Dang Deer (flashlight-related)

Hello everyone,

First some background:
Last night, the darned deer were out in force. My dad hit one in his 2005 Volvo S60T. While he was surveying the damage, another one walked behind his car. Later in the evening (about 1 am), a woman hit one right outside my apartment. I have hit two myself--on in a '97 Nissan Maxima (broke the $500 headlight ***'y) and one in my old '91 Stanza (TOTALED the car). I'd really rather NOT hit another on in my current car (It has already been hit once by another motorist who was chatting on the phone rather than paying attention).

So, this brings me to the flashlight connection-- Does anyone know the legality of using a high-powered flashlight (or spotlight) to help spot these animals BEFORE they jump? I live in New Jersey, and I have to do quite a bit of night driving since I don't leave work until 6pm.

Thanks!
Ben

Most states have laws against the use of spotlights for 'finding' deer. Comes from anti-poaching legislation, even though you are not poaching the animals, you could in theory have some trouble with the game wardens/PD.

Spotlighting deer is a no-no in most places. As far as I know after you have one total your car you can use a spotlight to help see to gut and quarter it. You need to report it to Game and Fish then around here you can eat it.
Topper

No, no light info, except that there are laws in most states about spotlighting, as was menitoned already.

I don't know if they work, but you might look into the whistles/horns that mount on a car and put out higher than human hearing pitch, they are sold (or where) at places like Cabela's or Gander Mountain. Your local sporting stores may have some, and you can Google for more info.

The deer whistles work great! :twothumbs

The problem is training the deer to understand that the sound indicates an oncoming car...

Seriously, there's little scientific evidence that deer whistles are effective. Auditory studies have shown that most deer whistles produce sound that isn't within the audible range for a deer, or that they generate audible sound that is only 3dB louder than ambient road noise.

http://www.advance.uconn.edu/2002/021118/02111812.htm

http://www.deercrash.com/toolbox/CMToolboxWhistles.pdf

Guess it's ruttin' time!

Hit a deer head on while on Airline Highway 10 years ago. Tried to avoid it but instead it jumped from the side of the road onto my lane. Had the beams on high (1990 Acura Legend) and did notice that it popped it's head out from the brush and saw the beady eyes before meeting up with it. . .Too late! ! ! Everything happened way too fast for me that night. Guess the bright lights did not deter it to get away from the car. . .

Based on the evidence here, the deer are attracted to your foreign cars.



/never hit one in my Chevy:naughty:

Hey that's a good one JEEP44! Witty I say, witty!

There really isn't much you can do except be very alert in the areas that you see them often. It is legal to spot light deer where I'm from in eastern NC, but your headlights are generally more effective along the roadsides and often deer come out of wooded areas and blind spots where bright lights don't do much good. The county I live in at home has installed brush guards on the Sheriff's patrol cars for this reason as they have had several major deer incidents.

Ben, your post about the cars and deers is so close to similiar ones that have happened around here in Droppfahl, Wisconsin, that it's almost spooky.


Just two days ago, there was an article in th paper about a guy in a
"late model" Volvo hitting a deer. I'll bet it was a 2005.
Then, in defensive driving class several weeks ago, two guys were talking
about hitting deer; and I swear they mentioned Japanese cars were involved.

Is it possible deer seek out foreign cars to jump in front of? I wonder if a
study on that has ever been done? Whoa! That's weird.

Almost forgot; I think one of the guys in class had a flashlight with him.

jeep44 said:

Based on the evidence here, the deer are attracted to your foreign cars.



/never hit one in my Chevy:naughty:

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Really? interesting, my wife hit one in my 73 chevelle SS and it killed her.

Lightben Glad that no one was hurt. I am bit of a car buff/ex scca road racer, volvos passenger cars orignated from the need to build a strong
upperdeck with A and B pillers to withstand far more impact force then most cars of the day. Reason was in there country of manufactor, moose and large elk populate a country were there is 10 mth's of winter and 2 mth's of bad sledding. Because of the climate the Swedish are very adept at driving
in the condtions at high rates of speed.(one reason why many north euro's that race in F1 have amazing car control;Rosberg, Raikkonen, Salo, Hakkinen) this coupled with the fact moose and Elk are much bigger and taller with much longer leg's when hit by a car they didn't do what most deer do here usually which is impact the front or hood and go up and over the car. Instead the impact woud shear the leg's off and the bulk of the animal would travel straight to the windshield causing hundreds of Deaths a yr.

Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson formed Volvo to make a safer car that would withstand these accidents. A little worthless car history. VDG

Sorry to hear that Sir Greg. . .

CHC said:

Sorry to hear that Sir Greg. . .

Click to expand...

Thank you for your kinds word's. It's been a good few yr's now and not as deep anymore and I shouldn't have let her drive that particular car, esp at night on a two lane st hwy through state forests. I had rebuilt it pretty much to old 70's era trans am spec's and it was an animal.

Indiana is just stupid with deer,
I personally am not a hunter, but have no problem with (legal) hunting.
But in Indiana for decades legal yeild limits were so low that now I see deer
In my neigborhood,, and I live smack dab in the city. God made natural balance for a reason. VDG

Where I live, driving for 15 miles in any direction exposes you to unlit roads full of deer in mating season. I've found that I can see lurking when I use Sylvania Xtravision bulbs. I've just ordered the high-beam and low-beam versions for my 17-year-old daughter's 1998 Oldsmobile.

I've also bought Maxxa tri-mode electronic deer horns for our cars, though I haven't yet had them installed. With these horns (deluxe model only), you can select the audible (4-7 kHz) band,ultrasonic, or both. Ultrasonic may help announce your approach to smaller animals.

