I got a deer this year on the second day of archery season!

Unfortunately, it was with my Chevy Express van on the way to fish Lake Oconee. It was the second one I have hit with my 2008 van, but just the third one I have ever hit.

    In 1971, the first fall Linda and I were married, we left Clarks Hill Sunday night headed back to Athens after spending the weekend with my parents at the lake. For some reason I was driving daddy’s truck, I seem to remember we needed to haul something back to our mobile home.

    On a back road near Washington, Ga, with nothing, not even a farm house within a few miles, a deer was standing on the left side of the road. I slowed to look at it, seeing deer was still not an everyday, or every night, thing. Suddenly the doe ran right in front of the truck. I hit it and it went under the bumper and I felt the tires bump over her.

I stopped and turned the headlights on the deer flopping about 20 feet from the road. I went over to her; the truck had broken her back and she was trying to crawl off using her front legs.

Since I had no gun but did not want her to suffer, I got the tire iron out of the truck and hit her in the head to kill her.

Wanting to do the right thing, I stopped in Washington, Georgia when I saw a police car sitting by the road to report what happened. The cop did not seem friendly and started questioning me about leaving the scene of an accident!

At the time I had shoulder length hair and if I remember correctly, was wearing “hippy” clothes, a tie died tee shirt and paisley pants.  After some discussion the cop told me to go on my way.

The next time I drove that road during daylight I saw there was a fence running along the left side where she was standing, but nothing on the right. I guess she chose to run across the road rather than jump the fence. Not a good choice.

The second deer was just four or five years ago, with my van while pulling my boat to West Point.  A deer standing on the right shoulder suddenly jumped right in front of me. I had slowed a lot and when it hit the right corner of the bumper, it knocked her back off the road.

I stopped in Woodbury where there was enough light to see and found no damage, just some hair on the bumper. Guess the glancing blow was not too bad.

Sunday I left home at 3:45 AM and saw several deer between here and Monticello.  About halfway between Monticello and Eatonton two yearlings were standing on the right side of the road. I slowed as soon as I saw them, knowing little ones will often run to mama on the other side of the road.

Before I slowed enough, I was still going about 45, a deer came out of nowhere on my left.  I never got a good look at it, it was just something suddenly there and a big wham and bump.  I slowed and kept a watch on my temperature and oil gauges, fearing damage.

When I got to Eatonton where I had some light, I got out and pulled off both running light assemblies that were just hanging by the light wires. The had been bumping in the wind a lot. Since there seemed to be no bad damage and nothing was leaking, I drove on to the ramp.

Linda has not been so lucky. A couple of years ago a deer ran out on Sixth Street Extension and hit her Avalon on the right side. She was going very slowly, but it still did $4000.00 in damage!  The next year in the same place a deer ran out and she hit it with her left front bumper corner. It came up, hitting the corner of the windshield and shattering it, damaged the roof and then part of the trunk.  

The insurance company totaled out her car there was so much damage!

Be careful out there, get a deer with a bow not a vehicle!