Modern Vespa

There I was, rolling down the road at about 55 mph, minding my own business, fat & happy, when I suddenly came up on four whitetail does that were moving onto the road from the left, rapidly.

The leading doe ran across the road and made the opposite side as I was starting to seriously brake and swerve a bit to the left...right about the time that doe #2 shot out onto the road at full speed right in front of me.

It's often the second one, blindingly following the first that 'gets' you.

My fleeting visual image of her was that she was low, in full flight, and stretched out like a Greyhound, shooting across my path....but not quite making it before I felt a 'thump' as one of her back legs, probably just a hoof, was hit by my front tire.

I passed by her in a microsecond, and instinctively glanced in my right mirror just in time to see her, as my dad used to say "Ass Over Teakettle" in the long grass beside the road, on her back tumbling with all four legs in the air.

I stopped and turned back to see what happened to her, but within seconds, she, and the others were out of sight and gone.

I stopped the Vespa alongside the road to look it over, expecting SOMEthing to be messed up, probably at least that plastic fender, but there was nary a scratch anywhere, so I mounted up and continued on to Deadwood.

If the deer's back foot simply struck the tire and bounced off of it, tripped her up, and wasn't broken, she's probably ok, after all, she was able to get up and tear off so fast that she was nowhere in sight within seconds.

I imagine that mere hundredths of a second either way and the encounter would have either been a clean miss, or a catastrophic 'T-bone' collision for both of us.

But, until next time, no harm done

Carry on.

Buy a lotto ticket

Doh!

Pre or post whitewall tires?

If the whitewall tires were still on, maybe you need to reconsider swapping them out.

If already switched to the Michelins, consider yourself lucky... for reasons unknown... probably a microsecond more rolling resistance

Glad you made it through unscathed.

Whitewalls are still on the bike, for now.

Don't bother. You have used your luck for several days. Glad it ended well.

OFG

Dear me

Oh deer.

Glad you and the Vespa are alright....the deer too!

Whitewall tires? White-tailed deer? Coincidence? Really?

Can't confirm that the deer escaped unscathed even though it managed to run off and disappear before I could turn around and see where it went.

If it didn't break a leg, it's almost certainly ok, but...if it did......

Glad to hear that your ok.

But take it from a Michigander, unless its a direct grizzly hit, regardless of unscathed or not when deer get hit by a vehicle they are so pumped with adrenaline they will run till they can't.

Case in point:
I hit a deer with my pickup on a county road some years ago... Deer ran head first into the front drivers corner just above the headlight, tumbled down the length of the truck stoving in the rear cab and leaving a poo smear across the gas door.

I pulled over and walked up and down the road and couldn't find a trace of her

The only deer that I hit where I was pretty certain that it was instantly converted into an inoperable pulpy biomass was six or seven years ago, when I was driving a 50,000 pound, 45 foot, tour bus on a remote western South Dakota two lane, probably around 11:00 PM, when, out from nowhere, and in the middle of nowhere, I saw a blurry brown streak shoot onto the road from the right side ditch directly in front of the bus, and disappear beneath my line of sight on the right side of the bus....followed by an incredible 'bang' that had the people seated near the front thinking that a tire had explosively blown out.

I still had headlights, so I continued on for several miles to the next town before stopping to see if there was any serious damage to the front of the bus. The impact with the deer had damaged the fiberglass fascia (bumper area), but nothing else that I could see.

I would have stopped immediately after the deer strike to look for damage, but that rural highway didn't have wide enough paved shoulders to safely stop a bus there, day or night.

After striking the front of the bus, the deer tumbled underneath it the length of the bus, and whatever was left of it came out the back end in a severely dismantled state.

The back of the bus was quite evenly splattered with blood droplets from the bumper to the top, which is about eleven feet from the pavement.

That one didn't get up and run away.

Back in the day when I was a cop, I had the department record for deer hits. I recall it was about 7. Plus I also hit an owl that was diving to grab a mouse that had just run past me. The mouse got away and the owl was in my grill.

I worked the overnight shift and that is when most of the critters ventured out. Never had much damage other than the owl in the grill. Those Crown Vics were tough old birds.

