Having nearly experienced the same many times I am always amazed. Deer are so crafty and elusive while hunting them but put them near a road and all bets are off. Anyway, glad y'all are okay (I presume).
That is the truth. I have froze to death for two weeks looking for a deer to shoot with my Elmer Fud outfit on....drive down the road you see them every place...glad your ok...
Lot of roads around here I won't do over 45 on at night, and even that gets scary, there's so many of them. Getting to where the only use I have for them is venison, and I'd happily give that up if they'd all disappear. I've known several people that hit them with cars, and I've had near misses.
Even have to share my garden with them, and it's illegal to shoot anything in town. Cute to kids, nuisance to me. You were fortunate to get that kind of damage to the bike without going down. Said you were both sore, did it hit you besides the bike, or just the impact on the bike?
Rats on stilts, there are more deer in NJ now than before Columbus first came to America. I had a few close encounters, and they were all in broad daylight (mostly because I won't drive on dark rural roads at night).
Glad you guys are alright if a bit sore. So often it ends really badly for riders when deer are involved. I was in VA couple weeks ago. Dodged 7 in one day on Skyline Dr. I would not want to ride that road at night!
Glad to hear you both are okay and well done on the recovery. The wife and I passed about 20 head of deer and 100 sheep Sunday evening on our home from a late afternoon ride. It was scary, especially with the sun in our eyes.