Forking Deer musta been a Ford fan.

[K5wrench]

Here is the aftermath of hitting an adult Doe at 60 mph thereabouts with an m1009 cucv.
Cucv 1
Deer 0

Okay Deer did $500 damage.
But deer is dead.
Really dead.
As in still picking brains and stomach contents out of my radiator, dead.

The winch is okay except for the solenoid box and receiver mount.
T Rex grille would be serviceable but a new one will make me feel better.

Had to use my 4 ton hydraulic porta power to push the core support back into shape.

Here is how it happened.
I am sailing back down 14A after an unsuccesful off road grouse hunting expedition.
Nearly dark.
The highway nears the embankment that drops down to the Tongue river.
Over the rail comes the doe.
She never even had time to turn her head nor I to hit the brakes.
There is a slight thump sound.
Windshield is instantly opaque with viscera.
I pull over.
Dead deer parts strewn and crammed into nooks and crannies of the front end.
Roller fairlead has bits of skin and hair and it is twisted back.
I continue on my way.. much more slowly.
Then i find a box laying in the road.
Says ;"Made in China".
I put it in my truck.
Back at the camper I inspect the damage by flashlight.
Then I open the box..
This was inside the chinese box.
Begging the question; what if i'd found the box first and put the contents to use?
Life is random.
No?
It really is that or the guy upstairs, making the plan, has been drinking.

God thinks;
"Let's have Matt hit a deer and immediately afterward find a plastic chinese Catamount head in the road.
That will make him think.
Gee, just gotta get someone to order a fake lion head on Amazon and give them a reason to precariously balance the box on their tailgate while crossing the Bighorn Mountain range. Then engineer the deer to jump at just the right second.."
I need a beer.
"Hey..
Bartender!"
"I'll have what God is having."

 

[tRustyK5]

Seems most here get hit by semi's at 70 mph...they pretty much esplode. As in it looks like someone spilled 5 gallons of red paint on the highway. Your truck fared quite well, I'm guessing Bambi was on the smaller side?

 

[K5wrench]

H

Seems most here get hit by semi's at 70 mph...they pretty much esplode. As in it looks like someone spilled 5 gallons of red paint on the highway. Your truck fared quite well, I'm guessing Bambi was on the smaller side?

Hard to know for sure.
There wasn't much left.
I mean, the legs were there.
Bits of skull.
I think it's ass rode up over the roller fairlead and into the grille.
Stomache and chest took a direct hit.
Head cracked open on the brush guard.
Poor thing.
I don't mean that flipantly.
But I think most of the energy directed it downward.
The cucv brushguard got slammed back into the core support.
But not too badly, just dents.
Had I not had the winch in place.. right through the radiator she'd have gone.
Musta been a smaller one though.

 

[tRustyK5]

Yeah, it looks like the winch and stuff saved your front end...

I feel bad when I see deer and other animals get hit, but most probably were dead before they registered the impact so at least they didn't suffer. I've been lucky with animals and driving. I've hit three birds like sparrows and such, one dog (felt terrible) and most recently an owl. That's a pretty meager list for 37 years of driving.

Around these parts I see mostly porcupines, jack rabbits, then deer, then coyotes that have been hit. Apparently we have a lot of porcupines here, and they aren't very fast.

 

[rampage]

Poor thing, didn't even know what hit her.

 

[K5wrench]

I have hit 2 deer (imcluding this one) and a flock of quail in my driving career of 33 years.
But i have lived and worked in mountains my whole life.
It is rare.
Nothing i could have done different all three times.
I wasn't over the speed limit but i admit, this time of year.. i should be below the limit.
Hunters are driving deer.
The rut is driving deer.
The drying grasses are driving deer.
I should know better.

But you never do.

The beautiful machine with it's efficiency and expediency gives us life while grinding away, relentlessly at our souls.

So many levels to explore in this game, it puts D&D to shame.

