That is, hitting a deer when living in Central Oregon. I have been living here for over fifteen years now and have somehow avoided hitting one, despite probably a thousand close calls. Well, I finally ran out of luck.
Heading into town for an appointment, driving down Northwest Way and this buck came running full speed in front of me. I was maybe three car lengths behind an SUV and two other cars were heading the opposite direction. I never saw the deer as he jumped between the two northbound cars and then right in front of me. I was full on the clutch and brake pedals as fast as I could, but physics won. I hit the buck broadside. His hip hit just above my driver-side headlight, his shoulder hit the grille just inside the headlight on the other side (pushing a bracket into the radiator.) Grille destroyed. Hood buckled. Radiator leaking. Poor buck was in shock. Compound break of his femur. Head injury from hitting the ground (or maybe that mailbox, I’m not sure.) I was fine. I immediately called 911 and asked for the Sheriff to come euthanize the buck. The tailing northbound car stopped, as she saw the whole thing. Checked on me. Within a few minutes another car stopped and asked if I needed a gun. I said I had called the Sheriff but if she had one, it would be helpful. She walked from her truck and handed me a pistol. So within a few minutes of his injury, the buck’s suffering was gone. Lady took back her pistol and drove off. The other lady came and gave me a hug. I needed that. Sheriff showed up about ten minutes later. A while after that Linda came with the truck and a tow strap to get the car home. I didn’t want to drive it due to the coolant leak. Now it’s just insurance and body shop. And time of course. Sort of ruined my day.
Oh, guy in a pickup came by and took the buck home (legal in Oregon.)
Update: Insurance company being difficult, declared the car a total loss, despite the minor damage. ???????
I had to retrieve it from one body shop and bring it to a different one. The car will now have a salvage title, but since I plan to drive it like every other winter beater Subaru I have owned, that is until it mechanically expires. (The last one was hauled the the wrecking yard after a year of ominous knocking coming out of the driver side cylinder bank, at well over 250k miles on the odometer.) This one is just too nice a spec (full leather, manual, wagon, top spec) to let it go due to this level of damage. Hell, I don’t care about the paint, so long as it gets me around in winter until I can’t drive anymore!