Deer vs Rider at Berryessa last weekend

[Dr_SLO]

:wow

Did you get any injuries from that?

I was wearing full gear so nothing major as in no broken bones. A small puncture wound (pictured; taken a few days after) to the arm where I presume an antler made it through the leathers. There was a hole in the arm of the jacket. I also tweaked my shoulder, which took a couple of months to heal from. I was fortunate as I slid, remaining in my lane in the direction of travel.

This was part of my daily commute (time of incident was 06:45) that I had been doing for 11 years. I'm always concerned about deer in this spot as I did have a close call at this location in 2009. Another buck at around 23:00. I was travelling in the opposite direction, westbound, so it was easy to see as it ran down the slope into the road in front of me where I was able stop; we faced each other off. However, the one pictured decided to run out from behind the trees where, travelling eastbound, it was not possible to see it until too late. It stopped in my lane!

 

[wheel_muse]

Ouch! :wtf I'm glad you didn't get hurt more badly. How do you mean it was better westbound? Visibility? Grade?

 

[novaks47]

I hit one the week before Thanksgiving in 2019. Totally destroyed my R1. The kicker as that a few days before I'd just changed the oil and spark plugs ready for winter riding season.

Wow, glad you made it out ok! I know that exact spot on 84. I nearly collided with a deer one morning heading towards Skyline, just past there around the long sweeping left hand corner. Was the only time I saw deer in there, guess I've been lucky through that section. Dodged many a deer by the red barn just before it though.

I was wondering why I suddenly stopped seeing that particular R1, I had no idea it was a member here. Small world!

 

[ThumperX]

That thud upon impact... I will forever walk funny from my 2008 encounter.

 

[Dr_SLO]

Ouch! :wtf I'm glad you didn't get hurt more badly. How do you mean it was better westbound? Visibility? Grade?

I've attached a satellite view of the area. In the second picture in my first post, which is facing in the westbound direction, you can make out the large turnout on the right and a driveway on the left. That drive leads to a house and there's a sizeable empty area. Travelling westbound you can see into that area earlier than you can eastbound. I tend to continuously scan hedgerows and large spaces for deer. The first occasion in 2009 I saw the deer easily as it ran towards to the road. The one I struck ran from behind the tree line (closest in the street view image) in that same area and stopped in the road blocking the entire lane.

 

[Dr_SLO]

Wow, glad you made it out ok! I know that exact spot on 84. I nearly collided with a deer one morning heading towards Skyline, just past there around the long sweeping left hand corner. Was the only time I saw deer in there, guess I've been lucky through that section. Dodged many a deer by the red barn just before it though.

I was wondering why I suddenly stopped seeing that particular R1, I had no idea it was a member here. Small world!

I know those places well. I frequently see deer around the red barn and in the long sweeper with the eucalyptus. There are a few other places; up and around the last few corners eastbound before Alice's and just before Woodruff Creek. However, it's a good bet that anywhere along 84 you have a decent chance of coming across a deer. Oh, and don't forget the Turkeys :rofl

 

[bobl]

While I have never hit a deer, I've had some close encounters. I've noticed some really dumb behavior from those critters. First, as noted above, they will sometimes stop in the middle of the road when frightened. Then there is the run all the way across the road, then reverse and try to run back to their original side of the road trick. Also, they often travel in pairs, and after the first one scares the shit out of you, number two will emerge from the bush right in front of you. When ever I see those beasts, I immediately slow waaaay down, and look for someplace to avoid.

 

[novaks47]

I know those places well. I frequently see deer around the red barn and in the long sweeper with the eucalyptus. There are a few other places; up and around the last few corners eastbound before Alice's and just before Woodruff Creek. However, it's a good bet that anywhere along 84 you have a decent chance of coming across a deer. Oh, and don't forget the Turkeys :rofl

Haha, the turkeys! There's a large group of them that travel up and down along pescadero creek rd, and I frequently see them in the road in the same two places. They always stop a the same places, in what is clearly their territory, they just slowly do circles over time. It's strange, we never had turkeys up here until around 4 or 5 years ago. It started out as 4 or 5 of them hanging out off of the Old Haul Rd trail, and the population has been steadily increasing ever since. It took a few years, but they now know to waddle out of the road when a vehicle approaches. I've seen another group on the lower half of 84 between Skyline and Portola, and the male is nuts, it'll stand in the road and peck at cars that stop, lmao!