The most effective electronic horns may be the Hornet V-120 (120 dB) and V-135 (135 dB). However, I'm not willing to use a 120- or 135-dB audible whistle in a residential area.

I've been in a wreck with a deer and had two deer whistles...they just don't work. I figure one of two things happen, either a) deer can't hear the whistle or b) they hear the most annoying sound in the world and are determined to kill it.

Short of driving a tank down the highway or driving only ay high-noon, the only way to avoid those critters is to slow down.

I hit one in northern Ontario about 12 years ago. It jumped right out of the ditch and on to my car at about 40mph on a dark rainy night.

Lighting, Lighting, Lighting.....It the most important feature of your vehicle. when I hit the Deer, I was barely able to see inside the ditch on the side of the road past the shoulder because my car was equipped with older 80's style sealed beam headlamps. They were horrible because the beam pattern gave very little periferal light basically the beam was too narrow. Newer cars have come along way but still some models have horrible lights. The best thing to do is add some auxilliary lights like these:

here is a KC hilite model: http://www.autobarn.net/lx2wibedrli.html

"KC HiLites Wide Beam LX2 Driving Lights feature our unique LX2 lens technology. The specially shaped lens projects a much wider beam pattern than standard headlights, providing increased side to side illumination. Use along with either low or high beam head lights for improved night time vision."

Here is an HID pair for $287 *** same price range as most of our lights but this expense the wife can't argue about "It's for our safety honey "

http://www.autobarn.net/sylxenx1auxl.html

These types of systems are not fog lights or driving lights, they are meant to be used along with your low beams. Supposedly the sylvania lights come with some sort of certificate that claims that they are legal for use in all states so the police will not ticket you thinking that you are using your fog lights on a clear night.

Nothing makes you feel more confident and safe on a dark road than serious lighting because you increasing your reaction time when by spotting the tasty dear sooner( mmm deer jerky).

Ohh and another thing, If you are about to hit a moose/deer and there is no other way out... Always aim for their Butts, a lot of people make the mistake of going around the front of the dear, they never back up and always run/leap forward so go around the back!!!

I saw an accident one time involving 2 motorcyclists. They were right in front of me in staggered formation. All of a sudden out of no where apears a mouss and he's standing on the yellow line(2 lane road) but most of his body was on the right lane, our lane. The first motorcyclist was leading and he was on the right, he simply slowed down and squezzed to the right going behind the beast. The second rider saw a large empty space on the on coming lane. He decides to lean left and go around the front of the animal by trying to out ru it. The animal got startled and charged forward and basically clothe lined the second rider off his motocycle. The rider was lucky, he sufferd some serious bruising and a few fractures but he made a full recovery. The moose kind of layed on the side of the road for about 20 minutes groaning, it then got up and walked away..

voodoogreg, sorry about your wife.

LightBen, in NJ the game laws say (paraphrasing) that using a light other than the vehicle lights while you have a weapon capable of killing a deer is a violation. Note that according to the law if you use a flashlight and you have a legally case gun in the trunk, you are in violation.

In NJ, if you do hit and kill a deer with your auto (or find a roadkill deer that someone else hit and didn't claim), you can contact the local PD and get a no cost "road-kill deer" possession tag for the meat ONLY (meaning you wouldn't be able to claim and keep the rack or cape from that monster 12 pointer that just creamed and totalled your car, but you can get the carcass and butcher the meat legally).

Legalities aside for now, do you really think you'll be able to drive down the road in the dark while holding a spotlight? Put more and better lights on the vehicle and slow down a bit. Right now the deer are a bit wonky with the rut.

Wow-- I had no idea that my post would generate so many comments (and ideas). Thank you all for your comments.

Voodoogreg, sorry about your wife; nobody should have to go through that. I am thankful that nobody has been injured during my family's incidents.

MoonRise, thanks for the info on NJ game law. There are a few spots along my commute where my headlights just don't illuminate the dark recesses along the sides of the road (mostly because these areas are quite a bit above the road surface--they are natural and man-made embankments). My thinking was that I'd use a powerful light to peer into these particular spots. I wouldn't try to hold anything while driving for more than a very short while--just long enough to see if any critters are within leaping distance of the road.

I do plan to install the Sylvania Xtravision headlight bulbs mentioned by Paul_in_Maryland. That seems like a good start. My stock high-beams are very good, but the low-beams are pitiful.

As far as adding auxilliary lighting--I will look into that. I don't want to drill any holes in any part of my car, though (I spent over a grand reparing rust damage caused by the previous owner's addition of aftermarket trim). Perhaps I'll be able to fabricate a bracket that mounts using existing holes. The active horns look promising, also (though perhaps a little expensive).

Again, thank you all

-Ben

State Farm just released these statistics last week.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/04/news/newsmakers/deer/

This link also provides some helpful tips.

I grew up in upstate NY (Catskill mountains) and boy were deer an issue about this time of year as the mix of mateing season and hunting season would really stir them up!

All us hillbilly boys used to mount amber fog lights (with that nice wide beam pattern) and aim the passengers side one just a little off to the right so they actually lit up the ditch and beyond. It wasn't so much that the light specifically worked on the deer, what happened was any lit deer moving became this orange/yellow blob moving off in the edge of your eyesight and it helped to spot them near the road.

Another interesting thing I learned was that honking your usual car horn at a deer just makes them stop and look at you like they are saying "what the hell is that?" However a couple of BB's rattled inside a tin can will make most deer take off like a shot.