 

[imiceman44]

I have hit plenty of birds, but only once I couldn't completely miss a deer, swerved and clipped has ass with the plastic edge of my bumper on the freightliner, lost the piece and the deer kept going but probably not for long.
I did get a big mess once when around the corner there was a dead deer that I ran over and had blood and guts all over my truck and trailer. It exploded from the steer tire so no damage was done to the truck.
Luckily there was plenty of snow on the road ahead and got the truck cleaned in no time

 

[diesel4me]

I remember both times I drove to Nashville TN back in the 90's,I lost count of all the dead deer we saw along Rt.81,especially in PA..there was litteraly one per mile if not more on one stretch,I stopped counting at 30 or so--it was gross,it looked like 18 wheeled semi's hit most of them..with all 18 tires,after the initial impact..

I have hit and killed a few animals in my 45 years of drive time...

It's the most sickening feeling there is,knowing you just killed something--especially when it was someone's pet..

One day coming home from a otherwise nice Sunday flea market jaunt in my VW Jetta diesel,a cat flew out from behind a stockade fence,when I was about 20 feet from the fence,I had time enough to jam on my brakes,but the cat continued to dash across the street,and as it went under the car I heard a thump--none of the tires hit it,I think the rear axle beam whacked it in the head..
I looked back and saw it flopping around in the road..I wanted to peuke..to make things worse,the woman who it belonged to was out in her yard and witnessed the whole gruesome tragedy .

I stopped and got out and she was screaming,running towards the cat,and she picks it up and held it to her chest and started sobbing..
It was dead...
I probably cried too--I love cats and felt SO bad --then some crass witch next door strolls over to the fence and says "GOOD--I wish you killed ALL them dam cats!--Don't give her any money--she'll only go buy more food for her 20+ strays she feeds that crap and piss in MY yard and howl and make more kittens!"..

I told her to go f*** herself,and turned to the woman who owned the cat,she was sobbing and saying "my baby,I loved this one best,she was the only one friendly enough to let you pick her up and pet her--I found her under my porch when it was only a week old maybe--one of the feral strays must have had a litter and got killed by something--or some ONE--and she glared at the witch next door..

I apologized profusely,and she kept saying "It wasn't your fault--I should never have left the gate open"...it was probably 15 years ago this happened,but every time I drive by that house I still get the same sad feelings..
(About 3 months ago,the same woman was in the local paper,evidently she's been rescuing abandoned pets and now runs a shelter of sorts and was looking for food and donations,)...

Back in the 80's when I had my '72 K5,it had a brush/push bar on it--I was driving on a local interstate going 60 mph or so,and out of nowhere this HUGE dog strolls out into my lane,the right lane, from behind a bridge abutment..I thought it was a cow at first,but it was a St.Bernard I think...KUJO!..

I looked in my side mirror,3 cars were just about to pass me,right along side,bumper to bumper,and two others were close behind me,leaving me no choice but to clench the steering wheel,and hang on,if I had tried to stop fast,or dart into the passing lane,it surely would have resulted in a multiple car crash,and I didn't feel like sacrificing my life or anyone else's ,for a dog,sorry...

I hit the poor thing dead on,and it went under my right front tire--the truck felt like it came right off the ground and crashed down hard--I then saw the Subaru behind me do much the same thing--looked like it pulled a wheelie,then crashed back down..the 3 cars in the passing lane flew right on by unscathed,while me,the Subaru,and two other cars skidded to a halt in the breakdown lane..one car had its front end stoved in and the radiator was leaking badly..

All of them also hit the dog,and there was not much left of it,it was just meat,guts,and a furry bag of bones,and lots of blood..one guy dragged the largest piece off the highway into the median strip,and he almost got clipped by a tractor trailer in the process..

I was only 3 miles from my exit,and I limped my Blazer home,it wobbled and shook like death wobble after I hit 40 mph,so I stayed under that in the breakdown lane till I reached my exit..later I determined the right front rim had gotten bent from the impact,a rare 6 lug 16.5 one I only had a set of 4 of too--I did eventually find 2 more for sale a month later,so that one became my spare,I was able to hammer it back good enough to drive at 65 mph with it with just a little shaking..

Nearly every Sunday when I take the back roads to the flea market,I end up encountering numerous animals,today was no exception..

