IDAHO UPDATE

Our car almost hit a deer last night. We were driving along a rural road and suddenly YIKES this deer, who had apparently been waiting in the dark for a car to come along, leaped in front of us, forcing me to slam on the brakes and barely avoid making the weewee of  startlement. Why do deer do this? Do they enjoy it? Do they give each other high hooves and go, "Good one, Bob! They will have to clean the seats for sure!"?

Maybe we need some kind of federal program to keep them occupied, such as midnight deer basketball.

Comments

[SW]

"The Weewee of Startlement." Companion book to "Runaway Bunny?"

[DeskDiva]

*thinks of Nurse Tammy's brother who just took one out a few weeks ago on his motorcycle*

[crossgirl]

oh dear! no bear?

[DeskDiva]

Um. "Took one out" NOT as in "on a date," but as in, "Bambi roadkill." Sheesh.

[Mikey]

YA outta be around here in the fall mating season. Fast rule, where you see a doe cross the road, wait a couple of seconds and there will be a buck right behind.

I think it is a guy thing.

[Mikey]

deskdiva,

I take it they weren't from West VA then?

[Cheryl Howard]

snork @ Mikey. You beat me to it!

[DeskDiva]

Nope, Mikey. Illinois.

[Idaho Deer]

Dang those maniac Florida drivers...

[foggiest notion]

After my ex hit a deer and totalled his pickup, he bought some "deer whistles" for both of our cars. Somehow these are supposed to keep the deer from leaping in front of cars that are travelling 60 miles an hour. So far, haven't hit a deer, but I'm not sure if it is due to the whistles, or just not being in the vicinity of suicidal deer.

[lilrascal]

I think they wack off your wacker for deer hunting with your car. At least they take you out back and have someone native to this country ambush you. Then history allows people of the next century to search for arrowheads and stuff at the spot you were wacked. You don't think? nah.

[Tanpopo]

Forgive me for not being remotely funny, but when they do that it usually means the doe has a fawn nearby. She sees or hears you coming and she DOES wait until the last minute to leap out in front of you - she decided that you are a predator and she's trying to distract you and lead you away from her baby.

This tactic works well with, say, real predators who give a darn about eating her baby, weigh less than a ton and move slower than 60 mph. The deer haven't quite figured out that this tactic does NOT work with cars.

[pogo]

And even less funny, these occurrences will increase as urban sprawl squeezes ever more deer into ever decreasing habitat, wipes out what few predators remain, and cultural sensitivities thin the ranks of hunters who have traditionally been a herd management tool.

[pogo]

Curiouser and curiouser...

[Bethie]

Oh my god, Tanpopo, my mom killed Bambi's mother! I knew it!

[Alice]

Curiouser and curiouser, indeed....

[almne]

When I was five my dad hit a deer. My mom took me with her to pick up my dad, who was a bit shaken. I saw the deer and asked "Mommy is that Bambi?"

My mother replied, "No Bambi is smart enough to know not to jump in front of cars."

Me as a five year old accepted this and didn't worry about it anymore.

[Punkin Poo]

Ha! C'mon up to Maine, Dave, and try playing chicken with a moose.

[Chuckles]

"Wee Wee Of Startlement"....LOFL!

[CJrun]

Has anybody seen the s.b.?

[Solid citizen]

Mr. Camera cited for hitting photographer

http://nz.entertainment.yahoo.com/070727/6/117m.html

[Alfred]

Not all of Idaho is forrest. There is this banana shaped thing that is on the lower half of the state. A lot of the major towns fit in there. Keep in mind, they are right above Utah, and Nevada.
The vast majority of the dear don't live anywhere near the vast majority of the people. It just happens that way.

I didn't know that about the dear trying to protect. It makes a lot of sense.

So why do Cows do that?

[russellmc]

"Wee Wee Of Startlement"? isn't that one of the most feared weapons in World of Warcraft? (or maybe the least feared..I can't remember)

[Alfred]

I bet its for nightelves

[Jeff Meyerson]

Dave, didn't you ever see the commercial where the two squirrels are waiting by the side of the road, them one jumps out and makes the driver crash before high fiving his friend?

Same thing.

foggiest: Suicidal Deer WBAGNFARB.

[him]

I've lived in the northwest my whole life and I think they do enjoy it. I have, on multiple occasions, had deer cross the road well in front of me. They then realize the mistake they made with their timing, and dart back across the road, this time right in front of me.

