All Things Deer

[wshytle]

Jeff-

You've been bit!

 

[jbaker]

dang it

 

[kmcconaughey]

OUCH!

 

[cmcleod]

Jeff B...OH NO. sorry. gosh, I have been driving for 42 years and have never been bit by a deer, knock on wood. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut, ey? I hope I never encounter one either. I once came too close though and it scared the heck out of me, and that once was one time to much. I try to avoid driving as much as possible during rut time at sunrise and dusk. lol. honestly I do. I know this rut season marlin saw a LOT of deer on his way to work in the morning, far far more then any other past year.

cathleen

 

[kshultz]

Last Friday night not seeing a thing.

I remember a day when it was Friday night I was headed to town. lol

 

[cmcleod]

shultzie..sooo what happened that friday night when you were headed to town? whats the rest of the story? ohhh, looks pretty quiet in the woods the other night..pretty, but quiettttt. shoot, well, I guess you couldnt , huh? bummer, sorry.

cathleen

 

[mgwin]

Wayne,

The hunting accident was reported on the news Friday evening. There were not many details, and it was still under investigation. Common gun sense will tell you not to point a gun (loaded or not) at anything you don't want to shoot, and DEFINITELY don't put your finger on the trigger. Sounds like the unfortunate shooter did both of these.

I am thankful my dad taught me all the important gun safety facts when I was about eight to ten years old. I was introduced to guns and rabbit hunting around that time. My first weapon was my grandpa's Winchester model 67. For anyone who don't know, that is a single shot bolt action 22.
I could hit more things with that 22 single shot than most people could with a 12 gauge automatic shotgun! If you don't believe me, just ask my dad.
By the way, you don't want to know what would have happened if he caught me not following the safety rules. One morning I let the barrel get too low and drag in the snow for a moment. (Remember, it was about as long as I was at that time.) Boy, did I ever get a good chewing out for that! I was also told I had better not shoot it for at least half of the day.

 

[mgwin]

Jeff B.,
I have heard (in our state) if you run off of the road to avoid a deer, the insurance company will not pay for the damages!

 

[cmcleod]

Marty, interesting on insurance not paying for damage if you ' avoid' a deer. I know they say if the deer runs out in front of you, dont avoid it, but hit it. They say its more dangerous to avoid a deer,rather then the alternative of hitting it. ummm, a large buck coming through ones windshield, doesn't seem safer then taking the ditch, but I guess it is? I hope I never have to find out. I know at times you dont even have a second to react, and you can't avoid hitting the deer. I don't know what I would do, but I think instinct is to attempt to avoid hitting something or being hit? maybe I am wrong? lol. I am so confused now. I'm gonna just stop driving.(jk) This morning Marlin called on his drive into work and he saw 3 dead deer along the road and another spot where there was a LOT of blood on the hiway. That freaks me out. yikes.

cathleen

 

[aschumacher]

Cathleen and others, I have a slight suspicion that you better have deer hide on your car if you go off the road. An insurance co. could consider carless driving or DWI and maybe not payup on damages.

 

[kmcconaughey]

What Allen wrote makes sense.

I've hit one deer and had one hit me and avoided numerous others. The one I hit was the last of three that ran across in front of me. I had the little Isuzu pickup whoa'ed way up before I hit the deer in the hind quarters and sent her flying down into the ditch. She slid about 40 feet on the fresh snow then jumped up and ran into the woods. I followed the tracks quite a ways into the woods and gave up when I didn't find any sign of her. It was years ago before cell phones and I was giving my younger brother a ride into town for hunters safety class and had to get him there asap. After I delivered him to the gun club I called the local sheriff and he met me out at the spot where I hit the deer and we found the deer about 20 yards where I gave up looking. He had one of those big multi-D cell flashlights which really helped. He helped me drag it out and load it into my truck. I hauled it home and butchered a few days later. I hit it with the passenger side front corner it bent the bumper back slightly and broke out the plastic grill. I bought a cheap replacement grill from J.C. Whitney and pulled the bumper back with a tow strap and a tree.

