I skeered a doe/buck/fawn trio out of a field once when I was out on my ATV. Buck jumps across road, over next fence. Fawn does same. Doe not too bright - forgot to jump the last fence, and broke its neck.

Took it to the farmer that owned the land and we split the meat. ATV road kill is gooooood eatin'

 

I live in the mountains west of Denver; I encounter about 2 to 5 deer a week. When I changed my pipes on my road king, I noticed that the deer were more alert, moving around more when I came upon them. I didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Now that I have had time to think about it, with many many encounters, I think it makes the deer more likely to run in front of you instead of staying next to the road and grazing. Just my observation no scientific proof. George

[IMG]local://upfiles/9350/A03C137ABF2B4F1186FD3D6140F2757B.jpg[/IMG]

 

Darn right.........the wife smashed a huge 14 point buck with her Dodge Durango......I wanted to run out there and get it but when I got there the LEO's had first dibs for the local orphanage. So I tell the wife......"they got your deer before I could get it" she asks "how do you know it was the deer I hit"?........so I told her the chrome Durango grille stuck on the side of it was a dead give away...

 

I think it could go either way. I have seen deer run away from the noise or just stay where they are grazing away. I have had them come out of nowhere and cross my path with only fate preventing a collision. I have seen horses, cows, sheep, etc. run away if they are grazing near the road, but not always. But I do lean towards more noise then less in this endless debate.

 

You got to watch out for these!!!

 

Most deer I've come across are smart enough to get out of the way. I've never seen one look at a car or a bike and come investigate. And they've gotten so bad here in central Jersey that you can see them out in the fields grazing in plain site.

I've come upon them on the bike and with my truck and when they've see me (truck) or heard me (story above with the bike) they've moved out of my path. The only time I have hit one was when travelling at night with my wife's black truck, on a dark road, a deer came out on our side into the road as we came across and essentially hit the right front of my wifes truck just as he came out of the woods. My thinking is that if the truck had been noisier, he would have heard us. Essentially I'm a firm believer that noise, more times than not, helps. I've SEEN it make a buck run. I've SEEN a quiet car run one down.

People can say to me as much as they want "it may make them run in front while grazing". OK - if they can see me, I can see them. But the "noise may make them run towards you" is typically a guess while "noise and seeing you makes them run away" is batting 1.000 in my own personal record book. And it seems to have happened similarly for those of you who have commented in this forum. I personnally am coming down on the side of my experiences. Loud Pipes are good.

 

Now I have a good reason to explain to the wife my need for new pipes. I'll tell her that story.

 

I've run across a bunch of deer and my loud pipes haven't helped , but the Horn sure as hell gets them hoppin

 

I work at a Department of Energy Lab and the site has many many deer. My experience is that sometimes, the deer will run away from loud pipes and loud horn, and sometines they will stop right in the middle of the road in your path and stare at what is making all that noise. I would not depend on my loud pipes to scare the deer off. Deer are too unpredictable and do not behave the same way all the time.

 

Deer have to be the dumbest animals in the galaxy. If it's dark and they are running it doesnt matter how loud your pipes or your horn are, you won't see them in time to hit the horn or even the brakes. If they are standing in the road you at least have a chance but if they're moving you never know which direction they will go. There are WAY too many deer in southern Indiana.....I say kill em all !!!!!!! I've already hit mine and lived thru it.