That is what I call a Bbq duc, poor fella or lady.

I hit a deer about six years ago on my BMW Gs. To this day I know half a second was the difference between belting it with my crash bars as a glancing blow and hitting it side on with the resulting crash for my wife and I.

Just like Backlund I saw a flash, as bambi headed straight for my bike at a 45 degree approach, it bounced off the high level crash bars, knocked my missus foot off the rear footpegs and was gone!

So now both our cars and bike have deer whistles fitted to them. I discovered these when regaling a Scottish biker of my experience, who remarked , we all fit them as deer are very common in the highlands.

Maybe THAT was my problem here, I only had Bandicoot and Black-footed Ferret whistles fitted to my GTS!!!

If I only knew what either of those animals was, I would laugh 😆

Bandicoot....

Black-Footed Ferret...

Years ago on a BMW forum we went through the whole deer whistle thing. A university study determined that they were not effective at all. They probably make no sound at all, how would you know?

I have also read a study that points to Deer whistles being about as effective as a plastic knife cutting toffee.

I have hit two deer on motorcycles and live to tell the tale. First one I was on my wife's 09 Bonneville. Never even went down $2700 damage to the bike and deer was dead before he hit the ground. Second one 01 Triumph Legend TT 900 this time I went down and hard. No broken bones just a broken heart totaled the bike. Both times I wore full armor jacket and pants, boots, gloves and helmet. Came close on my new to me 03 BV200. Only cure slow down and LED headlights. Glad you and machine were not hurt. Justin

Justin wow thats sobering. Im not sure lights are the answer, on the night we were hit , it was dusk. My Bmw had a Xenon headlight conversion and I was running two LED spotlights. Aircraft used to mistakenly line up on me when I was riding down the motorway!

Apparently in Spring and Autumn the younger deer or males just go roaming around.

Im offended that folk dont think the whistles worked, thats £1.50 each Ive wasted 😆😆😆😆

Ps if you blow in them they do whistle 🤞🤞

Glad you and the scooter are okay. You never know about the deer, they're pumped so full of adrenaline they aren't feeling much, just thinking "run".

I hit one on my 2012 Yamaha Super Tenere with my 8 yr old grandson on the back. We slowed and passed her, but she ran past us and crossed in front of the bike. She windmilled into the ditch and ran off. I was able to keep it up, but she broke my PIAA light bracket under the headlight. By the grace of God, my grandson didn't even know it happened. He asked, "Peepaw, did we just hit that deer?" LOL

If Deer whistles work at all, it would be when they're new and clean, before they take in any road debris and bug guts that would certainly contribute to their NOT working as designed.

Not to start a big debate about the effectiveness, or non-effectiveness of those five buck plastic sonic placebos called 'Deer Whistles', but why would a deer, upon hearing what is basically a silent dog whistle (IF it emits any sound at all that is)...always panic and run away from the source, and not just run across in front of you to get away from the sound?

Were deer whistles, in their design stage, meant to create a special frequency that only deer find fearful or intolerable? If so, that's quite an impressive bit of science. Did the deer whistle developers go to zoos and wildlife parks to test out their devices on actual whitetail and mule deer to judge their reaction to them?

Deer whistle effectiveness is something of an enigma, and almost always a sure-fire conversation-starter topic on vehicle forums.

Mechanics at the county garage have for years routinely dealt with wrecked deputy cars after deer strikes at night.
I asked - they laughed, "pretty sure those whistles call the deer to the roadside!"

Fun thing to watch!: the mechanics try to salvage the undamaged portion of the sheriff cars. I stood with my coffee and mouth open as they split one, after removing drivetrain, right down the middle. End to end!

My every ride begins with a rural ride in the dark. Sometimes with rain.
I see plenty of deer. They see me. We have an understanding. At 30>35mph......

O.S.

I'll probably run the Vespa back up to Deadwood early tomorrow morning for coffee (and a great ride to get that coffee), and will likely count at least twenty deer alongside the roadway in the fifty mile one-way , and a few almost certainly ON the road as well, plus several family groups of wild turkeys that are always seen along the way

I'll post my deer count for the ride up tomorrow, hopefully all alive and well...along with yours truly.