Today on the way down my favorite mountain road I noticed a brown bush moving on my right. I was doing around forty and had just straightened up from a turn when the brown bush suddenly turned into a deer that jumped from my right into my lane. I hit the brakes and heard my front tire chirp as the back end of my bike stood up in a stoppie. The deer jumped over my front tire and across my chest. We were only inches apart and then it bolted across the road and over the side of the hill. The back end of my bike slammed back down and I put it in first gear and pulled off the side of the road to digest what just happened. After a few moments I turned around and went back to see if I could see my skid mark but I couldn't find one. I took it easy and rode at the speed limit the rest of the way back down the hill. I've been riding that road for many years and that was the first time I ever got that close to hitting a deer. I'm glad I was riding my quick stopping Husky SM instead of one of my other street bikes or I would have got it. Anybody else come this close without hitting one?
I clobbered a mule deer dead center many years ago on a Honda RC51..exiting a corner going about a buck fifty(km's)....and it split the welds on the steering head on the bike... I flew over the bars and tumbled .....bruised heal and right hand otherwise I was OK...bike was a gonner..I had to get another one hooved animals account for a good percentage of losses for ins companies..... good to hear you made out ok
I had an encounter a few years back when I had a plated XR. I was in a sweeping blind right hand bend when Lil Bambi jumped out and tried to race me. The baby deer was running with me for what seemed like a long time,but it was only a couple of seconds when he ran into my recently operated on right leg. He bounced up and rolled off my leg while I was exiting the corner and then ran him over with the rear tire. I came out of that one unscathed. I got really lucky on that one.
Off topic. How was Carnagie? I did the Over the Hill Gang race there last Feb.. That MX track can be a real butt kicker.
Yep, that was close for you ...Once they get over the front fender, that is too close! I about hit a cow the other day .... where I'm at now cows and water buffalo \ Carabao are tied to the trail side and their ropes cross the trails ... This calf came off a hill side at me and then jump back ... it weight ~150 lbs so he would have taken me out or knocked me off the mountain side . We go by some Carabaos with an attitude also .. most are totally tame acting but a few are always running back & forth across the trail ... I'm always afraid one will pull his cord just before I am crossing it and clothes line me ;( ... but todate, they are not smart enough to catch me
i had a mule deer run next to me on the trail, it seemed cool, kind of racing the bugger, till he made that hard right turn and well, lets put it this way, it was close enough that i could smell him. i couldn't help thinking that i should lose some weight. he obviously thought that i was my truck. why else would he jump in front of me?
Glad to see you are OK. I hit an owl once....guess it could not see as well as we suspected. Maybe it thought I was a big mouse and was daring to dream.
I managed to kick a deer once, while riding my street bike up a mountain road. I'm convinced that if I hadn't given him a boot, he would have had a worse collision with me, rather than a brush. I also got hit in the helmet with a small hawk once. He was after a ground squirrel crossing the road and didn't notice me. I ducked and he glanced off the top.
I took this pic about a year ago on my way to work. I would love a streetbike but this pic is almost a daily occurence. I probably wouldnt last long on a bike.[/IMG]
Yes, oddly enough on the same day you did. I was going... maybe 20mph? Super tired and did everything wrong that I could. Luckily they (2 of them) crossed about 10' in front of me... and a 3rd one behind me. Black tail deer. One of the many reasons I ride with extreme caution. I also know one person that spent over a year in the hospital after going 100+mph through a deer while on a street bike on skyline blvd a long time ago. Not good.
Does this boil down to the "&hit happens" category? Should we outlaw wild animals from crossing roads now? Glad OP made it through the ordeal. Wasn't his/her time to meet the maker, whatever it's name is
Wish I could find that fairing cam video of a guy hitting a deer at over 100 mph at an endurance road race at Nelson Ledges (though I did find some other videos on Youtube of riders hitting deers). He goes right through and keeps going. Meanwhile the windshield becomes tinted red.
Almost hit bear crossing the fire lane in front of me while riding the Perkinstown Motorized Trail in Taylor County Northern Wisconsin. Me and the bike would have lost that one. He was a big black furry ball! My buddy had a fawn get draped over his arms on his 82 Kawasaki Eddie Lawson Replica KZ1000, he hung onto the bars until he could get the bike pulled over, stopped, and the little deer hopped down and bolted into the woods. He lost both rear view mirrors in that one. Also know another guy who had just bought a new Harley. He cleaned up his old bike and was going to take it for a quick spin before putting it away and up for sale. He was just going around the local country road block so to speak, and had a deer come out of a pine grove and ran right it front of him. He hit the deer and the pavement, with no helmet. Spent the next month in ICU with a severe head injury......and months of recovery, including speech therapy. There are several deaths in my area alone every year from cycle deer collisons, including one last year of a guy on a ATV on a state trail system. Valhalla
The deer have been on that hill long before the stagecoach put in a trail a hundred years ago - I know that and accept it. I have ridden that road hundreds of times and usually the deer are out in the early morning or just before sunset. The deer that almost took me out happened around noon. The reason for my post was to get riders thinking about them as a dangerous and unpredictable hazard - to think about them as we are ripping through their territory. I will be taking it a lot easier on that road after such a close call.
