Topic: Please watch out for deer!

[bluezboy]

 A rider here was killed after hitting a deer last night. Maybe he could have survived it if he hadn't been going so fast. See attached article. Have fun and ride, safe and cautious!

http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/gwinnett-motorcyclist-killed-after-620543.html

[flybox1]

+1.
saw 7-8 last night on way home from work.
they choose the most *%#&'d up escape routes!!! 

[domer]

watch out for brick mail boxes too!

[flybox1]

watch out for brick mail boxes too!

WTF???    speaking from experience, domer? 

[Cuts Crooked]

My freinds and I will do what we can to thin them out fer y'all later this year!

[domer]

watch out for brick mail boxes too!

WTF???    speaking from experience, domer? 

im still here  i couldnt imagine hitting a deer and the last thing you see after the deer is a #$%*ing brick mailbox comin at ya at a ton. probably would have survived if it werent for the mailbox!

[flybox1]

totally sucks b@lls.
school friend of mine is now a parapalegic.
he got run off the road by someone passing him on one of our mountain passes.
he low sided in the gravel, but slid and hit an old concrete foundation. shattered his back.
Became a motivational speaker. downhill races a custom mountainbike/skis.

http://www.talkandroll.com/about_barry.html

[Roach]

there are alot of deer out there these days seem to like the fresh wet roads aswell... guess its the smell or something. almost hit one with my truck a couple weeks back ran across 4 lanes and stoped right infront of me.


be safe out there guys

ps. if your riding at night make sure all your lights work and are bright as heck

[Bob Wessner]

Coincidently, this article just arrived via eMail (eVersion of the local paper) re: increase in deer-vehicle crashes in our part of the state. Note at the end, all the fatalities were motorcycle riders. 

On a list of 10 southeast Michigan communities, Scio Township ranked No. 4 for vehicle-deer crashes in 2009, according to a Southeast Michigan Council of Governments news release. And the number of vehicle-deer crashes has gone up in the county, southeast Michigan and across the state since 2008.

Scio Township had 119 vehicle-deer crashes last year, which put it at No. 1 in Washtenaw County. Rochester Hills was No. 1 in the state with 163.

York Township was No. 2 in the county with 86, followed by Webster Township with 81, and Pittsfield Township with 82, according to data from the Michigan Department of State Police Criminal Justice Information Center.

Mary Dettloff, spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said deer are overpopulated in the southern-most -third of the state, or anything south of Clare, due to less hunting of them.

"The population in the southern half of the lower peninsula is well over the population goal the department has for them," Dettloff said. "The population is approaching 1 million (in that portion of the state)."

She said a few factors contribute to the problem, including lack of public hunting land, and an abundance of ideal deer habitat that she says "human beings unintentionally create" when building large subdivisions surrounded by woods, or by clearing land for agricultural uses.

"Because of the heavy emphasis on agriculture in the southern parts of the state, there tends to be more land for deer to take up habitat," she said.

The number of vehicle-deer crashes in Washtenaw County rose from 1,167 in 2008, or 11.3 percent of all crashes, to 1,202 in 2009, or 12.3 percent of all crashes, while the total number of overall crashes in the county decreased.

There were 6,560 vehicle-deer crashes in Southeast Michigan in 2009, compared to 6,278 the year before. The number for the entire state also increased from 61,010 in 2008 to 61,486 in 2009. But the number of vehicle-deer crashes that resulted in human fatalities decreased from 12 to 10 — all of which involved motorcycles, and none of which occurred in Southeast Michigan.

According to the release, most vehicle-deer crashes occur between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.

Dettloff said the state encourages hunters to hunt in southern Michigan, rather than travel north, because "hunting is the best population management tool for deer."

To ease the problem of scarce public hunting land, Dettloff said the state has created a Hunter Access Program, through which it leases private land — including farm land — throughout southern Michigan for public hunting.

[Gaither]

Too bad the fellow was killed. We can't be too careful at night - in any event. So easy to over-run the headlight.

Deer are more unpredictable than a dummy in a turn lane! Those beautiful animals have become a very real hazard almost everywhere. The "do-gooders" don't want 'em killed and hunters are about the only population control we have. I don't hunt but am glad others do. Far too many of 'em out scampering across our roads.

