While driving home from a workout I was surprized by a full size deer trying to get past my front bumper. I was going about 25 mph when I hit him.

The damage was to the right headlight, hood, grille, condenser, radiator and air cooler for the supercharger. AHHHHH

When I took it to get estimated, I was pleased to find out there was no structural damage, just unbolt and replace parts and paint. I was concerned about the orange paint, but the shop has repaired 5 Minis and already had good success with the Hot Orange.

I will be MINI-Less for 2 to 3 weeks. Oh the pain of it all.

Any other deer stories out there - FRED

 

A neighbor hit one in his wife's MC on a 2-lane in ND, he was doing appx 85 at the time so there was not much he could do and he did admit it was pretty stupid. I was surprised at the relatively light damage. The hood was all done but that was about it. Not sure how he got the upholstery cleaned. He was just glad it was not his MCS.

 

Sorry to hear about the Mini! It sounds as though you are okay, however, which certainly counts for something! I had a very similar experience while driving a yellow Capri. A friend and I were returning from dinner in Fairplay, Colorado (we were driving back to a remote cabin between Jefferson and Como). Since it was close to dusk, I mentioned that we should keep an eye out for deer since they were known to wander around the highway. It could not have been more than 30 seconds later when a doe literally jumped onto the highway right in front of the car. We were doing right around 55 mph at the time. The force of the impact drove the hood up and over the windshield and brought the radiator into the engine several inches. Without missing even a beat my friend commented dryly "there's one now." Both of us were wearing our seatbelts...luckily. The car, bless her heart, managed to still get us home (we drove by sticking our heads out the windows to see where we were going) before finally giving up the ghost.

 

did you kill the animal? that is an important question

 

No but the 4 guys in the pickup truck following me stopped and were in the field looking for dinner.

 

Sorry to hear about your incident. Good thing that it wasn't too bad. Deer cause tens of thousands of accidents every year. It hardly ever makes the news. But if a shark bites someone, which almost never happens, it makes the newspaper headlines and the television news. Not long ago I was driving at night on a mountain road and came around a corner to see a deer in the road. I was able to brake and turn out of the way and avoided hitting it. It is a constant concern when driving back roads. I think we should bring back the wolves.

 

sorry to hear about your accident, man, I totaled a 1998 M3 because of a deer.

 

MMMMM dear.

 

I also share the hatred of deer. I hit a deer last year about the same speed as you, but the damage I took was minimal. Only a broken hood scoop and large dents on the hood. I guess I was lucky because it was a slightly smaller deer.

Anyway, two to three weeks is a pretty long time.. Be strong!!

 

First it's good that you all are ok and that no one was seriously hurt. Secondly, it sucks (to use a technical term) that there was damage to your MINI's.

HOWEVER, I am always surprised at the lack of concern for the animals that are affected by vehicles. Often times, these helpless creatures are damaged enough to render them immobile, only left to suffer a slow painful death.

They were 'here' before we were. Yes there are arguments about population control, etc. I guess would recommend NOT going so fast in canyon-type areas.

I live in a canyon full with native wildlife (coyote, deer, rabbits, , and the locals here know not to drive too fast.

I'm sure this coming across as 'preachy' and self-righteous. While not my intention, I just want to remind everyone to be aware of the natural surroundings -- this goes for me too.

Safe motoring,

-Jay Redd
'reddbear'

 

Collisions with deer or wolves will cause damage equivalent to running into a pedestrian. In parts of Australia, drivers have to deal with some larger animals including kangaroos, emus, cattle, and even water buffalo and camels, so "roo bars" are one of the first accessories installed: http://www.tocatch.info/en/Roo_bars.htm They even make the best of it with a little humor: http://www.buzznet.com/buzzwords/kan...lexv?id=787646

Of course, in urban Japan some years ago it became wildly popular to install these bars to protect from... parking mishaps. Then it caught on in the US to make SUVs appear "tough." Lot of people seem to not approve of this due to the danger posed to pedestrians: http://www.motherjones.com/news/feat.../bullbars.html

Wonder how they'd look on a Mini?

 

Here in S. CA just had a dear attack a man in his back yard and kill him.

So much for your frinedly Bambie.

Earl

 

especially this time of year here in the Northeast, deer are EVERYWHERE.Last year I was travelling at highway speed and hit the remains of a deer that had been hit by a semi. I was sandwiched between 2 cars and had no choice but to run over what later turned out to be the thorax, minus the legs and head.The mini became airborn briefly and besides a very musty odor for the next week or so , no damage at all.I have a very healthy respect for the damage that a deer can do to any car, let alone a clown car.LOL I do find that a benefit of a loud exhaust and Alta intake is that deer seem to get a heads up and get out of my way (for the most part) but on several instances I've come to an abrupt halt several feet from a deer who seemed too stupid to even get out of the road. Jock

 

Just heard some statistics this morning on this subject. Michigan vehicle/venison collisions were down last year from 63,000 in '03 to 61,000 in '04 and deaths due to vehicle deer collisions were down from 13 to 3.

