It's a big, big problem here - especially in the hills - but, the only time I've ever had a serious suck-the-seat-up-my-butt moment on a motorcycle was when a deer jumped out in front of me in...Mississippi.

We nearly hit a moose on our way to see the New Year's Eve fireworks one year. It was pitch black and the hubs was driving and didn't even see it until I asked "What are those tall white things moving across the road?"

Thanks! We don't seem to have a lot of them here. My Dad hit one when we were younger and visiting Oregon. My Mom was hella pissed off at him and told us he killed Bambi. Poor Dad. Pissed off wife, sobbing children, dead deer and dented car.

! My dad hit a deer when we were little in OREGON, too! And we made up a little rhyme about killing Bambi's mother!

Ha! That's awesome.

My dad hit one in Florida, and planned to put it out of its misery by way of a 9mm, but it wasn't anywhere to be found when he got out of his truck. It put a hefty dent in his bumper, though.

That sounds really redneck, doesn't it? But, it wasn't like he wanted to strap it to his truck and bring it home - he just didn't want it to suffer if it hadn't died instantly but was on its way there.

We see a lot of deer when we go to Atlanta. They are usually in South AL and NW FL. The thought of hitting one scares the sh*t out of me. I knew a girl, that hit one, and it was pretty bad.

I HATE deer. Hate 'em. I swear they want to die, they jump at you. I used to hate driving at night in Oregon. I'd be at a stop sign, fat dumb and happy, and I'd always have to check the ditches to see if a stupid deer was going to leap in front of me if I moved. On the back roads it was a 50/50 chance there'd be one there. Scared the crap out of me every time.

Its a problem here. I've always been told, better to hit them then try to brake or swerve.
Theres a highway by Mom's that you don't drive at night because of the moose, I can't imagine hitting a moose! Those suckers are HUGE!

Deer are a big problem out in the country where I live, but not too bad in most areas of my town.
Jinx, I once knew a guy that hit a cow that was in the middle of the road. I'm pretty sure he was drunk when he hit it though, you'd have to be to miss seeing that coming up!

I can't imagine hitting a moose, although we've had a cow hit us and we hit a cow once. They destroy cars!

My Dad was *just* telling me when he was here that one of his employee's father was motorcycling at dusk out in open range country and hit a cow and died. I

Ouch.

I almost hit a bear once, but by the time it registered that it was a bear and not a gigantic dog, I was already past it.

Eek! My Dad almost hit a buzzard once. It was in the middle of the road feeding on something, and you know how slowly those things take off. It left scratches on his helmet as he ducked underneath it, but no actual collision.

Had I not heard those and your stories, I would NEVER have thought that random wild animals would pose a motorcycling hazard.

I hit a bird once with my car, he did not make it and there were feathers and nastiness all lodged in my grill.

Eek! OMG that's disturbing and sad and scary and hilarious all at the same time. How is that possible!?

BTDT. I didn't notice it until I washed my bike the next day. I felt really bad - I always wonder if they have little families and stuff.

I guess I've been lucky, I've only ever hit a racoon. Well, and a dog, but thats another story.

Once, a person I know ditched a bus trying to swerve a deer. I was like, You're driving a BUS! Hit the thing!

I've killed a couple birds, a ton of frogs, a rat, and a bat. I felt guilty about the rat because it was the middle of the night in the desert. He was just doing his rat thing and here I come at 80 miles an hour. The bat fell out of a tree and landed on the windshield of my parked car. Scared the crap out of me. I guess technically that means the bat hit me, not vice versa.

I ran over a turtle near the beach. I tried to miss him but misjudged, and - squash. It was double-sucky because I had spent an extra $30 for the "Save The Turtles" Florida license plate.

I hit a squirrel once. I tried so hard to avoid it, but it practically dove under my tires. I looked back in the rearview mirror and saw it twitching and called the hubbin and was like WHAT DO I DO!? He was like, uh...you're on a busy road and you hit a squirrel. You keep on driving to work and pretend you're a normal person.

I once turned around to do a mercy killing on a pigeon that somebody hit, but luckily a guy in a truck beat me to it while I was on my way back around. Poor thing.

Your squirrel obviously had a death wish, Jen. at "pretend you're a normal person."

@ "like a normal person"
If I'm just driving down a side street and a squirrel comes along, I try and avoid them. I don't know why, this one used to piss me off all the time in the back yard.

~ Happy Holidays! ~