Our country roads follow creeks. So, you practice missing potholes that might eat your car, without going into the other lane where there's usually a truck coming around the blind curve dodging his own string of holes.
On the right are some trees to stop you from plunging into the stream if you over compensate.

Animals are further down on the list of hazards, but definitely a major reason of our high insurance costs no doubt.

I do not swerve to miss an animal on the road - might try well-controlled braking - but best to understand and act on the basis of relative importance. Much of this determination comes from having lived for a long time in BIG elk country with some big bears as well - edges of the day can be deadly - dark is not much better.

So, bought and installed the biggest/strongest animal plow (Ranch Hand) I could find and try to drive the general area in survival mode - little critters do not get any help from steering action and the big ones seem to sense the odds - most of the time. But, recently while I was driving a heavy trailer load of stuff down from the mountains to the new place a mature elk ran onto the road less than 40 yards in front of me and stopped - spanning the center line - leaving almost no reaction time. I managed to get some braking action but far from enough - hit the front shoulder and head - instant dead elk in the middle of the road. It was a heavy hit, and loud - but zero damage to my vehicle and the guard.

Like most things in life, common sense.

For me:

25 MPH leaving the cul-de-sac? Hit the brakes and steer around a rabbit or squirrel.

80 MPH on the interstate? Brake **in a straight line** if there is enough warning, otherwise, just brace for impact. If braking, let up just before impact to raise the front of the vehicle so your deer tartar is not sitting on your center console. Ask me how I know......

But generally, I will not roll my vehicle, risk a head on collision, and endanger lives to miss an animal to save it's life or the cost of an insurance deductible.

Come from a rural farm background.
There were animals we killed on sight, year round.

I will run over most of them, swerve to do it.

Turtles, I will stop and carry.

Others, I will try to avoid. But I'm not wrecking to do it.

Squirrels
groundhogs,
coon,
Possum,
rabbit,
Turkey, (wild and tame)
chickens,
Goose,
Pigeon.
snakes,
skunk,
Frog,
turtle,
rat,
Mice,
chipmunk,.

Darn, didnt realize it was th
at big a list. Can't think of much I haven't hit except a bear.

Most have been accidents, just spend a lot of time driving.

Well, if you are lucky, the odds are that moose won't go over the top of that and through your windshield, but it's been known to happen..

Seems about right, a $4500+ rifle to kill yard birds and a $45,000 truck to kill a deer.

Late 70's heading south to Lake Powell from SLC about 2 am in the morning on a hilly section of road south of Hanksville, UT. Came over a rise doing about 60 or 70 mph and saw in front of me about 40 yards was a momma cow in the right lane and a calf in the left lane without enough room in between them to miss one.
I had three other people in the car with me so it was an easy choice. Slammed on the brakes and hit the calf with the left front fender. The calf went flying and I screeched to a stop with the fender bent into my left front tire. The calf was still alive but in no shape to survive so I slit it's throat. About 1/2 hour of work bending the fender back and changing the tire and we were on our way again, somewhat worse for the wear. If I'd have hit the bigger cow we'd have been in serious trouble.

Well, you know those cute little cottontails when they are about 5" long? Yep. Tonight.. Sorry, had no out.

If they are protesting speed up.

This is good advice...............

When I am approaching a traffic light I am constantly making a decision as to whether I can safely stop, or not........ Approaching the light, if it turns red, I can stop, I can stop, I can stop, at some point I switch to.....I am going through, I am going through..... so there will be NO panic decision if/when it does turn....................

When driving in Seattle, Minneapolis, etal. maybe the decision process should go like this..... It's a squirrel, it's a squirrel, it's a squirrel................................

it's kind of on topic.... Critters on the road and such....

Exactly...

"Your Honor... I have avoided hitting hundreds of animals by this very method. And animals are obviously far smarter then antifas because generally they try to avoid the road. Furthermore, it is common knowledge that stock car drivers will attempt to drive through an accident instead of brake or go around it. Logic being the accident is in motion and will probably be somewhere else by the time you get there."

Some of you are hitting some BIG Game, like Elk in the head, and moose. Do you guys field dress and take them home? I'm thinking, if they cost you big bucks and time, might as well get something out of it for the freezer.......
It can't be all damaged meat. those are large beasts.

Btw, it reminds me of one reason why maybe its not such a good idea for the DNR to introduce elk into my area. I'm interested in hunting them, sure.....just not hitting them. Our white tail already are trying to play Frogger to get across the road in some areas.