Dirt_Dad said:
Of course if the deer jumps to rider body level, I don't think anything is keeping you on the bike at that point.
Even then, you just never know. Every time is unique. I had a deer come at me at a dead on run perpendicular to the road. I was
watching for deer, about 3pm on a sunny day. A friend and I had already come over the mountain and were down out of the dense fir forest and into sparsely spaced pine and oak, well spread out and good visibility into the trees on a forest road. No water around for several miles in Eastern Oregon. He was 3 seconds behind me and we were both doing 65 mph. All I saw was brown out of the corner of my eye, giving me just enough time to consider brakes or throttle, (I choose throttle), then impact.
The forked horn buck hit me square on in the side. Most of the impact was to my thigh and ribs, then shoulder. The impact pushed me and the bike from the left side of the road, all the way over to the fog line before I could recover and bring the bike back into the center of the lane. The deer's nose bloodied on my ribs, which thankfully pushed it's head up as the body impacted me. It snapped up, rotated over and literally flipped over the bike just behind me, crossing over the pillion seat and across the road into the woods where it crashed down, got up and ran away.
My friend was watching for deer too and the first moment he saw the deer, I had instantly changed sides of the road and the deer was upside down and backwards, flying across the road in mid air. He couldn't figure out how that happened at first. The impact knocked the wind out of me and I couldn't breathe. I immediately slowed and stopped at the first tiny wide spot in the road where I could get safely off the pavement. Thankfully this was a very short distance from the impact. My friend rides up and asks "did you hit that deer" and I can't really talk yet, so manage to squeak out a yes, and start taking my helmet and gear off, not sure if I am injured or not.
End result, not a mark or hair on the bike anywhere. 2" spot of blood from the deer's nose on my side along with a big patch of deer hair on my side, hip and down my thigh. My leg was already bruising up and starting to swell, but wasn't broken and other than a heck of a color show on my leg and hip for a couple of weeks, I was un-injured. I was ATGATT with a full face Arai and armored riding pants and jacket with armored riding boots.
It all happened in such a manner that I had no time to do any avoidance moves or react in any way other than the single decision to brake or get on the throttle. I believe staying on the throttle helped me stay up and ride on after impact.
Like anyone, I can't help but think of the number of tiny differences that could have hugely altered the scenario. Had the deer hit me farther forward in the front, or possibly hit the back of the bike instead of me, I don't know that I would have been able to stay up. Had the deer pointed it's head down just before impact, I probably wouldn't be typing this, having been skewered by the antlers.
At the end of the day, all you can do is try to make informed decisions in these encounters, within the narrow time frame allowed. I've had more close calls than hits. In part by doing things like CW, letting a car run ahead of me a ways at night when there is no other traffic on the road and just being aware and scanning ahead and to the sides for movement. Funny thing is, often others will see more deer than than I do, but I am only looking for the threats, not the deer off in the woods or in the median that are just grazing. A deer grazing by the road is not a threat, it's the one with it's head up that's about to bolt that catches my attention.
I've noticed a big difference with different bikes too. The FJR attracted deer. I swear the first FJR to go by causes the deer to run out and see what that was! The second rider has to deal with all the deer. I've experienced this both leading and following and it's odd how it happens the same, the first rider never sees any deer, or only a couple, but the second rider has a dozen deer to avoid.
The Super Tenere's exhaust note, (stock), seems to have the opposite effect, causing wildlife to mostly bolt away from the bike. I'm happy with that!! In 162k miles on the FJR, I had dozens of deer encounters, but only a few close ones as I mostly rode alone or with one other. With the S10, I've had zero deer encounters. Other factors do apply, I used to live/ride in the Pacific NorthWest, and got the Super Ten shortly after moving to the Desert SW, so a lot less deer in my 'local' area. But I ride all over the US too and even in other parts of the country I've seen less deer, and farther away, than I did on the FJR.
