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

The consequences of hitting pedestrians, even stupid libtard ones, may include the penitentiary. No thanks.

My daily driver is a Ford Focus and hitting even a small coon [bleep] up the front bumper so I brake, now my work vehicle is a 315,000 lb locomotive the possums are always walking on the rail and the dum [bleep] turn around and run down the other way hand over hand on the rail but usually don't get down until they are turned into marmalade.

Watched a possum get flattened by a truck one night it was cool.

Other truck was in the slow lane, I was passing.
Up hill, in benches (I-70 East of Hancock)

I could see under the trucvk, this possum coming from the right,
between the steers, right in the path of the trailer tires.
Destroyed him.

Doesn't take much to amuse a sleepy, bored truck driver!


Always wanted tgfat view of one of those deer you see on the road.
You know the ones.
Blood and fat smeared across a lane 20 feet long. Rolled up hide with the
head attached 50 down the road.


Question. Seriously.
Anyone ever notice the dead possums?
When it's dry out, you see carcasses.
On a rainy night, they come apart.
Looks like they swallowed a bomb.
Why?

Dillon maybe they come apart on rainy nites because the visibility is poor and they are getting pulverised .

Saw the aftermath of a woman hitting an elk with a Ford Explorer. The elk went through the windshield and was in the rear cargo area. So was part of the driver.
I've killed a few deer and had some close calls on elk. What I considered to be one of my best bits of driving happened on night in a snow storm when I swerved my way through a herd of about twenty elk with no damage; although my mirror was folded in (that one was close ). Once had an elk come in from the side and jump over the hood! We were on our driveway and only going about 15 mph.
I don't run over anything on purpose but there are some people who might slow my reflexes down a bit. GD

coming home from work one night, had a covey of quail fly up from next to the road, i ducked , and the cross bar on my lumber rack started ringing. got home and had a limit of quail in the bed of the pickup.
have hit one deer, one bear, and bumped one moose.
came close to elk many times but no hits. on our roads you steer straight, brake as needed and carry a low deductible.

I ran over a chicken once, holy crap it was like running over a bowling ball.

Brake, don't turn.

Depends how big it is!

I'm 43 years old and have driven back and forth across MT for years and years and up until 2 weeks ago had never hit a deer.


Heading out to move cows at dark, early morning. Motoring along about 65-70 mph down a wide open highway and I see 3 mule deer bucks crossing the road in front of me.

It was like slow motion because I spotted them early and had I not been pulling a stock trailer with a saddle horse inside I might have been able to come to a complete stop by the time the third buck slowly took his time crossing.

Had the horn blasting for at least 10 seconds. Deer were in lala land. Hit the buck going maybe 20-30mph(speedo doesn't work in that pickup).


Knocked him straight down and I drove over him with the F350 and trailer tires.


Felt bad as I do not like even running over a bird but sure as hell wasn't going swerve and risk screwing up my new horse.


Didn't even leave a scratch on the mega bumper grill guard.

I'll never leave my lane.....

but try to avoid any critter.........

except coyote....$50 head bounty.........

Our two DD's are equipped......one deer strike will pay for a real bumper

Back in June(?) I ordered a Ranch Hand Legend for the latest feed pickup(F350).


Finally showed up last week. Not sure if Covid created an issue or what but we'll be glad to get it bolted on.



The only thing I don't like about those bumper/grill guards is that they stick out so damn far and more than once we've dug into dirt when going over a dip, crossing a little creek, etc..

I’ve never purposely tried to kill an animal with a vehicle. Since I got the pups in 2014, I haven’t killed anything in the woods. Three birds have met their death since then, two this year in the Camry.

yep...very true.....just measured the Tacoma w/ARB

sticks out 10" from the upper edge of grill

the bumper alone weighs 135#...plus the 80# winch

Yes...had to swap out the front coils to more beefy ones to support the weight

These bumpers are built in Austraila...Ironman too on the Lexus

They know how to build 4x4 stuff

The hold up wasn't covid. 2 years ago I clubbed a buck, went with a ranch hand bumper for obvious reason. Not to mention it was cheaper than the factory bumper set up. The bumper was ordered the day the truck went in the body shop, there was an 8 week lead time on it pre-covid. They are very popular with everyone besides farmers/ranchers.

I try not to hit elk.

I hit a smallish pig in Texas with a rented Kia Forte...virtually totaled it...

Brother hit an antelope, truck had a Ranch Hand grille guard.

Antelope went under, tore up the plastic.
It was cheaper to buy a full bumper than the plastic!

So far, I've hit a 750 lb steer, a mule deer, and a horse - missed a cow elk by ~ 3 inches. DAM, I'm glad nothing came through the windshield !!!
"The Warden" ran over 2 badgers - 1 got away, but she caught the other, and dispatched it with my framing hammer !
I brake for snakes - pending ID. If it's a bullsnake, it goes it's merry way - if it's a rattler, it dies .

Are we talking field mice or caribou?

I once hit a groundhog while riding a Harley. I do not recommend it.

Not sure how many critters I've hit. Sometimes was damage, sometimes not. If it's an empty road and I'm not going too fast I'll swerve for dogs/deer. Outside of that it's straight line braking unless it's a moose or bovine. But the big aluminum bumper I have on my Power Wagon has been awesome. Wife hit a deer with her pickup couple years ago, while in the shop had a steel bumper put on (Ranch Hand started making 1/2 ton specific). While it was in the shop she was driving my truck and the transmission went out. Fast forward 3 years or so, here we are again. New (to us) truck, deer strike, it's currently in the shop. Hope to get it in a day or two, and it also is getting a steel Ranch Hand. Last one worked on a couple deer after it was put on. Fingers crossed my truck survives her bad luck till I get it back. The $$$ to repair anything made within the last few years is fugging mind boggling.