Never hit one but here's my take. Most of the time it will be a moving target. Combine that with the speed of the bike and it's probably going to be a crap shoot where the impact is. From my experience with dirt bikes I'd say scrub off as much speed as possible before the impact then grip the bike hard with your legs, get as upright as possible and grab a hand full of throttle while keeping your head and body on the tank. It's going to suck.

 

This past September my wife and I were on a rented ElectraGlide Classic headed from San Luis Opisbo/Paso Robles towards Sequoia NP on 41/46E. It was 9:40 in the morning, we were doing 63mph when this doe pops up out of a gulch 40 feet in front of us. There was no time to brake, hit the horn or evade. We T-boned the deer between her ribs and hindquarters. We carried her on the fairing and front fender 30 or 40 feet further, until her front legs got tied up in the front end of the bike. The handlebars snapped to the right and we were thrown off, hitting the asphalt at 50 mph.

I landed on my right side of my helmet and right upper chest, breaking several ribs and my left leg. My wife broke her foot and wrist. It happened so fast there was no time to be scared, much less act to save ourselves. All I remember is my head impacting, then rolling, then sliding on my back, seeing the bike slide past me, sparks flying everywhere.

We were incredibly lucky to be as little injured as we were. Had I landed on the rumble strip, I probably would have been gutted. Had I landed on the crown of my head instead of the side, I most probably would have snapped my neck. Had we been wearing our typical half helmets instead of our full face helmets, I would have lost the right side of my face. Road rash was thankfully and surprisingly minimal.

For the OP, often there is no choice. For me, I'll never wear a half helmet again - just never know when it's going to happen to you. Your life, your choice...

 

Hit that deer right on the tip of the rear-most hoof as it goes by.

 

Like another guy said, just scrub off as much speed as you can.

Don't try to avoid them. They are very unpredictable. Had one jump out onto a 4 lane highway. I was in the left lane and a big rig was in the right lane about 50 yards in front of me. The deer crossed in front of the big rig and stopped right on the white paint lane marker, turned 90 degrees right and faced the direction I was going, mere inches from my right side. I looked in the mirror and she turned 90 degrees back left and continued to cross.

The only ones that I think that I know what they will do are the very little ones that are on one side of the road and the doe is on the other side of the road. If they are moving across, a honk will usually keep them moving. If they are still, a honk will usually keep them still. Close to a million miles of driving and it has worked so far.

 

A head shot wastes less meat!

 

My buddy hit one a few years back. He hit her pretty centered up and her back half came around and slammed into his leg breaking the rear master cylinder off and smashed his leg into the air filter. He kept it upright and only suffered leg crushing type injury. I don't know the answer to the OP question though. Just thought I would tell the story.

 

They hope...

 

Damn joy-riding deer. Probably not even licensed.

Seriously, I thought I was watching my best friend die when we were just outside College Station. PA a couple of years ago. A young buck came out of the ditch and ran right into his right fork. Crushed it and his engine guard. I was directly behind him and, as I was looking past his bike, when I homed in on what was happening I wondered why there was a brown plank of wood angled across the front of his Street Glide. It was the deer with it's back toward me. We were moving at about 65mph. He managed to scrub off maybe 10mph but the bike was in a death wobble. He went down in a long slide, with the bike still between his legs, which took him along the gravel shoulder. Anyway, he was on his feet before I could get off my bike. It was a very lucky outcome. He still credits the guardian angel bell I'd bought him the day before. He hadn't had time to hang it on the bike yet but it was in his jacket pocket on the side he slid on. Although it was just 9:00 a.m. we stopped for the day (he had no choice as his bike was totalled) and had many, many, many drinks.

 

It happens so fast I don't think you will have time to take aim. Just hang on and hope for the best....

Trucky911

 

Rode over one way back when in a huge rainstorm. Luckily it was already dead, and fairly small.
I just hung on, got up on the pegs, and went on over. Of course that was on a Kawasaki 650. Much lighter bike then the RK for sure. Had the lovely smell of deer hide roasting on the pipes for the next few miles.