What To Do When Deer Appear On Trail At High Speed?

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whitedust

Well-known member
What do you do when you are wailing along WOT or less in daylight on the trails & there it is the dreaded deer crossing? There is no time to stop. What works best?

This may sound goofy but I hit brakes then head straight at the deer in the trail. Reason I do this is most times deer will move to 1 side or the other towards the open area. If you head way from the deer towards the open area you may arrive at the same place & time. OUCH not good. So far Whitedust is throwing a shut out. Works for me when no other way.

What do you do?
 
D

Dave_B

Active member
Like the sign on US 2 says, "Don't Veer For Deer".
Hit the brakes, keep it straight and duck.
 
G

G

Guest
Slow down, keep it straight and be ready to peal off the back. Let the sled hit the deer, not you.
 
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t660redrocket

New member
In motorcycle safety training we were told that a rule of thumb is that if you can eat the animal in one sitting, hit it. If not swerve to the safe side of the road (trail in this case). I've always remembered this advice and it has kept me safe on more than one occasion.
 
legend02

legend02

Active member
A few years ago on the railroad bed in conover im march west of town, I hit two deer at in one shot, I got as low as I could on my 96 formula z , they both bounced off each side of the hood, then my cousin behind me ran one of them over as he couldn't avoid him. Got my hear pumping. Was pulling fur out of the hood the rest of the weekend it was stuck anywhere it could be.
 
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whitedust

Well-known member
jlemieu1 said:
step 1: put a safety vest on. (Mine is a TekVest).

This is the story that made me get my vest.
http://www.tekrider.com/test15.html
Click to expand...

Step 1 is a very good step! Difficult to believe that so many people ride without protection. Not me always have sixsixone core protector on for those unexspected offs. Sooner or later everybody is going to have a close call with deer so I thought this post would give some people food for thought for that moment. A preprogrammed reaction. Good suggestions to let sled take impact & get out of way the best you can. I have had deer go over the top of me that I never even saw buddies told me later. Also had 1 deer go to his knees at 80mph right next to me scared us both silly stopped got off my sled & plopped down in snow & looked at blue sky & laughed myself silly. Could not believe I missed that 1.
 
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stealthv

New member
Driving a Cat, you can just eat them up.








Combine that is.

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xcsp

Member
One thing to keep in mind if you do encounter a deer on the trail, if there are any snowmobiles following you, rolling off of the back of your sled really wouldn't be wise as the sleds following may not see YOU and that may be worse than staying on the sled and riding it out.
 
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600hoic

Banned
Keep it pinned and duck down. If you hit the brakes and hit it you may loose control of the sled. If you keep it pinned the sled will maintain its momentum and bounce the deer off of it. Just keep a firm hold of the bars and keep your head down.
 
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datdude

New member
I killed a deer at about 60mph in 2005. I was riding a "road" trail and it happened so fast I could not do anything. The deer came from my left and made it almost all the way infront of me. I hit her right rear with my right front and she spun around next to me. I ended up breaking her back and she died about 10 minutes later. The crazy part is that I was riding with my insurance agent and we had stopped to take a break about 10 minutes before I hit her. We were talking about hitting a deer and the insurance related to that. This is one reason that I don't ride trails anymore. The deer did about $2000 in damage to my sled, but if I was a second earlier, she would have come over the top and who knows what would have happened?
 
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G

Guest
Also remember that the foul beasts tend to run in groups. If you see one jumping OFF the trail 100 yards ahead you should be on the binders. You won't be hitting that one but deer 3 or 4 or 17 might get you.
 
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