What to do when encountering a deer at high speed

[MikeB]

I was out on a ride today, a splendid ride. My plan was to ride a big loop from Burney to Alturas, Lakeview, Bonanza, Bieber and back to Burney. It would take most of the day and the day's sun light. I was in the later stage of the loop, north of Bieber on the Bieber cutoff road (A2, I think) when the sun was getting very low in the sky. I was trying to make good time and I was traveling at a pace north of the speed limit. I was in a clear area of forest when I came around a sweeping right hand turn and to my left on the shoulder of the road was a big buck deer. He was right at the edge of the pavement pointing to the field area to the left of the road. In an instant he turned around and leaped for my side of the road. I was damn lucky that I missed him, but I also had something to do with missing him. Some of the things I did come because of rules I abide by, some because of the number of encounters with deer driving in these areas, and some due to my experiences driving race cars for a number of years. Here's what happened.

First of all, I was riding too fast and I will admit that up front. Had I been traveling the speed limit, this experience would not have been near as dramatic as it was. I was not riding the speed limit or close to it. The first thing I did right and something I try to practice all the time, was to brake the very instant I saw the deer and not wait to determine if he was going to jump in front of me or go the other direction. I grabbed a lot of brake and I grabbed it quickly, I BRAKED!

Second, I thought I felt the front tire start to lock up (it shouldn't because I have ABS) so I eased up just enough to free up the lock up and then returned to full threshold braking. The bike stayed upright and never wiggled a bit (I can't say enough about my BMW RT).

Third, I didn't panic and continued with an instant game plan to go left or right around the deer if I needed to. The deer continued across the road to my right, all the way from the left side of the road to the right side and off into the field. From the beginning of this event I thought I was going to hit the deer, but in the end I slowed the bike enough that I didn't need to make a deviation of my course of direction and the deer was fast enough to get out of my way. I never looked back to see where the deer went, I just down shifted and continued on.

Eventually I let my breath go, exhaled and sucked in a big gulp of air. My heart was pounding so hard that my chest hurt. I told myself to relax so I tried to breath deep and slow for the next minute or so and soon relaxed to continue on. That is the closest I have come to hitting a deer on my bike.

I can't say enough how impressed I am with the BMW and its brakes. If I was on my Rocket I would have hit that deer without question.

Needless to say, but from this point on I decided that the probability of riding home in the dark was not worth the risk of riding faster than the conditions allowed to do so safely.

In conclussion, I felt stupid for using poor judgement about my rate of speed, but felt great for having the skillsets to save myself from hitting that deer and for being lucky.

[Rotor]

Right, wrong, or indifferent with regard to your judgment (I can think of several instances where mine should have been better), it's your braking technique that counts. Apparently you have worked on this and were comfortable enough to apply the techniques when it counted. Well done!!

[russell_bynum]

Nice work.

 

The bike stayed upright and never wiggled a bit (I can't say enough about my BMW RT).

 

I was just talking about this with PhillyFlash yesterday...BMW's are tremendously forgiving bikes. Even if you're riding like a complete jackass, the bikes are so docile and forgiving that you can almost always dig yourself out of whatever trouble you're in.

 

My Tuono is a fantastic bike and I love it, but it can be an unfogiving SOB. It'll do exactly what you told it to do, even if you didn't mean to tell it. The front end is fantastic and the feedback you get lets you brake SO much harder than I ever could on my RT, trailing a long black line from the screaming front tire that's right on the very edge of adhesion. But take it one teeny little step farther and it locks and tucks instantly.

 

My RT would lock and then just sort of plow along slowly falling off...usually to the right as if it was just patiently waiting for me to get my head out of my rear end and release some brake pressure. And...that was when I was practicing in the parking lot with ABS disabled. With ABS enabled, of course, it never got anywhere close to locking, and the hairiest it ever got was when the rear would get light and start to slither around under very hard braking. Even then, everything felt like slow motion.

 

BMW really did well with that.

[jfremder]

That is the closest I have come to hitting a deer on my bike.

My close call story comes from Torrey. I woke to discover I had left my jacket liner on the roadside just outside LOA. The sun wasn't up yet, but Carol and I decided to take a ride to see if it was still there.

 

About a mile out of town on UT-24, while riding with HID's blazing plus a set of Hella driving lights to light the shoulders, there he was... a huge buck standing with one hoof on the right fog line, staring at me.

 

I was riding the center line, scanning the roadsides, driving under the speed limit. Carol and I both saw him simultaneously, about the time we could have High 5'd him if he put a leg up. Never would have had time to change direction, let alone squeeze the already covered brake lever.

 

The motorcycle gods were with us, the buck never moved. I've seen dozens of deer, many more on that trip, but that's the one that's forever in my memory, and gave my adrenal glands a thourough flushing...

[Paul Mihalka]

It is absolutely correct that the only thing you can and must do is getting on the brakes hard NOW. You never know which way they will jump. I have two deer kills on my record with the bike. Both jumped out of hiding so fast that I didn't have time to get off the throttle.

[tobyzusa]

My closest call was on a recent trip to Colorado on Highway 92 on the rim of the Black Canyon.

 

I was halfway through a glorious sweeping switchback twisting my neck around like Linda Blair to focus on the vanishing point, when there was a “flash” well inside the point where I was focusing my gaze.