Usually I come across a flock of wild turkeys,or have at least one deer leap out into the road from thick woods,you have to be ready for them--today it was squirrels,I must have had a dozen dart across the street,get 3/4 of the way across--then decide to spin around and run BACK,and I had to jam on the brakes--I managed not to hit any-not-this time..

I wont kill myself or someone else to swerve for an animal..especially a rodent..I like bunnies,squirrels,possums,and if I ever see a skunk I'll do my best to avoid hitting any of them,especially the skunk!...but if it means me dying or someone else,nope,I'm not going to swerve and possibly get killed ,total my vehicle,or kill somebody else..

Of course if its a dog,cat,or farm animal that is most likely someone's pet I'll do my best not to hit it,but only to the point I'm not endangering my life or someone else's..

I cannot imagine the horror of hitting a kid,or a person in the road--every day you hear about some "pedestrian" getting run over ,killed,or badly injured around here--I think its gotten much worse this past year--cell phones,GPS,other distractions,and DRUG USE are a deadly combination..now pot is legal,and heroin addicts nod off at the wheel daily,you read about it and see it first hand every time you go somewhere..90% of the time these people just take off too,hoping they'll get away with it--sometimes they do,despite all the cameras in use everywhere..

One morning just after sunrise on my way to the flea market on a rural back road,despite it being so early on a Sunday,I had some jerk in a Lexus clinging to my back bumper--I was going 35 in a 30 mph zone,and this guy kept "pushing" me to go faster..I didn't..I knew that stretch of road was where I'd encountered deer several times before..

Sure enough,I top a hill,and a deer leaps out of the ditch,and it went right over the roof of my car!--one of its hoofs scratched the paint on the roof.I heard it scrape..I immediately hit the brakes and panic stopped,and the jerk behind me skids,nearly rear ends my car,then blows the horn and I hear him yell "WTF ARE YOU STOPPING FOR!"..
Then I hear his tires squeal,and I assume he is now going to pull around me and fly by me,so I flung my door open,and he skids to a halt and starts yelling again..--at that moment a BUCK flies out from the same spot and races across the street!..it was at least a 6 point buck,would have totaled that lexus or my car easily..all this took about 10 seconds to happen..

I yelled at the guy "SEE WHY I WANTED YOU TO STOP !--There is almost ALWAYS two or more deer travelling together--then I proceeded to ream him a new butt hole for tailgating and asked where the f*** he had to go that was SO important that early on a Sunday..

"I'm going to be late for church"...

As I drove off,I said to myself--Oh God--I hope he wasn't a pastor or minister or something".......

 

[sweetk30]

got mine installed for good today . so i am ready . just need the upper fisher plow frame bolted on yet .

 

[tRustyK5]

"I'm going to be late for church"...

I would have lost my shit at that comment/reason.

A) Get your ass out of bed on time if you're that concerned about being late
B) I'm sure God would rather you be late for church than kill or injure someone on the way...last I heard God forgives.

 

[diesel4me]

I agree Rene--but I hope he forgives me ,if I did cuss out a man of the cloth!..

I can see it now,I'm at the pearly gates,and God is reading off my list of sins..."hmmm....reamed out a preacher on a Sunday morning,and you weren't going to church,but to a flea market..hmmm....but you DID stop and didn't kill those deer..hmmm......

 

[swettysblazer]

I smoked a deer in my 89 Burb at about 40. Didn't leave a dent, deer died, and I kept moving.

 

[K5wrench]

Replaced the receiver mount and busted winch solenoid box.
Pushed the core support back with a porta power.
Waiting for a replacement grille to arrive from T-Rex.
Still need to pick bits of deer hide out of everything.
Yum.
Deer hide..

 

[sweetk30]

ya i was never a fan of them cheepy bolt together thin china soft metal winch mounts .

 

[K5wrench]

ya i was never a fan of them cheepy bolt together thin china soft metal winch mounts .

Apparently.. neither was the deer.

Got a real Warn mount now with my custom touch, extra height welded spacer.