A Personal Milestone!!!! And maybe a survey...

[machinist@large]

I hit a new plateau today driving to work; at approximately 4:55 AM Eastern time, I wiped out my TENTH north American white tailed deer. Using a vehicle.

It's the seventh I've taken with one of my personal vehicles; the other three were on the clock. And today's was one of the scariest, because my Escort is the smallest vehicle I've ever owned. I would have to say the car did well; only a trashed fender and headlight pod, some wrinkling to the corner of the hood. It's still drivable (unlike the other milestone day, where I hit two of the @*%% things in a 45 minute period, with the Sheriffs deputy who took the first report catching the trailing view of the second with her dash cam. That poor van went home on a wrecker after that.).

So, has anyone else racked and stacked them along the way? Or any other types of wildlife; we have active members on pretty much all the major land masses on the globe, and it's pretty much common knowledge that modern automotive transport has come on the scene faster than the local wildlife can evolve to avoid it....

As for the survey, I haven't figured out how to do the formal setup, so I thought everyone would just chime in as we went along....

Pat

 

[Jim-L-L]

Man that's lucky there's not more damage ! how fast were you going ?

Ran over an uncountable number of Cane Toads when I lived in the Darwin (Tropical Northern Territory) Those things are a not native to Australia and really poisonous to pets and native wildlife, it was easy in my Ford with it's fat tyres but way more challenging in the wife's Daihatsu Copen with it's skinny pizza cutter wheels !

 

[machinist@large]

How do you clean one of those out of the accessory drive, let alone the suspension or exhaust? As far as how fast I was going? Somewhere between 35 and 40 MPH; as you may have noticed or heard, the lower 48 States of the US and our cousins in Canada have been having a really wild end to fall. Yesterday, we only had light snowfall; today was the first in almost two weeks that we haven't had any snow fall. I hit the @@## thing over an hour before I had to be to work; normally it's about a 35 ~ 40 minute drive.

Pat

 

[robbie]

I've hit only one deer. Nearly everybody I know has hit at least one.

I like cane toads. They're native to my childhood home, where they aren't called cane toads. We used to just call them big toads.

 

[fowler]

Bullbars and spot lights
All country Australian vehicals have them
Wether it be somthing like your fiesta
Or a road train



Because of kangaroos
They come in two types
The big red ones u guys probs see on tv, they live in the desert and sparse bush land
They weight a few hundred kgs and stand 7 ft
They there's the greys, they live in the heavier bush and around the farm land
They are far smaller at only 5 ft but because of where they live they get hit more offern

Also country cops are easy on country roads so the speed limit is 110kph
But if your not doing 130 your not going to get anywhere

So yea we got a **** load of roos and emus I'd hit a few a week
But emus are just balls of feathers and are so soft that in a 100kph crash it's common that both the animal and car can survive

Also somthing else to note with kangaroos
Unlike any other animal they jump high each stride
So if u ht it mid jump them a small car can cop it though the window
Or a 4x4 can get it on the bonnet

 

[machinist@large]

 

[mckutzy]

I havent hit anything fortunately, My friend sadly hit a deer a few months ago in his work fracking iron truck. pain in the a$$ to clean up, especially on a millon dollar + truck.

I heard something over in Aus, they are getting hard on people with the roo bars. I think it was something about more/significant increase in pedestrian deaths attributed to them?
I wasn't really paying too much attention to what was being said, but could one of our Aus friends give some insight

I think the bars are fricken cool, I want one on my fifth, but all I can find are cop car bumpers. There are some cool looking builders for them holdem UTE pickups, the older ones are really looking bada$$.

 

[landuse]

Nah, haven't hit anything with my car. With our highways being dirt roads with loads of potholes, you can usually swerve for the lions and elephants that stand in the road. Elephants are usually easy to spot, so you can slow down and go round them

I took these pics a few days ago on the way to work

 

[mckutzy]

Gota love that eh, just doing the regular stroll to work... oh hey there is old bob the elephant, munching away.
Pretty cool.

 

[Jim-L-L]

I havent hit anything fortunately, My friend sadly hit a deer a few months ago in his work fracking iron truck. pain in the a$$ to clean up, especially on a millon dollar + truck.

I heard something over in Aus, they are getting hard on people with the roo bars. I think it was something about more/significant increase in pedestrian deaths attributed to them?
I wasn't really paying too much attention to what was being said, but could one of our Aus friends give some insight

I think the bars are fricken cool, I want one on my fifth, but all I can find are cop car bumpers. There are some cool looking builders for them holdem UTE pickups, the older ones are really looking bada$$.

I seem to remember hearing that some Bull bars being fitted were not really that good in accident ? might have been the cheap aluminium ones ? not sure. When we lived up in the North there was no speed limit on the highway BUT you had to be insane to drive at night ! lots of Buffalo, donkeys, camels, cattle etc. The road trains would hit them at 130 kmh plus Wow what a mess !