 

Had to get the bike stood up and then full on braking - nearly simultaneously - to avoid hitting the closest of two by about 10 feet. That’s pretty close at the speed I was traveling.

 

But there was a silver lining…you’ve all heard the axiom of how to get your underwear on correctly, right? ….yellow in the front, brown in the back….that pair is forever marked!

 

[Deadboy]

Sounds like you did everything right....I almost took one out in the Yukon 2 years ago myself...

 

We have tons of deer around here and (along with keeping my speed down) I have determined the best thing I can do is to hit the horn...seems to break the headlight induced trance and (so far) makes them run for the hills. Of course this is done while breaking but so far I have yet to have one do anything but run the other way (both on the bike and in the truck)...

 

I would hate for someone to try this and have a bad result but my non-scientific testing of this method has worked very well so far...

[ShovelStrokeEd]

My normal strategy when a deer jumps out directly in front of me is to declaim something on the order of "OH SH!T". Time permitting, I do just that.

 

If they are a little further away, I'll hit my brakes using the techniques I have drilled into myself to get as quickly as I can to max braking and, if I misjudge, stop the front wheel skid. By that time, I have either hit the silly critter or the crisis is over. So far, I have missed them all but, I'm running around Oak Ridge, TN right now and the deer population is roughly equal to the human.

 

Saw 3 carcasses on my 6 mile ride in there this morning and I know they cleaned the road over the weekend as the two I saw on the way out on Friday were gone.

[Wooster]

My normal strategy when a deer jumps out directly in front of me is to declaim something on the order of "OH SH!T". Time permitting, I do just that.

 

That's what I do.

 

Now, Mike (OP), perhaps you can enlighten me on an issue I've long been puzzeled by. Looking closely at your avatar, beyond the glitter of your fine hexhead RT, it seems that you're a member of a one handed riding tribe and what's up with that ? Are you text messaging ?

 

Wooster with no left hand holiday when riding

[jwurbel]

There is a theory here used by one of our motorcycle instruction courses that says outside of the braking, to keep going in the same line you were on. Attempting to swerve right or left means you are trying to outguess the deer. In almost all instances, he (or she) is going to try and complete their original intent. Whatever they do, they won't freeze. Since I never have had the experience, I only pass on the info.

[MikeB]

Reply to Wooster's question.

 

I don't know why I let go of the handle bar grip with my left hand, I just thought I needed to open up a bit for the photo.

[MikeB]

There is no question in my mind that the BMW's brakes were the biggest factor that saved my bacon. I would hate to think what would have happened to me if I hit that deer at the speed I was going.

This incident has me rethinking how I ride.

[Deadboy]

There is a theory here used by one of our motorcycle instruction courses that says outside of the braking, to keep going in the same line you were on. Attempting to swerve right or left means you are trying to outguess the deer. In almost all instances, he (or she) is going to try and complete their original intent. Whatever they do, they won't freeze. Since I never have had the experience, I only pass on the info.

 

They freeze around here all the time....that is how I came up with the horn idea....I have literally stopped with deer inches from the hood of my truck numerous times and they seem oblivious....

[Pete Darby]

I agree with your braking. The only thing I might add is that if I am going to hit anything the height of my bike or less. I hit it square on after bleeding off as much speed as possible. I may be able to ride it out. But if not I will be flying straight down the road rather than at some obscure angle. I also avoid smashing my legs against whatever is in front of me. Now having said that, it doesn't mean I don't try to avoid it. I do. In fact one time while doing a sixy mile overtake on a car doing sixy miles per hour who had just pulled into my lane in the dark. I was rather busy with a full emergency locked up braking manuver and trying to figure out how I was going to land on his car and stay aboard until he stopped when I realized I had bled off enough speed to get around. Not that I drive like that anymore of course.

[Quinn]

Only thing I'd add: look for the rest of them. When you see one crossing the road, there are usually a bunch of stragglers headed in the same direction.

[John844]

The ones you see will scare you. The ones you miss will hurt you.

 

I hit one out in Yosemite at 50+. I saw other dear a couple hundred yards earlier and slowed for them. After passing, I started speeding back up. I never saw the one that jumped out of the ditch. One minute I was coming around a right hand corner, and the next, my bike was yanked out from underneath me. Superman had nothing on me that day. Luckily I had a helmet, jacket and gloves that protected me pretty well.

 

BTW, never tell a park ranger how fast you thought you were going. It is never slow enough in the parks.

[MAT2CHI]

I have my gunner take the sucker out. I use deer alerts and caution when riding at dusk in deer country.

 

[Keith S]

I have my gunner take the sucker out. I use deer alerts and caution when riding at dusk in deer country.

 

 

Too funny!!!

 

and check this regarding "deer alerts"

 

Keith

[Quinn]

I liked the phrase "vertibrate pest control." Need to put that on my resume.

[MAT2CHI]

I've also read that they don't work, but my brother-in-law gave them to me as a gift so I stuck them on. I was talking to a Sheriff out in deer country in West Marin where I do a lot of riding and he saw them and commented on how they aren't supposed to work, but every Sheriff's car that had a pair on them hadn't been in a deer/car collision since they put them on, but the sheriff's cars that didn't have them were involved in deer/car collisions. It may be a big coincidence, but since they were free, what do I have to lose?