Jeep 1 - Deer 0

I've occasionally wondered what would happen if the jeep and deer met on the road - would the whole front end be pushed back, radiator bent with no cooling leaving me on the roadside? On the route back from Moab I found out. The jeep brushed it off with scant little damage. While the deer died it at least didn't show any signs of suffering.

The time of day was typical - sunset. I was in North Park (65MPH limit just after a 60MPH cautioned curve) heading towards Walden - coming back from the Moab long weekend. The jeep was rolling well meaning it was cruising 65 in the flats. This was a slight uphill so it was likely 60, maybe 58 range. Finishing the slight right hand bend a group of ten or so deer were running to cross the road from my right. On the brakes. There was no oncoming (or trailing) traffic. The lead deer was in my way with one right on its tail. I couldn't steer to its right to avoid contact and I couldn't steer left enough so it and the front end of the jeep met square - head to driver's side, tail to passenger side. Jeep and deer met with me straddling the yellow line.

The impact was perhaps 45 MPH. It wasn't as shuddering of a bang as I'd imagine - but a good thud - and then came the jeep hop - front tires up and over then the back. First thought - not the radiator (putting me at the roadside). I pulled over - huh - both headlights intact. Front grill not bent. Radiator not leaking. The fairlead bracket wasn't even bent - and it was heavy into the side of the deer.

Some odd traffic passed by - a couple pickups going my way were looking to pull over to help me (thanks folks!) but I gave'm a thumbs up and waved them by. The jeep was running - no serious damage. The only item I've found as yet is the bracket for the winch's solenoid box is bent - trivial.

I drove back and pulled the deer down into the brush. I imagine animals will be looking for some food and this way they won't be on the road.

In all - sad for the deer - good for the jeep (I appreciate my jeep). I don't need to wonder what would happen if it would have been a moose, I went via Laramie instead of Cameron Pass [high moose area] for the next leg of the trek.

Glad you and your Jeep are ok Jim. I must have been just a bit ahead of you but we chose to take the Rt 27 shortcut over to Gould and down Poudre canyon. Luckily no moose. I don't think my Jeep would have fared as well as yours...

Glad you and the Jeep are ok. I've wondered how the Jeep would hold up in such a situation, as well. I hope to never find out!

Damn. Can’t even think about hitting a deer.
glad you are all right and no big damage...

I'm glad you're OK! Good thing YJs don't have airbags...

Hit one in '17 a mile from my house, the plate was damaged the most, splatter across the rest of the front. I think mine slipped just before impact or it would have been worse. He came from the left, caught with peripheral vision, and barely had time to bark the tires prior to impact.

Curiously, a block from home last night I came across several people standing in the street (25MPH side street) with a dead deer laying in the road. They had called the city to notify of the dead animal for removal. One person had some ?string? and I had the impression they were thinking of tying it to the deer to haul it off of the road. I asked if they wished it moved so I pulled over, used one hand to grab the front legs and pulled it off of the road. Twice in as many days - getting too common. Things come in three's, yes? Just don't kill my car.

Good to hear you and the Jeep are alright Jim

Echoing others saying glad you're OK! Glad it was quick for the deer, too.

[quote=Jim;333897]Twice in as many days - getting too common. Things come in three's, yes? Just don't kill my car.[/quote]Park the motorcycle!!!

I ran over a fox yesterday morning: Was driving up 119 at 6:00 AM, rounded a curve to see an oncoming car in its lane, and a fox on the right shoulder. When I was almost on top of the little bugger, it darted out in front of me. I wasn't sure where it was until the left rear tire made a solid "thump!" sound.

Not how I wanted to start my Friday. :frown:

Glad to hear you made it out of that encounter relatively unscathed.

I was returning to Denver last weekend, EB on I-70 at about 8pm, there was a large bull moose standing in the middle of the right lane near the east side of Vail. There were two police cars there, waving people on in the left lane and keeping people moving slowly by, but all I could think about was what would happen if someone hit that thing at highway speed. Now my van is pretty tall, but I bet some part of that moose (its rack maybe) could have made it through my windshield.

Moose are beasts to the windshield of a vehicle - never want to experience one of those at speed.

The legs of moose are so tall that the body can be at windshield height. A very, very bad day if you hit one.

Moose crash testing: [URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rRQTHbKbS8[/URL]

Ages ago I saw a video of an early version of this test. The moose dummy then looked more like a piece of telephone pole wrapped in carpet remnants.

Note to self: no driving in Swedish moose country.

Maybe hitting a deer or even a moose isn't so bad after all... relatively speaking:
[URL]https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/14/africa/south-africa-tourist-giraffe-death-trnd/index.html[/URL]

Clearly the loss of life here is the most unfortunate result... but that was also a pretty cool flatbed camper that was destroyed as well.
Talk about bad luck.

Glad you're ok. I need a bumper with brush guard on my rover before something like that happens.

WOW - Giraffe - crazy.

Lower 48: Deer
Canada: Moose
South Africa: Giraffe

`kinda puts deer into perspective.