 

[fowler]

Bull bars bad ?

Bad for the other person

Very bad in the city if u are likely to hit people

Yea when people put them on small cars they can cause issues
Obviously it changes the crumple zone
And if fitted wrong the airbags may not trigger

Or in some cars the bar just crumbles the bumper then hits the engine and forces it though the drivers area

Load of newer cars have no chassis so fit up is hard
But my pickup has a proper chassis and no air bags

Landuse
We doing this again

 

[landuse]

Landuse
We doing this again

LOL. Yup

Watch out for those drop bears!

 

[Jim-L-L]

LOL. Yup

Watch out for those drop bears!

No more drop bears, drop snakes ate them all

 

[fowler]

Na the kangafoxs are the issue these days

Since the interbreeding a few years ago u really gotta watch it

I carry a 308 around all the time and don't go out at night anymore

 

[machinist@large]

Proper Verification Needed......

Nah, haven't hit anything with my car. With our highways being dirt roads with loads of potholes, you can usually swerve for the lions and elephants that stand in the road. Elephants are usually easy to spot, so you can slow down and go round them

I took these pics a few days ago on the way to work

Hey Paul!! Here's an idea; just to confirm that you actually could take those photo's on your way to work, how about you get YOUR photo taken WITH the critter in question; you know, just an independent confirmation that these guys are actually as big a problem for you as stray puppies...

 

[machinist@large]

Wildlife management 101....

Na the kangafoxs are the issue these days

Since the interbreeding a few years ago u really gotta watch it

I carry a 308 around all the time and don't go out at night anymore

No one has introduced Zombies to take care of those yet?

 

[Doc Sprocket]

I think my Sprinter would be right at home in Aus with the bars and lights!

I've been lucky not to hit any major wildlife. My dad has hit 2 deer, the second was huge, and seriously screwed up his van.

Scariest close call? About 15 years ago, I was whipping along a country road doing about 100 Km/h (60MPH) in a 80Km/h (50MPH) speed zone. It was 11:30 or so at night, I was on my way home form work, whipping along in my 1985 Pontiac Fiero. For those not familiar, they were little mid-engine sports cars, similar to the Fiat X19, or Toyota MR2. Zipping along, not paying enough attention, and all I saw was a flash of white right in front of me. I downshifted from 5th to 2nd, and broke as hard as I could, throwing the engine well past redline. In the split-second it took me to do that, the deer has already jumped out of the way. Scary as he//. If I'd hit him, it would have been REALLY ugly...

Pat- Glad you're okay!

 

[machinist@large]

Yeah, I'm OK; the thing that really got me thinking once I got to work (ahead of schedule, no less!), was the fact that I didn't even get exited, stressed, etc... Almost no adrenaline rush at all. Just the basic thought "Ah . Here we go again....."

Kinda looks like I might be trying my hand at some DYI body repair come spring.....

Pat

 

[OzFab]

I think my Sprinter would be right at home in Aus with the bars and lights!

Nah, not quite; the centre nudge section looks ok but, the side sections look a bit light; if you hit a 'roo, they'll end up inside the front fenders...

Kinda looks like I might be trying my hand at some DYI body repair come spring.....

Pat

I don't mean to add insult to injury but, from a panel beaters perspective, there may be more damage underneath; don't wanna scare ya just prepare ya...

 

[machinist@large]

Nah, not quite; the centre nudge section looks ok but, the side sections look a bit light; if you hit a 'roo, they'll end up inside the front fenders...

I have zero experience with roadkill kangaroo's, but at first glance (without knowing the metal thickness, mounting points, etc), it looks like the cow ketcher on Doc's work ride would handle a Bambie. If they survive for more than a couple of years they can get big (up into the 300LB./ 150Kg. range), but most that I see are in the 120LB/ 60Kg. range. I'm guessing the one I wiped out was probably in that range.

I don't mean to add insult to injury but, from a panel beaters perspective, there may be more damage underneath; don't wanna scare ya just prepare ya...

Oh, it gets even better; I had glanced at the car when I helped my Mom move my Grandmother out of the apartment to her home, so she could take care of her, but really didn't give it a hard look over. When Grandma gave up her license, I bought the car. A couple of days after I got it home, I asked my Mom why the doors didn't quite close properly, and it looked like it had been painted on all sides, but at different times.

I really don't know just how many crunches the poor thing has been thru, but I believe the only part of the car with original paint is the roof.

If and when I dig into it, I'll take lots of photo's, just so I can share the pain with you all....

Oh, the reason i bought the car is that it only had 64,000 miles on it; five years on it's about to roll over 81,000, and the drive train is in great shape. I just need to slow down the rust bugs...

Pat