[Rick]

a moose put me in the ditch once - I guess it's the headlights - they check out what the bright light is.

[Annie Where-but-here]

I put a moose in a ditch once for checking out my headlights.

[Steve (The 24 Guy)]

Dave's deer must have a cousin in Indianapolis. When I lived there, I was on the way to work one morning and a deer walked out into the road. Now, this was inside the 465 loop, in a residential area. Couldn't believe it.

Probably out for Starbucks.

[Annie Where-but-here]

...or doenuts.

[Ross]

Dave, the Disneyland people know what to do about pesky insects and animals.

[Annie Where-but-here]

I think it's time to rev up the Western Moatarita Maker, don't you?

[OtheU(manity)]

Dave, the next time y'all go gallivantin' around foolishly in among a bunch of nature merely for thrills on a trip to research your next book, try a little farther north ... they have night hockey for deer in Canada ... merely sayin' ...

(They have hockey for EVERYbuddy, in Canada ...)

(Annie ... does doesn't have nuts ... that's whut makes 'em does ... and not doughnuts ...)

[Renee (the First)]

Multiple SNORKS at Annie.

[shellann]

Here in Idaho the attempt to re-introduce wolves to help with the whole balance-of-nature thing has been too successful, to the point that the wolves are making hunting elk more challenging and they even help themselves to an occasional calf or lamb, so our governor and his hunting buddies want to allow the wolves to be hunted back to extinction. Apparently the wolves aren't having much impact on the deer overpopulation, though. Maybe if we issued SUV's and Florida driver's licenses to the wolves...

And welcome back to Idaho, Dave, we've missed you!

[Annie Where-but-here]

In Florida, the deer don't even think about trying this stunt - Florida retirees don't stop for nuthin'.

[slyeyes]

A couple of weeks ago, my youngest daughter's boyfriend asked for her dad for her hand in marriage. After getting an official parental blessing, he drove home and hit a deer.

He's ok. Deer and car are dead.

For the wedding dinner, I'm thinking venison.

[Olo Baggins of Bywater]

Non-funny, but from me that's a given, eh? There are some 40,000 deer-car accidents in Michigan each year. The numbers is PA and WI (and maybe OH) are similar.

In most cases the deer are just hanging out on the road when a car comes by, and the headlights freeze them.

The programs for reducing this problem in MI are called "bow season" and "firearms season." The only other reliable predators of deer are big cats, and most of us will agree that we don't really want or need more of them.

[Mac Demere]

I wrote the following piece for edumnds.com

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=106854

Clemson University did a research project on deer strikes for the South Carolina DOT for which they (Clemson, not the deer) were paid upwards of a half million dollars. The conclusions: Motorists should watch out for deer, especially around dawn and sunset and also when male deer are horny. And hunters should shoot more deer. Heck, I would have told 'em that for a quarter-million and thrown in some really good recipes.

[Mot the Hoople]

I cannot believe that no one posted something along these lines.

Doe, a deer, a female deer.
Ray, a drop of golden sun.
Me, a name I call myself.

\Etc. ad nauseum.

[Eleanor]

FA, a long, long way to run....:)

[Chris]

Homer: D'oh!
Lisa: A deer!
Marge: A female deer!

Seemed appropriate given the movie opened on Friday ;)

[Mot the Hoople]

Tsk, tsk El, you're in danger of revealing your age.

[foggiest notion]

Sew, a needle pulling thread... (I'm old too)

[Mot the Hoople]

Laa, a note that follows so. *Commandeers the geezer bus*

[Eleanor]

Tea, a drink with jam and bread....

aside to Mot - they show it on TV every year. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. ;)

[Siouxie]

*pops* in for a sec.

My favorite version is this:

DO RE MI BEER, by Homer J. Simpson.

DOUGH... the stuff... that buys me beer...
RAY..... the guy that sells me beer...
ME...... the guy... who drinks the beer,
FAR..... the distance to my beer
SO...... I think I'll have a beer...
LA...... La la la la la la beer
TEA..... no thanks, I'm drinking beer...
That will bring us back to...
(Looks into an empty glass)

D'OH!

*pops* out (El's using her zipper so I can't borrow that)

[AlanBoss]

This same thing happend to me when I was in Ohio a couple weeks ago. I saw the deer watch me aproach before it jumped directly in front of my car.

I think that this is some kiind of deer fraternity prank.

[Enviro Safety Products]

Enjoyed reading this interesting stuff ! thank you !