I hate whitetail deer.

[TheMightyFavog]

Was driving home from a movie last night and got put into the a ditch by a small group of them. It was either go in the ditch or hit the deer. I chose the ditch. At least my car's okay and I'm okay, and my insurance company set me up with a tow truck to get me out for the better part of a hundred bucks.

Still, it means I didn't get home till after 2.

[Scuba]

1. I've hit two ... major damage to my vehicle both times. Glad you and the deer are OK.

[B Calm]

2. I've hit three of the damn things over

the years. Really though, they hit me. It's not like I go out of the way to mow them over!

[B Calm]

3. You should never swerve to miss them. I had a friend do that

pulling a trailer and he jackknifed. He still ended up in the ditch totally destroying his tractor/trailer and his job. He's lucky it didn't cost him his life!

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Me too, and we're having this huge fight in town...

over the state plan to bring in sharpshooters and kill them off.

Wrecked cars, injuries, devastated crops, destroyed woodlands, entire ecosystem turned upside down. None of this means anything to the Bambi-lovers who are fighting it.

Sure, it might be better if contraceptives worked, but they don't and cost a bundle. None of the proposed alternatives to shooting them are workable but the fight goes on...

AAaaaargh! The planet was doing just fine before people came.

[hobbit709]

5. Back then they had predators to keep them in check.

But humans killed off the wolves, pumas, etc.

[pipi_k]

13. And there you go...

We have lots of coyotes where I live.

Some people think they should all be killed off.

Only trouble is, there are lots of deer as well.

So the "all coyotes are worthless varmints" people would only be messing with the food chain.

People suck sometimes.

[RebelOne]

8. Well, I would be one of the Bambi-lovers fighting

the slaughter of the deer. Humans have displaced them from their natural habitat.

[TreasonousBastard]

21. Well, you can argue all day why they are out of proportion...

with the habitat, but the simple fact is that there are far too many of them. They have changed from gentle woodland creatures to disease-carrying menaces. It may not be their fault, but that's the way it is now.

And it's not just us nasty humans they are hurting. They are eating everything in the woods up to 6-8 feet off the ground, destroying the food supply for songbirds, ground squirrels and dozens of other species up and down the food chain.

Most people do appreciate the deer as part of nature and regret hunting them, but nobody is arguing for the rights of rats and mosquitoes to live in our back yards. Yet that, unfortunately, is the sort of pest the deer have become.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

16. What's the story on contraceptives? How are they supposed to work? What goes wrong?

[TreasonousBastard]

20. Well, you put them in deer feeding stations or...

shoot the females with darts. I don't remember which is supposedly more effective.

The basic problems are that it's expensive and you can't guarantee you make enough does infertile. We've explored this and rejected it after a few towns reported trying it with limited or no success.

(edit spelling)

[kelly1mm]

6. I love them! There are 2 that I sent to freezer camp earlier this month! Make awesome

breakfast sausage mixed with 15 port fat!

[RebelOne]

7. I love them better when they are alive. n/t

[Major Nikon]

12. I like them as chili and jerky

[MrScorpio]

9. I see your whitetails...

And I'll raise you some reindeer

[NightWatcher]

10. They are giant dirty rats with few natural enemies

I say we let them be hunted and sold for food.

[Drahthaardogs]

11. People die trying to dodge deer.

As I tell my kids, better to take your chances with the deer, just hold on tight. I hit one of the little buggers about two months ago.

[Major Nikon]

14. Ducking isn't a bad idea

Some are killed when they come through the windshield.

[lame54]

15. Give Ted Nugent a call

[madinmaryland]

24. He's too busy pooping his pants. nt

[magical thyme]

17. we're the ones destroying the habitat and entire ecology

so I tend to hate our cars and shitty "lifestyle" more than them, by far.

Thank you for not hitting the deer.

A co-worker hit one during a night drive the other week. No damage to her car, but the deer was injured. It disappeared into the woods where it likely died a slow and painful death.

[rrneck]

18. Apparently, they don't think too much of you either.

I mean, they did run you off in a ditch. Just sayn'.

[loli phabay]

19. got a freezer full of them, mince, sausage and steak and roasts.

[BobUp]

22. I'm Sorry

[mokawanis]

23. I chose the deer instead of the ditch

It was in a place where going in the ditch might have been a fatal decision, so I drove right onto one of the three deer in front of me. When I got the car stopped the deer was wedged into my grill and I had to pull its broken body out of the front of my heavily damaged car. The next car to come down the road was a highway patrolman who reassured me that I made the right decision. Terrible experience.

Glad you made it through without getting hurt or damaging your car.