Deer Strike

Peter Duniho wrote:

"John Gaquin" wrote in message
. ..
There's nothing in their brains that can reconcile another creature moving
at 45-60 mph.

You say that based on what facts?

It may well be outside that particular deer's experience, or the deer may
well just be a poor judge of closing rate (especially in the dark with the
primary object viewed being an artificial light source). But I see no
reason to think that deer are inherently unable to comprehend and correctly
respond to another object moving 45-60 mph. What makes you think that they
are?

Well, having grown up in Pennsyvania, it's certainly in my experience. In the
daytime, deer can watch you driving right towards them at 45, whatever, and they
stay put. In the nighttime, it's the same thing, except YOU can't see them
until they are well in your headlights, and the deer are often on the side of
the road until you get there. Even living in an area at the moment without much
deer, I still am on guard driving at night through the woods, particularly in
the fall when deer seem to get more active. Although I didn't hunt, I was
always happy when rifle season got started. Because deer have few predators
left other than man, their herds have gotten out of control, and too many deer
can do great damage to the environment as they strip foliage and bush and kill
small trees, which then leaves the landscape bare to errode away.

I once stopped completely on a two lane highway for a lone deer parked next to
the double yellow line. It didn't budge. I tapped the horn. It curiously
looked at me. Next I turned off the headlights. Then I turned off all the
lights. Eventually it slowly wandered off. I moved forward slowly until I was
confident her unseen friends were behind me. (Deer usually travel in packs).

I'm not sure how to really avoid deer when landing, other than luck and finding
an airport with a very tall fence (deer can jump very high and can also swim
amazingly well) . I've heard of overflying the field before landing at night,
but I'm not sure this would work, since even if they were scared and moved away
(hah!) deer could merely move on to the runway while you're on downwind again.

Now moose, that's a different story. Deer will damage your car/plane and will
get injured/killed if you collide. With moose *YOU* get injured/killed if you
collide.