3:53 pm, a few miles east of Cortez, Colorado, I see this sign:
A pretty common sign in the west
3:55 pm, a mule deer forgot to look for traffic.
Olive (my Prius) is painfully injured. More so is the deer, which cartwheeled off my right quarter panel and into the ditch, and tried twice to get up but couldn’t.
Olive's injuries. Passenger door won't open.
I was blessed to have a maroon pick-up pull up right behind me as I put my flashers on and pulled over. A young couple got out and helped me pull my fender off the tire. The extremely helpful guy checked under the hood for internal damage, had me turn my wheels, examined the rims, and felt confident that I could make it back to Moab fine as it appeared to be all cosmetic damage. Both of them told me they were so very sorry that this happened, and that this stretch of highway was like running a deer gauntlet.
Hold your values tightly, and your possessions loosely.
Leave a comment if you have ever hit (or been hit by) a deer, and state the repair cost.
Ranger Kathryn's Arches 
3500 bucks – full frontal at 60 MPH on a conversion van. This is the only reason i have taken up hunting and shoot every deer i see
Comment by john — March 12, 2010 @ 8:06 am |
Looks pretty minor. I recommend taking it to a Toyota dealer for a referral on a body shop. You will only pay the deductable no matter where it’s fixed.
I was looking for the picture of the poor deer!
You could tell Toyota the car accelerated out of control by itself and hit a poor deer just minding his business.
Comment by Dale — March 12, 2010 @ 9:37 am |
Most memorable of the several incidents I’ve had: a 400lb cow elk leaping over a truck in the other lane and onto the hood of my Mercedes. I drove it home, barely. I figured that my $800 investment had run its course. Gave away the vehicle, forgot to remove the plates, got a call from the sheriff later when the Mercedes had been abandoned in a ditch. Who knows the rest of this story? Drunk driver? Brake failure? Over correct to avoid another elk?
Comment by midsummerman — March 12, 2010 @ 12:18 pm |
Chevy Suburban 45 mph into a 150 pound whitetail cost about $4500. Somehow we managed to hit the deer 3 times cause he kept bouncing off the hood and standing back up.
Comment by Will B. — March 12, 2010 @ 10:29 pm |
Oh, yes, we had a hit…the deer ran up out of the ditch and into the passenger side of the pickup…I was sitting there. The deer hit and was thrown back, hitting the car trailer and then went end over end into paradise. Only a small 2″ dent because of where it hit. Frightened the guy driving behind us!
Comment by Chichi — March 13, 2010 @ 10:34 am |
Hit a deer going 65 mph in a 03′ Honda Odyssey. Full frontal at night.
$6500 Damage. Bad night, not drivable.
Two years later.
hit a deer at day break with a 2001 Buick Century doing 65. Swerved to avoid, hit the second deer with the corner like your prius. $3500. Ripped through the tread on all four tires (The anti-lock brakes locked up). (new tires).
Comment by Drew — March 16, 2010 @ 9:34 pm |