I recently moved to a a semi-rural area where there are tons of deer out on the roads at night. Tonight I had to dodge completely out of my lane twice to keep from hitting deer in the road, and it has become painfully clear to me that one day sooner or later, I'm not going to be able to drive my way out of a deer encounter.

Anyhow, I've been seriously considering purchasing a 350z lately, and it occured to me that a deer hit could be seriously more dangerous with such a smaller, low riding vehicle compared to my current truck.

So my question is, is there anything I can do to actually protect my vehicles from getting demolished? Or keep me from getting killed, for that matter? I've heard of whistles and such that you can place in your grill which scare deer away as you approach, but I have no idea if those types of things really work.

Any info would be greatly appreciated, as this is truly a serious issue for me.

 

I was born and raised in an area like that. In my first three years of driving, I hit three deer. There was nothing I could have done to any of them to prevent the collisions.

There is nothing you can do to protect a car like the Z. The best thing to do is drive slower at night, have your brights on as much as possible, and stay alert w/ both hands on the wheel.

As for deer whistles, I will say this; my first deer collision was w/ my '94 S-10 Blazer. After that, I put deer whistles on the Blazer and never had a deer problem again for the rest of the time I owned the car. I then bought my Prelude and never put the whistles on; three weeks later after I bought her, she got smashed up in a deer collision. I put whistles on after that and didn't have another problem until a year later when I hit my 3rd deer (2nd in the Prelude). The whistles had fallen off from the weather and other elements. I promptly put them back on and haven't had a problem since then. Of course, I now live in NJ so there are no deer, just stupid people and ridiculous drivers.

 

Well ive hit a deer in the Z at 60 miles an hour. It wasnt to bad cause the hood shot the deer over the car. Ive been driving for 6 years now and this was my first accedent. And there are alot of deer in my area. People hit them on a daily bases. Basicly if you think you might hit a deer make sure to have coverage for it and know a good body shop. Other than that my Z wasnt that bad after hitting one at 60 mph.
-Rich-

 

Try the whistles on your current vehicle. If you don't seem to have to swerve around any deer then go for it. In fact...just buy the Z but don't drive it at night. LOL

 

The deer whistle actually works when I lived in Colorado my mom had them on her jeep and never had a encounter with a deer. In oklahoma I had a encounter with a already dead deer!!LOL I had no choice but to drive over him and I could hear his back bone scraping the underside of the car.Needless to say I had deer jerky under my car for a while!! It was yucky, and it smelt bad too!I hit a armadillo <--hehehe that one was kind of funny because he just went rolling off the road and no damage to the car! Now the raccoon my mom hit... that was another story after $2,000 my car was new again!

 

If we had a contest, I'll bet I would win or come close. I've lived WAAAAY out in the boonies for about 12 yr.; in that time, I've hit 5 deer, and my wife has hit 2. They're everywhere, on the minus side, but on the plus side, they don't seem to get spooked as easily as they used to, except during the rut (mating season).

As for the whistles, I hit 3 of the 5 deer over 8 yr ago when I was still driving a used Olds Toronado with two of the whistles installed. They were no discernible help whatsoever. Also, I've got a law partner who hit so many with his Linclon Town Car during the same time period, also w/two whistles on his car, that his insurance cancelled him.

 

i live kinda out in the boonies and i see deer litteraly every day. but some how they only seem to get hit (or at least on the roads i drive) once a month. so how i have avodioded alll collisions. how ever my closest call was on a dirt bike in the woods. my speedo said i was going about 40 and the deer jumped across the trail just 5 ft in front of me. i about pissed my pants any closer and i would have cliped its tail.

 

You know what everyone can just move to Texas all you see out here is skunk road kill!

 

I also don't think the whistles work. I had a van with whistles and I hit a deer too. Since I live in the mountains of Idaho, I try not to drive the Z at night.

 

I promptly put them back on and haven't had a problem since then. Of course, I now live in NJ so there are no deer, just stupid people and ridiculous drivers.





I dont know what part of NJ you live in but in Freehold there are crazzy deers everywhere. Best advice is to just drive slow and look for their eyes

 

i hit a deer recently but it wasnt as bad as Shadowrwr's car.

i hit the deer prolly around 35mph and the same thing happened, the deer flew in the air and cleared the roof of the Z.

Mine was all cosmetic damage, hood and bumper...

i didnt claim it and fixed it myself, the cost would have been $950

 

Easy Solution....Clamp on a Snow Plow to the Front Air Dam of your Z (Think about the vehicles in "Mad Max" and you'll get the idea!)

You can "acquire" on at your local municipality parking lot ..LOL!

That way....you can just plow those MF deer outta the way!!

Just kidding....I like animals..really!!

 

Hudson county, just across the river from NYC.

 

Im in rockland and we have a lot of deer up at the top but i cant imagine hitting 3 deers or having a deer shoot over my car because of the angle of the hood. thats crazy.

Get deer whistles. Awesome first mod.

 

****. I'm never leaving Los Angeles

 

I live in Kentucky where there are a lot of deer. The last time I hit a deer was in my mom's 88' Chevrolet Corsica back when I was a junior in high school. It was a fawn and I hit it going about 40 mph. All I could do was slam my brakes. I hit it and it did a barrel roll down the road. It promptly got up and hopped away. No damages though because the bumper was so huge.

As for the deer whistles, it never hurts to try. In my hometown back then (about 10 years ago), the Wal*mart always had them for about $20 or so. I'm not sure if the price is the same now. Still, they are all black and I'm sure you can mount them stealthily on the front stock grill. For $20, it can go a long way to save yourself from $1000+ damages.

Btw, here's a picture of what the old car looked like. Look at that bumper!

 

Thats a 1994 model :P (Licenceplate tells me the production year, it's a dutch car :P)

But concerning the deer, i have never encountered them over here, but are they the same as bunny's? i mean like they wont get out of your beam of light when they get in front of your car?

 

Well yeah, I know it's the '94 model. That's not actually my car, but the best representation of what it looked like. The only thing that was different was the actual hubcaps.

It depends on what the deer is doing. If the deer is just standing there and seems looks in the direction the car is approaching, they freeze when they see headlights. They refuse to move, it's almost as if they are blinded/mesmerized. But many times, people also hit deer when they decide to make a run for it to cross the road (as in my case). Several of my friends have gotten into a wreck by deer bolting across the road.

 

Hmmm strange animals, btw i was joking with you faluzure about that car

Btw that bumper IS huge

 

Hands Down the 30-06 is probably the most widley used protection against deer in rural areas.

You want to keep fron hitting a deer, Join the Hunt every year to thin down the population.