Oh deer!

 

I was driving home Friday night, March 6, along Boonville Road minding my own business when all of a sudden BAM! Something hit me.

My first thought was that someone heading in the opposite direction threw something at my car, or perhaps I ran over something I hadn’t seen. I was eastbound and had just passed University Drive on my way to Elmo Weedon Road when I heard a thunk that rocked my Toyota Corolla. There was a scarcely used turn lane ahead of me, so I pulled into it and stopped.

I flipped on my hazard lights, turned off the car, and tried to open the door. It was stuck and I had to force it enough to get out. I looked at the side of my car and noticed the door and front quarter panel were crunched up pretty good.

I looked behind me and saw something in the median. At first thought it was a gunny sack. I started walking toward it when I noticed it had legs and a head on a long neck. Oh deer! It was a doe and as I got up to her I could clearly see she was dead. I snapped a couple pictures with my cell phone and walked back to my car. That’s when a gust of wind kicked up and blew the door closed. I could not open it again.

I texted a picture of my crunched Corolla and a brief message to my wife and then opened my AAA app to request a tow. After answering what seemed like a hundred questions, the app confirmed that a towing company had been contacted and help would arrive in about an hour.

As I waited, I opened the back door, sat down and posted a couple pictures on Facebook with the caption, “This is not how I expected my day to go.” As I was wrapping up my post, Sandy arrived to rescue me. She opened up our insurance app on her phone and began filing a claim. That triggered a text to me and soon we were both circling the car taking photos of it in response to instructions from the insurance company.

Most of the hour spent waiting for the tow truck was spent responding to automated queries from the insurance company. In the meantime, there were at least a half-dozen people who stopped to see if we needed help. You gotta love how friendly people are here.

Once the car was loaded onto the tow truck and on its way to a local paint and body shop, we got into Sandy’s car and headed home. I got on my phone and opened my Facebook app to see what kind of response my post was getting. It got a lot! Most surprisingly, a friend from church was driving westbound on Boonville and saw the whole thing happen. She saw more of my accident than I did!

We live in a community about eight miles outside town on Elmo Weedon and we normally see a lot of deer along that road. I always figured that if we ever hit a deer, it would be on Elmo Weedon. I never suspected there would be one on a four-lane divided highway on the outskirts of town. I guess I know better now.

This is far from being our first deer strike. It was definitely the most damaging. A few years ago in Kerrville we were driving out of town to Fredericksburg when a deer ran out in front of us and damaged the front end of Sandy’s car. The deer got up and walked into the next lane and got hit by another car. It got up again, wobbled to the side of the road and collapsed. A passerby in a dually stopped to check on us and then dispatched the deer with a handgun before driving off.

Over the years I’ve contributed to may fair share of roadkill. Mostly it’s been birds and small anim … SQUIRREL! In high school I used to play tag with prairie dogs that lived in a large colony along the road between my house and the school. I normally try to break for wildlife, but that’s not always possible. Sometimes they get that deer-in-the-headlights look in their eyes and the next thing you know they’re scavenger snacks.

One thing I never stopped to consider is what you’re supposed to do about animal carcasses on the road. Most of the local carrion is consumed by vultures and other scavengers. If something needs to be removed from the roadway, the agency to call differs by location.

In Brazos County, call the Road and Bridge Department at 979-822-2127. After hours, call the non-emergency dispatch at 979-361-3888. In Bryan, call the Public Works Call Center at 979-209-5900. In College Station, call Animal Control at 979-764-3600.

So, there is your helpful tip for the day and a lesson learned from a darting deer.