I was making daily trips through a forrested area in a 78 mustang with a removable sunroof. Every morning I would take the sunroof off and put it in the trunk, load my little black lab up and we would go to the woods for the day. On this particular day, it was kinda chilly so I left the sunroof on. As I rounded a corner in Hamburg Mi, I saw 2 does running parralell to the car so I stopped in back of another car who had seen them running toward the road. One of the does, tried to jump over my little mustang and her hooves hit the passenger side window and she stopped directly on my roof. Well the dog is going crazy, barking, drooling, etc... The doe finally kickes around enough to slide off the drivers side and stands up and we are nose to nose with just the glass between us. She shook her head, snorted, and off she went into the woods. The driver in front of me got out and walked back and said, "Did I just see what I thought I saw?" I am so glad I left the sunroof on the car that day, that frightened doe would have kicked me and the dog to death if we had not been able to get out of the car quick enough. No damage to the car, the dog, me, or the deer, fortunately. Just a couple of hoof marks on the passenger glass, and some scratched on the sunroof glass.

 

8 years ago, I hit, and killed, a deer while driving a Geo Metro. (It's a tiny hatchback car about the size of a MINI, but with a lot less going for it in horsepower and coolness). I broke one headlight, and just slightly dented, not bad enough to even break the paint, the rim around the headlight. To this day, I don't know how I got so lucky. I should have been wearing that deer for a hat.

 

Ouch!

MINI = 1
deer = 0

 

And a new pair o' moccassins!

 

http://www.xp3hornet.com/

I don't take chances with moving chicanes

 

Really? Guys in the U.S. have been installing bull-bars on the front of trucks since Japan was still digging out from WWII... We don't always copy other trends. Once in awhile, they copy us...

 

We have eradicated their natural predators and have very limited hunting in several states. I was told more deer are killed by cars in western NY than by hunters.....which means a lot of people are having their lives put in jeopardy.
There is the story about the guy that hit the deer and the deers legs came through the windshield...the deer did not die but kicked the man to death trying to escape.

I am a member of the Sierra club so I am not anti deer but I am pro balance and deer and Canadian geese are out of balance
Solution, alter the hunting season to better manage the herd. We do it in GA and while deer are still hit...not like other areas.

hint....this is the beginning of breeding season for deer and they are far less cautious and aware...particularly the bucks.......(a lot like me )

 

Amen to bringing back the wolves!!! I live in PA and the deer are so numerous it is like playing Russian roulette to drive around here sometimes. I wonder how anti-hunters feel when they demolish their vehicle (or worse) after running into a deer or swerving to avoid one?

 

I always thought the deer were running like hell this time of year because it was the start of hunting season. If I had thousands of beer drinking gun toting Bubba's after me I think I'd run too.

If there're running from the Bubba's because it's breeding season it's probably for the same reason sheep run from the average Bubba.

 

Six years ago I had a deer collision. Driving at night and a deer jumps out of nowhere. I was probably going 45 mph and I remember the thought I had was where there is one deer there is often more. So just as that thought occurred to me and as my foot was going for the brake, deer #2 jumps out and runs into me. It collided with the back driver side window. All happened in a flash. It smashed the window and put a major dent in the side. There was glass everywhere. So I pull over and amazingly the deer is able to run away. It was a very hard and bad collision and I have no idea how the deer would possibly have survived enough to run away. When the police arrived with their flashlights we were able to see that my back seat was not only covered in glass but blood and deer hair and flesh. Yuck. The police told me I was very lucky. When you consider the speed I was going I was simply a fraction of a second away from that smash being into the driver's window instead of the rear seat window. The police told me that is how most human fatalities occur in deer collisons - when a driver gets a hoof in the head.

Ever since then I have been very paranoid when driving at night on dark secluded roads.

 

I hit a deer in a VW golf a couple years ago. Best I could tell by his flying carcass he was about an eight point buck(for the hunters in the bunch). Caused a little over $4000 in damages. Yes, he died instantly. I was doing around 50 mph. The air bag didn't deploy so they didn't total the car, just fixed it. This time of year is especially dangerous because the deer are in the "rut". Which means they are lookin for some lovin and can't think of anything else. So they wander into the highway not seeing or hearing anything except the she deers. I think its called survival of the fittest or natural selection or supthin like that. Evolutionist give me a hand here. Anyway, Watch out for them cause they can't see you!

 

Interesting statistic

In 1980 my county recorded 28 vehicle/deer collisions,
In 2004 it had risen to 714 collisions. Either we're getting less more efficient in avoiding deer, (no our cars have better brakes, lights and anti-skid technologies) or 1) there are 25 times as many drivers as there were in 1980, (again no I checked the census and my county has only increased 10% in between 1980 and 2000); or 2) there are 25 times as many deer as there were in 1980, possibly.

Increased deer population + urban setting = more collisions.

Hmm. maybe the wolf proposal isn't so far off from what we really need, or bring back hunting season in city parks.