I got one (actually, he got me) in wife's Merc GM. Hugh buck came out of the brush ABOVE the car. 'Thought he was gonna come through the windshield! Mid-day, raining, about 35mph and very sudden. Evidently didn't hurt the buck. Cost me a header panel and grille. Just glad he planted a rear hoof near the windshield and got down in the road.
Otherwise, it could have been really bad. Had several other near hits. Too many of 'em.

We bikers ain't got a chance if we hit a deer! Heck, a small dog can wreck us.

Let's all be careful out there.

May we all ride safely with a wide grin!

[seaweb11]

There are a lot of deer out there these days seem to like the fresh wet roads as well... guess it's the smell or something.

More likely the new rain has allowed the grass to grow in the ditches along side the road    I don't ride at dusk around here unless I need to get home!

[Retro Rocket]

Do you eat them? Seems like a good food source and cheap if they are as prolific as stated..

Mick

[bender01]

We can shoot two bucks a day here in SC from Aug 15th to Jan1st!! Every sat afer 9/15 is a Doe day and 3-4 weeks of does also! With any weapon larger than 22 rimfire! Yes you eat them. Theyre not as big here as northern deer but they act the same.
 Speed Beef! Its whats for dinner!

[Lavis500]

Lol Mick I thought you were joking.  Then I realized you were from Australia.

Not to thread jack, but what kinds of things can you hunt and eat down under?

[Markcb750]

I live just on the edge Matthews/Charlotte NC; an area with 2,000,000 plus people.

Had this in my yard the other day.

I have had 12 deer in my back yard at one time.

No where is safe, and they will run along side you and leap right out in front of you because they are accustomed to being the fastest thing around.  

Deer tastes like hell, I'd rather eat rabbit.

[Hasenkopf]

yeah...hit one last year,   let's see if  I  can't do that again.

[Hasenkopf]

not a rabbit.......a deer     

[Cuts Crooked]

Deer tastes like hell, I'd rather eat rabbit.

How odd! Iowa corn fed deer taste better than beef raised elsewhere! Lots of folks have eaten venison at my house and never noticed.

[bender01]

Some people Ive met dont process them well at all. Leave em in the truck all day.. hunt that evening then... gut and clean em!   soak in cooler of ice water..or cool water.I cant eat that either! I never accept free venison! 

[BeSeeingYou]

And don't overcook it.  Antelope backstrap is the best.
Jeez Markcb750, what's with the deer in your area.  Some atomic experiment gone bad.  I think I would run the other way before it hypnotized me.

[bender01]

This ones been hypnotizing me! Ive not gotten a pic this year but hes still around!

[Markcb750]

Some people Ive met dont process them well at all. Leave em in the truck all day.. hunt that evening then... gut and clean em!   soak in cooler of ice water..or cool water.I cant eat that either! I never accept free venison! 

I never accept free venison either, because it tastes awful, just like the stuff I watched shot, helped gut, washed out in a nice cold stream, hung in a cooler, skinned, aged, butchered, wrapped, and stuck into the freezer.  Deer taken in areas with corn fields, alfalfa fields, apple orchards, deep woods, anywhere deer will live, you name it, I've tried the venison from that environment.

Even mixed in a sausage, it has a taste I just do not like.  The only way I have found it palatable is soaked in a tomato based marinade for several days in  the refrigerator, then cooked to fork tenderness in covered pan. Takes about 4 hours.

I have heard the "you didn't field prep it right", "you did not cook it right" and "it must not be corn fed" stories for years.  Sorry the problem is it tastes like hell.

I have never eaten any southern deer, I quit trying to eat venison about 15 years ago. 

None of this alters the fact that deer panic around cars and motorcycles, they run 30 or 40 mph, and they think they can out run you or that you can avoid them.  With the results that both you and the deer are dead. 

[Retro Rocket]

Lol Mick I thought you were joking.  Then I realized you were from Australia.

Not to thread jack, but what kinds of things can you hunt and eat down under?

Rabbit, Kangaroo, deer, crocodile, the deer i have eaten was a bit game tasting {strong} but very lean and not much fat.....
I was dead serious....

Mick

[Markcb750]

BTW, a darting rabbit in the road will ruin your day also.

One of my friends quit riding when his 800lb Harley dresser was totaled in a mixup with a chicken crossing the road.  

[Bodi]

Venison tastes ... well, deery. I don't like it much at all. Same with goat too: too goaty.
Moose meat is quite excellent though.