| Author | Message | ||
     Azxb9r |
Last night was a beautiful night...clear skies and a big bright waxing gibbous moon. I decide to take the 1125 for a run up to windy point. As I was winding my way up the mountain, I came around the left hander at molino lookout and saw a shape in the road. I rolled off the throttle and dropped down to second gear as I recognized the shape to be a deer. It was in the other lane facing to the left, I moved over to the right side of the lane to go around it when the thing turned and bolted right in front of me. It was too close to avoid so I ran straight into it. The bike lurched to the left almost throwing me off. Some how I managed to hang on to it, get the bike straightened back out, and ride through it. I pulled over at the next pullout, my left knee killing me, to survey the damage. The front of the bike had no visible damage. There was not enough light(despite the brilliant moon) to see much, so I checked my knee and found a bloody strawberry on the inside. At this point I figured that I had had enough for the night and turned around to head home. The deer was gone so I guess we were both having the same "what the hell just happened" moment. I took a look at the bike this morning to see if I missed something, but the bike has no visible damage. I did find some fur on the front wheel and a big smudge on the muffler. I think the front wheel must have hit one of its legs, knocking it down then I bounced over it. There are a few seconds that are a bit fuzzy in my mind. As for me, my knee is swollen and sore but I am otherwise unscathed. Looking at my left boot, the toe slider is heavily scuffed. This makes me think that my foot came off the peg, hit the pavement, and I whacked my knee on the peg. I would like to say that it was mad skills that saved the day, but I think it was just dumb luck that i did not go down. For a moment I thought I was going to, but that is one of the parts that is a bit fuzzy. Here I thought it was the full moon you had to watch out for. Funny thing, on the way home I saw another shape in the road...this time a little further away. I slowed waay down just to see a coyote standing in the middle of the road staring at me. I have no idea what was up last night. | ||
| Leftcoastal |
Glad to hear you got through that relatively unscathed - as I'm sure you realize that could have gone WAY worse! Coyote was probably hoping for some road-kill venison. Or maybe some tasty 2-legger. | ||
| Sl33py |
glad you lucked out! Can't imagine that was fun - buy a lotto ticket... | ||
| Azxb9r |
buy a lotto ticket... I think I may have used it all up...And yes it could have been way worse. | ||
| 01x1buell |
im glad to here you are ok, i just had a car pull out in front of me while i was going 50 so i know your feelings.. | ||
| Iamike |
At least it wasn't a full moon, then you would have had to dodge the werewolves too. | ||
| Azxb9r |
Yeah, I am staying home tonight. At least deer are softer than cars eh. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Having hit plenty of deer in the truck, I can say if the deer isn't moving they seem to always do a 180 then run, regardless if that puts them in the path of the truck or not. Big, dumb, long legged rats they are. | ||
| Azxb9r |
And foolish me thinking it would actually go the way it was pointed. I have seen deer on the Mt Lemmon highway numerous times before on night rides but never in this area so it caught me a bit off guard. They are usually farther up near Bear Canyon. Up to this point they have made me nervous but never caused an incident. I made the mistake of being too complacent when I saw it. I should have slowed down more(and maybe laid on the horn???). I guess I will have to wait and see how I react next time. Funny thing about that...you can think you are going to react a certain way all you want, but you never know exactly how you will react till the time comes. I have played it back through my head several times now, and I am still unclear about parts. | ||
| Gunut75 |
Here in SE Wisconsin, we have lots of them. I come across about 4-10 deer a year. I always hit the horn and slow down as much as possible. One thing to keep in mind is that if you are able to completely stop, or get down to 5mph or so, keep tapping the horn. If the deer changes direction, it may decide that YOU are an obstacle and run into you in a panic. I saw this when I came across 3 deer trying to get over an 8ft cyclone fence on the side of the highway. They were running in circles. On the road, off the road, back on........I felt like frogger trying to get through that mele. A couple of them passed within inches of me and the bike. The horn would usually make them run away. The fence kept them coming back. I think ya did fine for your first deer encounter. Keep a keen eye out. Use the horn too. They will usually run from it. Ride safe! | ||
| Macbuell |
I had a deer charge my car when I was college. Craziest thing ever. It saw me, I slowed down, and it literally charged my car. There were two other deer there as well and I could only guess it was some kind of protective instinct. Who knows. (Message edited by macbuell on July 18, 2011) | ||
| Preybird1 |
wild deer kill people all the time. there are 1.5 million deer auto accidents annually. I have hit a deer and crashed into a river. Mostly from riding at night. I don't ride at night anymore. I have had 3 animal related crashes and all were at night. | ||
| Azxb9r |
I had a deer charge my car I had that happen to me once in the Chiracahua Mts. A large buck with a huge rack came out of the bushes on the side of the road with its head down and charged my truck. I think it was mating season and he was being territorial. I was glad to be in a large enclosed vehicle at that time. Night riding scares me...which is one of the things I like about it. Also, summer nights in Az are beautiful. Winding your way up the mountains or through the desert, pulling over from time to time to check out the sky or the mountains and saguaro silhouetted by the moon...there is something magical about it. |