My scariest encounter with a deer was on the on-ramp to SB280 from Sand Hill, early morning, roughly 3:45. I was just starting to enter the left hand corner, going around 45mph and climbing, and a huge buck just jumped over the guardrail on my right, and sprinted in front of me. I did a little brake-swerve-brake dance, just missing the bugger. That really got my heart pumping, haha!

 

[dravnx]

Of all the deer I've seen, two stand out in my memory. I was coming down King Ridge Rd when out of the corner of my eye I see a deer running towards the road. I get on the brakes and slow way down and am almost at a complete stop when the deer jumps. It hits the top wire of the fence, flips around and runs off in the other direction.
I was out near Pt Reyes when I see a white deer caught in a wire fence and thrashing around. I get out of my truck and was just about there when it untangled and bolted. The next day at work, I'm telling my buddy how I saw an albino deer. He laughed and told me about the Fallow Deer.

 

[moto-rama]

Deer have an instinctual response, when startled they will immediately flee to a place where they think is a safe place. So it's not something that they are considering, they Just Go to that Specific hiding place.
That's why they will stop turn and bolt , sometimes in the opposite direction they are moving.

My brother, who I learned to hunt with, explained this to me. He was a fish and game warden for 35 years, and made a lifetime study of animal behavior. Elk have a slight variation of this, where they often çharge a predator or threat. This is something that a large buck might do as well.

This time of year you're going to have a lot of these encounters. Just 2 weeks ago I was fishing in Mono county and a big mule deer "bluffed" at me along the East Walker River. Even in 2 feet of snow, it moved pretty quick. I was just putting my snowshoe gear on so I just stayed put and let it move on. Even so..
Yikes.

 

[ST Guy]

I know those places well. I frequently see deer around the red barn and in the long sweeper with the eucalyptus. There are a few other places; up and around the last few corners eastbound before Alice's and just before Woodruff Creek. However, it's a good bet that anywhere along 84 you have a decent chance of coming across a deer. Oh, and don't forget the Turkeys :rofl

I've seen a turkey do a real number on an ST1100. Totally fucked up the front end.

 

[moto-rama]

I've seen a turkey do a real number on an ST1100. Totally fucked up the front end.

Imagine if it had been a frozen turkey.

 

[Slow Goat]

The video is still up, I can’t figure out how to embed it.
There was one rider who rode past and the trailing rider had no chance of avoiding it. Split second and Boom.

 

[ST Guy]

Imagine if it had been a frozen turkey.

Fortunately, frozen turkeys don't fly. However, the original story is a good one. :thumbup

 

[ratpick]

Imagine if it had been a frozen turkey.

I took a vulture to my right shoulder / chest area on Carmel Valley rd years ago, felt like someone threw a frozen turkey at me.
Had some nice bruises from that one.

 

[tzrider]

This time of year you're going to have a lot of these encounters. Just 2 weeks ago I was fishing in Mono county and a big mule deer "bluffed" at me along the East Walker River. Even in 2 feet of snow, it moved pretty quick. I was just putting my snowshoe gear on so I just stayed put and let it move on. Even so..
Yikes.

On two separate occasions in Mono County, a deer has approached me and sniffed or licked the back of my hand. Deer are weird over there.

 

[CDONA]

A '70's Stonyford weekend had a doe wander into camp around us sniffing, while we drank and told stories @ the campfire.

 

[swimfar]

I almost hit one coming down Page Mill a few months ago. It jumped out across the road and was 0-6" from my front tire. I wasn't going too fast and was able to slow down enough to avoid it. I thought I was going down, though.

I read some statistic a while ago about how in West Virginia drivers hit an average of 1 deer every 100k miles, which seems unbelievable. Couldn't find the source when I tried to look it up later, so not sure how accurate it is.