BrokenFingernail.com

Well, this is just what happened to the mirror of J.’s mom’s new car. You see, Monday morning we hit not one, not two, but three deer going home. Yeah, beat that. All of the does were fine, by the way.

There were several things going against the deer and the car—it was very dark out because it was around four o’clock in the morning, the deer were walking across the road at the bottom of a hill that you cannot see the bottom of till you’re going down it, there were at least eight deer on or very close to the road so we couldn’t just swerve a bit and miss them, and there was pee gravel on the blacktop.

(We were out this late because J. had just got home from work and we needed to return the car. Ironic?)

We had just slowed down because the speed limit goes from 40MPH to 30MPH as the road changes from a two lane to a one-lane road. Though J. hit the brakes, the car slid about 40 feet down and past the bottom of the hill, leaving tire marks the whole way.

Two deer hit the drivers’ side near the headlight and, while the one in front jumped back and away, the other fell into the car and slid down the side, denting the front driver’s panel and door before getting up and running off. The third deer hit on the passenger’s side at the light and bumped up a bit, giving her time to jump away.

All the other deer ran off, of course, as did the ones we hit. Believe me, I looked all over and I’m sure the police did too, but we just couldn’t find them. (In this county, if you hit a deer and don’t kill it, you have to let the police know so they can call someone to come out and shoot it. They have a list of people that have signed up to be called for any deer accidents so they can tag and take the deer home.)

The car is fine—as are we—and the only bad thing was that the driver door only opens enough for someone to squeeze inside. The front bumper, which took most of the hits, doesn’t have a scratch, which amazed me. I always remember how deer would total my mom’s car when she had wrecks, but that plastic bumper is just fine.

I’m starting to think that they make newer cars deer-proof. I hardly ever see a new car get messed up by hitting one, but I do see a lot of newer truck grills lying on the road where they’ve hit deer. Apparently, plastic grills are not good verses deer.. Though I’m sure if they were metal it would be very, very messy.