The deer that hit me was a fawn that ran into the side of my car. I never saw it or it's mother. It must have tried to stop and slid on the wet pavement and went under the side of the car under the drivers door and I ran over it with the rear tire. No damage to the car. I never reported either incident to my insurance. My former BIL was a deer magnet, I lost track of how many deer he hit over the years I was in contact with him. Back in the 1980's he worked in Menomonie, WI and had to drive on I94 for quite a distance. He worked the 3-11 shift and drove a motorcycle during the warmer months. He would follow a car to use their headlights to better see the road ahead because of deer. One time he was following a minivan and they hit a deer that flipped up and over the van and landed on my BIL. When the van hit the deer, the deer's legs wrapped around the windshield and broke out the driver's window cutting the drivers face. The deer broke through the fairing on the motorcycle. and covered the headlight with blood/guts. My BIL never lost control but was completely covered in blood/guts including the full face helmet he had on with no face shield. He used a tinted face shield during the day and clear safety glasses at night. Anyway, he was able to stop the motorcycle safely and when he walked up to the van he nearly scared them to death as they thought he was killed as the headlight was not visible and they thought he wreaked. They (it was a family on their way home from a vacation) had pulled over and were trying to compose themselves after what they had experienced. Once they realized he wasn't dead they thought he was injured as he was covered in blood head to foot. He didn't have a scratch on him. The helmet was a total loss due to the smell, the motorcycle was fine other than the fairing and the mess. I do NOT like seeing deer when I'm driving...

 

[mgwin]

Cathleen,

Allen is on the right track. I think it IS considered C&R if you run out of the road for any reason.
As for the ditch versus the deer, it depends on how deep the ditch is. A deer is a whole lot softer than a ditch, bank, guardrail, and especially a tree!

 

[cmcleod]

Thanks Allen, Kraig and Marty for your responses. I so agree with you Allen and Marty about the insurance co and the DOT would consider running off the road with no evidence as reckless/DUI driving. I take heavy duty meds, so they could use that against me. I don't usually drive after mid afternoon into the evening due to the medication I am on,and although I feel fine and NOT drugged, I know my reaction time IS lessened.

Kraig, for living in Wisconsin, I would say you have been pretty lucky with deer run-ins. thank goodness. that was quite the story about your BIL /van and deer.What a blessing he wasn't hurt OR killed. He had to a great cyclist to keep the bike upright and have a deer come flying at you like that!! Oh my goodness, he had to be one good cyclist to keep the bike upright. I have read stories where deer have run into a motorcycle and killed the driver, and also where they managed to survive. Considering the damage to cars, its a wonder any motorcyclist could survive such collisions. Marlins ex has also had numerous run-ins with deer.If a deer is in the vicinity, it'll find her. Not good.

one trip out to California with my mom coming out of Reno, at night, there were large groups of deer, just standing along side the road. There would be groups of 4 or 5 to upwards of 30 and more in groups for about 4 miles and you don't know when they might decide to cross the road, so everyone was driving very slowly. Not one deer attempted a crossing. I guess they were just bored and counting cars. lol

Cathleen

 

[jcarlton]

Hey Bobby, haven't been over here much in awhile. I have one of those 20 guage H&R ultra slugs also. I sighted dead on at 100 with Hornady SST's and killed a doe at 125 and a buck at 175 yards this season.If you're gonna shotgun for deer, I'd say that's about as good a rig as you can get. Guess I'll share some Illinois does on snow with yall.

 

[aschumacher]

Jason, you got a buck at 175 yards, with a slug !

I can't even see that far any more !

Well done.

 

[bbowman]

Jason;
That's good shooting! I've been studying on the H&R's and the Savage 220. Think the trigger on the 220 is better,but the price is a lot higher. Still trying to get some input on trigger work for the H&R,...my go to deer rifle(an old as dirt Remington 742) is down for the season,and our rut should be kicking off soon.
Going to press the 1100 12gauge slug set-up into service this weekend...it hurts already!
Bob.

 

[aaytay]

Does anybody know why they make these long-range slug guns in 20ga only? It seems backwards to me to use a smaller gun in a more accurate package. I mean accuracy is always a good thing, but why not in a 12ga?

Is there something about a 20ga slug-load that makes it inherently more accurate than a standard 12ga?

I may be in the market for a new slug gun...

 

[rbeem]

Recoil is a big one. Fearing the trigger pull does not help the objective. The 20 is more tame.

The 20 has better ballistics according to most, less mass though. I have never looked back and wished I got the 12 gauge H&R.
Now I'm eying the Savage bolt action 20 gauge and might pass the H&R 20 on to the kid.

If you want MANLY MAN punch in a 20 gauge... get the 20 gauge Ultra Slug Hunter rechambered to the Hastings 3.5" shell.
**Look on you tube** nice vid!

 

[jcarlton]

Yeah, I feel real comfortable shooting my Ultra slug. The trigger is stiff compared to a savage...I have a Savage Accu-trigger in .17HMR...if you could put that trigger on a H&R and make it semi-auto no one else could sell a slug gun lol Only 11 days of archery season here in Illinois...time to bust out the coyote rifle, and then turkey stuff!

 

[mgwin]

Deer season is over here in NC. Had a pretty good year. The pressure canner will be in operation in a few weeks! I fixed some barbeque with a quart of canned deer last night. It was so good, I couldn't stop eating it. The wife helped with that problem.