Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Ever smack a buzzard on the highway?

I hit one at about 35 MPH several years ago. Hit the front bumper and killed it. I was expecting a little damage but there was only a bit of goo on the bumper.

Yup

Never hit one ,but drove past a bunch that were eating roadkill .when the flock got up one managed to take a dump allover the windshield and roof of the car ,had to stop at the first place I could and hose it off then to the car wash for a major cleaning ,stinkyest plie ever ,still can make me want to gag just thinking about it.

RiverRider is making me reconsider putting off a new windshield on my F-150 any longer. During the TX freeze in 21 my windshield developed two cracks that go all the way across and are joined by vertical crack too. They are low on the windshield so I mostly
Look over them but it likely wouldn’t take much of an impact to allow cabin intrusion.

The largest thing I’ve hit with a windshield was a hen pheasant - can’t imagine the thump from a big old buzzard.

They puke out what they've eaten to take off faster. Had a big, bloody wad of puke hit the windshield when I barely missed a buzzard once. Like you said, it was a tad stinky.

Only time I actually hit a buzzard, it glanced off the windshield, but not before knocking an egg out, that splattered all over the glass and roof. That required a quick car wash too.

No, but I’ve come close

Growing up in GA , you’d see buzzards pretty regular. Now, in SC, they are every damn where. I don’t ever recall seeing so many vultures.

Has there been a vulture explosion? Just the area? Part of the reason for quail numbers tanking?

Was with a friend who lost a drivers side rear view mirror to a rooster pheasant in South Dakota, at 75 mph.

Buzzards are pretty light and surprisingly fragile. Lotsa wingspan, but not very heavy.

I bet that pheasant was heavier.

No vulture but a couple of owls over the years.
I was driving a dark starless night on a paved road in northern MN, smooth quiet ride when my drivers side window shattered. That woke me up. Turned back and found a flying squirrel dead.

Osky

I'd rather hit another pig than another buzzard!
Filthy creatures! Yeah, yeah, yeah, nature's clean up crew.
Dirt road or international race way, I see buzzards, I slow down!
Hit one that took out a headlight and damaged the grill in a Dodge "Dakota".
My f-i-l was a civilian electrician for the airforce at Sheppard AFB working on the little T6 trainers. A pilot and trainee hit a buzzard during takeoff.
Hit it hard enough it "strained" buzzard between the windshield and gasket into the cockpit.
Needless to say, they immediately returned to base.
The T6 has a little access door to some electronics that the crews also used to store their little dirty bags during flights.
F-I-L said if you ever popped the access door on that T6, there was NO DOUBT that was the plane.

We get tons of them here in the Summer. How I know Spring is here.

On the winding roads not uncommon to come around a corner to see them scarfing down roadkill. Have had to move dead raccoons and deer out of the road to keep the vultures from getting hit.

Almost as bad as bicyclist. But never been flipped off by a buzzard.

Gruff's truck has hit every living thing shy of moose and grizz.

Don't know if it was barf or crap, but having grown up on a farm with hogs ,cows, chickens eat. I have seen and done some nasty things and that raised right up neat to the top

laffin’

A blue heron is just the opposite, it’ll schitt about 1/2 gallon of greasy crap to gain momentum quicker!
I had a near miss on a buzzard In the great state of FL one time.

I center punched a nice muley buck last night coming home.


With the wife's Suburban.

Nope…. But, back in the early ‘70’s, I came within inches of “catching” one in the face at around 60 mph while riding my motorcycle to work! I’m pretty certain that had I hit it, it would have been a very bad outcome! memtb

I refer to those as $hitaquarts.

In about 1964 I was home on leave and borrowed my mom's car to go to another town. Coming back I got a golden eagle right in the windshield, didn't come through but did a lot of damage to the glass. Her insurance paid for the new windshield which was a very good thing as I sure didn't have any money to speak of.

OP, maybe you could slow down some. I think birds on the pavement get used to vehicles speed but if a guy travels faster than normal traffic he sure seems to hit more of them. Ain't telling how to drive just an observation of my own..mb