My 1st Buck

In the battle of Deer vs. Car, no one was victorious :(
(No humans were harmed in this incident.)






At precisely 6:55am on Thursday, October 30, 2008, Jeremy and I had just departed Ridgway on our way to work. I was driving, while he worked on waking up with his cup of coffee as usual. It was still extremely dark, and there weren't many people on the road. There were, however, several deer, and since it is mating season the boy deer had something else on his mind other than looking both ways before crossing the street. I slammed on the anti lock breaks and slowed from 60mph to 35ish in a heart beat. Although I know it is better to hit deer/elk head-on, what's the first thing you do when you see something coming at you from the corner of your eye? That's right! I swerved! There was no one coming in the other lane, and although we spun around, I did not hit anything else but the deer. He died almost instantly, but not before rupturing the radiator, caving in the wheel well, and crumbling the hood in an accordion like fashion. Jeremy got a ride back to the house to pick up my car so we wouldn't be stranded. And after locking myself in the car I commenced calling my father so the rednecks (which apparently have radar for when a 5 point buck is killed on the highway) arguing over the deer wouldn't think I was completely alone. A very nice man also stopped and stayed with me until the other idiots left the scene (without any deer meat). The state trooper and Jer arrived approximately 10 minutes later. Between the insurance, the state trooper, and the tow truck, we were going to be late for work anyways. We ended up both taking the whole day off. Jeremy, who was supposed to go hunting this weekend anyway (for elk, not deer) decided that since the buck had injured his beloved $16000 car, he was at least going to get some meat out of it. So there I stood on the side of the highway feeling like as much of a red neck as the idiots who had previously been arguing over the meat. We ended up with two of the quarters (from the side that didn't come into contact with the car) and the back straps... not to mention the five point antlers. It may have been an unexpected day off, but I'm not sure it was worth it!