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Post by hoosier on Jul 15, 2010 22:41:23 GMT -5
I have read that our deer herd is at a "Social" carrying capacity. In other words, the public at large is fed up with the deer population. Motorists are said to be the segment of the public with the "squeakiest wheels" (pun intended ;D). In looking back, the last deer I hit with my truck was in 2007. Previous to that, I hit one in 1989. Since the 2007 collision (a buck by the way, and a big one at that  ), I have driven 100,000 miles without incident. Between the 1989 and 2007 collisions, I estimate that I had driven 530,000 miles. Most of my driving is on county and state roads with a little interstate from time to time. I suppose the uproar lately made me think about these things. Do I find driving this many miles between deer collisions okay? Yes, I do. How many miles between deer accidents are acceptable to you and how many miles have you driven between deer collisions? |
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Post by Decatur on Jul 15, 2010 23:29:32 GMT -5
I am 41 years old, and I, nor anyone in my whole extended family has EVER hit a deer! KNOCK ON WOOD!
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Post by tenring on Jul 16, 2010 4:32:03 GMT -5
First deer ever killed, and I mean that literally, was in 1977 with a brand new PU truck that I hadn't even made the first payment on. Not even close since them. Probably a quarter million miles or more since then.
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Post by thecommissioner on Jul 16, 2010 5:32:02 GMT -5
"Social carrying capacity" rests on the adage, "Perception is reality."
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Post by bigballer on Jul 16, 2010 5:58:57 GMT -5
Would have to say probably drove over a million miles and have never hit a deer... Then last year while out spot lighting in October I had a yearling bb on the side of the road. I was going like 10-15 miles/hr and thought oh I'll just drive by it.... He turned and ran into the back of my truck.... LOL... Only damage was the littls spot of clean paint that his tougne cleaned the dirt off of.. LOL.... So I've still never hit one... But now one has hit me... But I'm not sure that one really should count...  BB |
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Post by DEERTRACKS on Jul 16, 2010 6:17:48 GMT -5
My wife & I have had some near misses, but I have explained to her about being extra cautious of ag areas & certain times of the year when they can appear out of nowhere. I hope our defensive driving continues to protect us from collisions.
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Post by HighCotton on Jul 16, 2010 6:44:37 GMT -5
I hit a doe in LaPorte county in 1976 with my 1970 Pontiac Bonneville. I didn't hit another deer until 2006, 30 years later, some 1.2 to 1.5 million miles later. I hauled grain until the mid eighties so we wrapped on quite a few miles and I've been in Sales the rest of the time. The strange thing is, I hit a deer on a Sunday near Rochester, IN while driving home with my son from a deer hunt. The very next day, I hit another deer while heading to the office in Avon, IN. Of all the crazy things, it was dodging cars as it tried to get across Rockville Road near the Dairy Queen at Girsl School Road just west of Indy. I think a few of us had hit the deer and it was a bit whacked out of its head. Strange. Well over a million miles and 3 decades. Then I get 2 in 2 days.
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Post by antiwheeze on Jul 16, 2010 8:21:31 GMT -5
My 89 jeep is getting one deer about every 100,000 miles. I use it mostly for deer hunting.
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Post by stevein on Jul 16, 2010 8:23:19 GMT -5
Since 1987 1 collision, 1 bumped us. 866,000 miles give or take a few. I hit one, one hit my wife. Less than $500 damage total.
One reason for increased deer/auto interfaces is the amount of homes going up in the country. Figure 2 cars per home, going to work between 6 and 9 AM and returning home from 3 to 6 PM and incidents are bound to happen. Add some teen drivers and normal going to and from school and other activities and there are bound to be accidents. I see far less deer than I used to both along my normal routes and on the interstate.
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Post by BOBinIN on Jul 16, 2010 8:41:57 GMT -5
One ran into the side of my car in 1971, that's it for deer. I got a smashed windshield from a limb that fell from a tree while I was driving...scared the Sh!t out of me! A few years back an owl flew into my grill and took it out. I hate owls now...
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Post by bigballer on Jul 16, 2010 10:09:57 GMT -5
I've hit more turkey's then deer...... Oh and don't know about the be careful in Ag area's.. My cousin hit one on the highway in the middle of town once. We were out hunting and when we got back my uncle called us and asked us if we wanted it. She hit it... (10pt) two blocks from our house.... LOL
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Post by huxbux on Jul 16, 2010 13:50:32 GMT -5
I've been driving in Indiana since 1968. At an average of 15,000 miles of personal driving per year that would be 630,000 miles . For half of those years , I've averaged 45,000 miles per year of commercial driving, totalling 945,000 miles. That puts me at well over 1.5 million miles. The majority of those miles were on state highways, interstates, and on rural roads in sparsely populated counties. I've never had a collision with a deer.
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Post by turkeyscout on Jul 16, 2010 14:36:23 GMT -5
i averaged 19,000 miles per year of personal driving, i had one incident with a deer collision near crawfordsville in 1993......turkey scout
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Post by hoosier on Jul 16, 2010 15:08:04 GMT -5
Hmmm..... Seems to me that the rate of deer collisions is really not to huge of a problem.  |
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Post by parson on Jul 16, 2010 16:38:57 GMT -5
I'm 62, been driving since I was 16, and I have hit 1 deer. That was 2 years ago. I have had several close calls.
Most of my driving is around Indy or interstate. I'm sure that those in rural areas have a much higher possibility of having a close encounter.
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Post by M4Madness on Jul 16, 2010 18:14:25 GMT -5
I drive 10 miles one-way to work in the dark every morning, and have made that drive each weekday for the 17 years I've lived out here in the country. Each time, I pass through a 3-mile section that is marked with "Deer Crossing" signs on each end. Until last October, I had NEVER seen a deer in that section. Then, one morning on the way to work, I saw a small 4-point buck standing on the shoulder of the highway waiting to cross. Two weeks or so later, on October 29, I was on my way home in the dark from bowhunting. I hit that same 4-pointer about 100 yards from where I'd seen him that one morning. It was the first deer that I'd ever hit, and hopefully the last. None of my family has ever hit a deer that I'm aware of. My father commuted 75 miles one-way for years, and two of my sisters commute 25 miles one-way daily, and none have ever hit a deer. I have no data to back this up, but it seems to me that out of everyone that I've ever encountered that has hit a deer, the majority have hit bucks. Bucks are on the move in late October and early November looking for does. How does targeting antlerless deer in a 2-day firearms hunt in October going to target the offending bucks?  |
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Post by freedomhunter on Jul 17, 2010 18:09:16 GMT -5
hardly a scientific poll as most of us know what to look for, I stopped counting near misses over the years that I avoided because I was on alert and saw it coming and knew what to do, none for me knock on wood as I know the unavoidable one will happen sooner or later
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Post by whiteoak on Jul 17, 2010 18:43:34 GMT -5
Been driving 30 years and never hit one yet, a few close calls though. Mother-in-law hit 3 in a 6 month period a couple years ago.
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Post by whitetaildave24 on Jul 17, 2010 19:42:16 GMT -5
I've been driving for about 13 years now and have hit 1 deer and had 2 hit me. One of them that hit me caused about $3,000 worth of damage. My mom has had 3 run into her. My sister has also hit one. I guess we have had quite a few run ins with the deer. I have never hit one on the way to or from work and that is a 100 mile round trip.
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), I have driven 100,000 miles without incident.
