Hit a Buck last night...

[CloverHillCrawler]

I was just finishing my spring maintenance for the spring and just spent the last couple of weeks prepping for the summer.

New wilbers shocks to get the wife on the road with me, check. Changed the oil, check. Changed the front tires, check. Just finished changing all of the brake pads late last night around midnight and was supposed to go to Hanover today to drop it off for the alignment but I wanted to Sinter the brakes as it was supposed to be raining this morning and didn't want to drive there without sintering the pads in wet weather. So I went out on a local back road that nobody is on so I could speed up and brake hard without "alarming" anyone that late at night.

As I am speeding up and slowing down on my last run as I start to speed up I was passing a house with a panel truck in the driveway and a deer runs out from behind it in front of me, sees me and tries to jump as I nail the brakes.:gaah:

I somewhat stopped in time but clipped his legs with the front end at the final stop, front legs on the left side and back legs on the right side of the frunk in the air and the frunk lifts him up and falls over on his side with his head and antlers coming down hard on my left fender breaking the fender and inner cover and bending the support.

I was able to break off the broken pieces and bend the support by hand enough to clear the tire to get it home safely and it rode like nothing happened.

Other than the frunk being tight to open which I think the locking pin and hinge was bent from his weight I really see no other damage than the fender.

I called up to hanover this morning to tell them I would not be in due to the accident and they helped me out with ordering the damaged parts so I can replace it myself before bringing it in for them to look over before doing the alignment.

 

[pegasus1300]

Glad you are ok and the damage seems to be light. Did you at least get the horns? ��

 

[BCNewell]

Dang!!! Glad you came out unscathed, and the trike needing only minor repairs. Brought back memories of me hitting a 8-point whitetail deer at 55mph on my Honda Magna. Tumbling down asphalt is NOT part of what I consider a stellar day!

This event might (should) change how you scan while riding, and how you suit up before each ride.

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

Glad you are ok and the damage seems to be light. Did you at least get the horns? ��

Nope, right after it's head hit the fender it got back up and ran away. Luckily for both of us I was almost at a stop when I hit it.

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

Dang!!! Glad you came out unscathed, and the trike needing only minor repairs. Brought back memories of me hitting a 8-point whitetail deer at 55mph on my Honda Magna. Tumbling down asphalt is NOT part of what I consider a stellar day!

This event might (should) change how you scan while riding, and how you suit up before each ride.

If anything I think it is my scanning that saved me and the buck (hopefully), I was doing almost 50 when I first saw the head come out from behind the truck and I was literally just a couple of car lengths away from him when I first got sight of his eyes popping out from behind the truck.I was running with all of my lights on and on high beam at night as I have glaucoma and I specifically look for the glow of their eyes when riding around the mountain roads here at night, luckily I had already done a couple of of quick stops to sinter the pads and was getting ready to do another one.

 

[Raven]

Lucky, it could have been a lot worse.
I have seen Crown Vic's totaled after hitting a deer.
Glad you are ok.

 

[Haze]

Glad you are alright. Your condition is of paramount importance.
The bike can be repaired and will be right to ryde again. Cheers.

 

[JohnRuckus]

Wow. Made it out unscathed. That's always a plus.

 

[2dogs]

I live smack dab in the middle of deer country and right on the annual migration route. Can't tell you the number of times I've slowed down or stopped for deer in or alongside the roadway only to have vehicles speed past me. Yep, constant attention and scanning are your best defense against deer entanglement and hospital bills.

 

[canamjhb]

Glad you're OK!

My deer story;

I was leading 3 bikes on an extended tour a few years ago. We were 10 or so miles from our nights' destination. Traveling on 2 lane twisty road in deer country. I kept cautious pace. We had a couple vehicles behind us that I thought were a little impatient with us. As I rounded a corner there were several deer crossing and in the road. As we approached and came to a complete stop, mom was on one side and Bambi on the other. We waited and in a few seconds Bambi joined mom. I think mom was grateful and the cars behind us no longer crowded our tail.

 

[Woodaddict]

Good you made the accident outcome OK. Those antlers could have got you

 

[T.P.]

Good that you made it without being hurt or killed. You may have hit the last buck in Maryland with attached antlers.
A number of years ago a MN Spyder rider was not as lucky as you.

T.P.

 

[TCBoone]

Good that you were able to come out of it without injury. Also, that you were riding solo at the time.

Last week while riding with my wife, we were traveling along a country road with lots of blind curves and hills so speed was low around 35mph. Came around a descending sharp right-hand curve to meet a flock of ducks crossing the road just a few feet ahead of us. Did an emergency stop, not something that I care to do while riding 2up.

Reacting to the situation in such a fashion as I imagine your stop required gives very little warning to the passenger. My wife and I were glad to have not hit any of the animals, it did give us a sample of what it would be like to have such an event at higher speeds.

Thanks for sharing your story, helps us to realize the various possibilities and hopefully ride with more awareness.

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

Had some time today to clean off the deer hair and take the broken pieces off and do more of an inspection.

Frunk lid is ok now it was just that the gasket was miseated, didn't find anything bent around the fans but I did find my nosepiece on the console is a bit loose and the little tabs on the plastic cover for the frunk latch and reservoir are bent but will work.

Everything else seems ok and it drives fine. Once I replace the fender I'm taking up to hanover to have the alignment done and have them give it a quick look to see if I missed anything. Otherwise it is staying in the garage so I don't chew the tires up before I get it aligned.

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Good time for a reminder. When you see a deer always look for a second one. Deer don't travel solo.

 

[2dogs]

Yep, people who've hit deer will say, "I didn't see that one." That's because they were watching the first one.

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

Just thought about what pegasus said about keeping the horns. Going to drive back to that location tomorrow and see if I can find any pieces of the antlers.

 

[Valkrocket]

Glad to read you came out unscathed. On the positive side, your brakes are definitely sintered now. :thumbup:

 

[pegasus1300]

Just thought about what pegasus said about keeping the horns. Going to drive back to that location tomorrow and see if I can find any pieces of the antlers.

I, of course was only joking, and I am very glad you and your Spyder are relatively unhurt. I hit a deer with my Suzuki Forenza (a small car). I nearly got stopped also. Tapped the Doe just hard enough that she bounced around on the hood, slid off, jumped up and ran off after doing $3000.00 damage to my car. I couldn't even get the back straps for BBQ. :roflblack: :roflblack:

 

[CloverHillCrawler]

No worries but I did want something to remind me of how close I came to a different outcome.

If I find a piece I may just make a keychain out of it to remind me each time I insert that key.

I can't do that though with the curb that I hit with the back of my helmet when I was thrown over the handlebars when I was run off the road by a cage right after I first bought my F3.