Hit a deer!

[Gissert]

Yup, got me a fawn Monday evening about 9:30 near my house. I was driving slow, and I had expected I might see critters in that area. I caught a flicker of an eye reflecting light coming out of a corn field. I lost sight of it, but braked and down shifted to about 20 MPH. That thing came blasting out of the ditch like a rocket and I knew I was going to hit. I pulled in the clutch, stayed square and kept OFF the brakes. The front tire hit the shoulder and punted it out front a couple feet, then I rolled over it with both tires. The bike stayed straight at true and it was over. Needless to say, I was pretty shook up.

Someone up there must like me, as no damage was sustained to me or the bike (Road King). A little hair in the front fender reflector and on the left crash bar.

Lessons learned:

1) Luck was with me. The deer was small.

2) I was paranoid, knowing it was a high deer traffic area. My deer stand was about 200 yards from where I hit this deer. Expecting trouble had me better prepared.

3.) Advanced rider training paid off. I did not take evasive action or try to brake further once collision was imminent. Keeping the wheels rolling and the front suspension unloaded saved the day. All the training came back to me, thank God.

4.) I was lucky

5.) The Road King Chassis is a very stable and robust platform.

6.) I was lucky.

It can happen anywhere, and at any time. I was less than a mile from home.

[pushbutton]

7.) And you were lucky.

Wow! Great read. Glad everything turned out all right! Trashed a bike when i was 19, young, dumb, completely my fault. Now i trust myself, but not all the other things that can go wrong out there. Stay safe all!

[upnorth]

Good to hear you are OK, that is not always the case.

[Dave S]

Glad to hear you're ok Gissert. Someone I knew wasn't so fortunate up by DL a few weeks back. Her husband will be ok but she didn't make it.

[Gissert]

I heard about that accident around DL. Very sad indeed.

[leech~~]

This is one of my biggest fears since I ride a Dual Sport bike and am always on back roads. One day I was rounding a curve on a dirt road coming back from a little scouting ride and I had a Doe run acrossed the road right in front of me. When ever I see one I always look for another to follow and sure enough a fawn popped out next! The thing I was not thinking of was two fawns and I found myself inbetween the first and last fawn just nearly hitting it!

I marked that spot on my GPS for Bow season!

[Whoaru99]

Glad you're OK.

I don't like driving at night for that very reason. Yeah, I've seen deer during the day too, but not nearly as often as during the early evening hours.

[toughguy]

I bet your heart was pounding!! Good to hear you walked away from it.

[PierBridge]

Always my biggest fear. I worry more about Deer than any knuckle-head in a vehicle not paying attention on the roads. At least I can see them but those deer just dart out of knowhwere and often times there are more than one. Had a Fox jump out on me other day and I missed it by a couple feet, lucky for him.

Great job on being prepared and under control for that situation~