Syracuse.com - Readers tell of their multiple deer/motor vehicle accidents in Central New York

[HuntingNY-News]

"I have hit probably 4-6 deer over the years in my vehicle , and once hit two with the fire departments rescue truck at the same time on the way to a call ( not so good for the deer)," said one reader.

Nearly a dozen readers responded recently when I asked to hear from folks who've hit deer more than once with their cars or vehicles. Their stories follow:

"I live in Borodino and commute to Ithaca every day to work. In the last three years I have hit 3 deer; all on Route 41 between Spafford and Homer. I call the section of Route 41 between Spafford and the Cortland County line "the death zone" because I have hit two of the three deer on that stretch. Not only that I see a lot of deer carnage caused by other vehicles there. I consider myself a careful driver and am always wary of deer. What bothers me is that Route 41 is notorious for tailgaters who I swear do so to use me as a sort of "wedge" to avoid hitting deer themselves. They don't seem to understand that if I whack a deer I'm likely to get rear-ended as well. I don't need the stress of worrying about hitting deer AND worrying about tailgaters.

"I joke that my body shop dedicated their new paint booth in my name. As a matter of fact it's sort of a standing joke among my family and the guys from deer camp. My wise guy brother actually gave me one of those deer crossing road signs for Christmas, which now hangs on my back shed."

Scott A. Goodrich, of Borodino

"I have hit and killed three deer in the last 15 years; two with the same car. My second deer mishap happened close to home when I was only going about 35-40 mph, but it flipped in the air, and went through the windshield of a car coming in the opposite direction. The dead animal wound up in the passenger seat; thank God the driver was alone in the car. He was really shook up, and didn't even know what hit him or how it happened. He was completed covered in the deer's blood and guts. My first one happened when I was carpooling in my van. We had a new rider that day, and he wondered if all of our trips to work would contain this much excitement. The deer ran into the front passenger door, the on my oldest daughter had just whacked in my driveway, so it got fixed, thank you Mr. Deer."

Jim Pskowski

"I am the wife of a man that has hit 7 ( not a misprint there) deer. He was even given a T-shirt that said he gets more deer with his truck than with his gun. He didn't laugh much because it usually cost us money in the end.

Kathy Neuman, of Elbridge

"I hit two deer at one time on the way home from work. Another time, I drove all the way to Myrtle Beach and back within 5 miles of my house and totaled my wife's new car.

"I hit 3 with my Jeep Grand Cherokee.

"I hit 1 with my Chevy S10 Pick-up.

"I hit 1 with my Chevy Silverado.

" hit 1 with my wife's Chevy Malibu.

"This past spring I swerved and missed one...and it head-butted a huge dent in my passenger side door.

"A few weeks later, I would have hit this one on the attachment, but I pulled off the side of the road and placed it into the woods. Deer population in the Ithaca area is nuts."

Rick Pawlewicz

Hannibal Varsity X-C/Indoor Track/Girls Outdoor Track and Field coach, DMK Middle School,

Hannibal Central School District

"I've hit too many deer to count. I can remember at least two in a pickup. I hit one on my bike and didn't go down. I've also hit many while working, picking up milk from farms and delivering to processing plants in the middle of the night and early in the morning."

Chris McKane, of Locke

"I have hit 12 deer in CNY, most of them near Marcellus/Skaneateles so far in my driving career. I have been driving for 35 years."

Terry Kotlarz, of Skaneateles

"We moved to our house on East Lake Rd in Skaneateles in July 2003. Since then I have hit five deer, all on East Lake Rd. The most recent was last winter. The kicker was it was at the exact same spot where I hit my first deer in 2005. With all that practice you would think I would have learned how to miss them."

Sal Strods, of Skaneateles

"Over the years I have hit 4 deer and one cow. All but one deer occurred at night. Lucky for me the cow was a glancing blow while the deer were all head on with one buck launched over the truck. It was close to Christmas so maybe that was one of Santa's? I was never hurt (always wear my seat belt) but my vehicles have suffered a lot of damaged. One week I managed to hit two deer and take out both headlights. Couldn't hit on the same side! Most of the time the deer were badly damaged but I salvaged what I could of the meat, a small compensation for the damaged to the vehicles. I was driving over 30,000 miles/year while working."

Bill Johnson, of Skaneateles

" I hit nine deer by the time I was 24 years old. I lived at the time near Highland Forest, outside of Fabius. No I did not hit a herd of them with names like Rudolph, Donner or Blitzen.

"My car was the one you spotted in a parking lot without a front grill or missing hood ornament , at the time. My Dad, Jim Conway was an avid deer hunter. He would say at the start of hunting season, "Please give the hunters a chance to get a deer, if we don't, then we will ride with you for a day and you can get one for us." He would get the dreaded phone call," Dad I had a car accident, I hit a deer." He said if I hit in the double digits then I would have to learn how to gut them, myself.

"Besides calling my Dad the other person I hated to call was my insurance company. They actually tried to get Deer Collision Insurance for me. I usually had a witness, my cousin Minnie was with me one time. The State Troopers used to come to the scene to take a statement, but usually it was good old Dad who came to rescue me. I was also an equal opportunity deer hitter too. My brother once told me, "you get more points if it's a buck." I tried everything to NOT hit them too. I had deer whistles on my car, swerve, slam on the brakes, swear....BAM and I hit another one. "Hello Dad?" I am not bragging by any means, it was always an accident. I used to think they hid in the ditches waiting for me. Since then, I have nicked a few but my car and the deer have survived....so they do not count.

Patti Conway Ondocin, an RN at Upstate Hospital

"I have hit probably 4-6 deer over the years in my vehicle , and once hit two with the fire departments rescue truck at the same time on the way to a call ( not so good for the deer)."

Tony LaRock

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog