I was traveling home last night in my unlimited rubicon on a two lane country road going about 50 mph when out of nowhere a deer decided to try her luck crossing the road in front of me. No sooner had I saw her, my pucker factor hit 10. I was like, oh SH*T, this is gonna hurt. I hit the brakes as hard as I could and then BAM. I got stopped okay and fortunately no other traffic was coming. I figure she probably weighed 150 or so pounds and I was probably doing 40 when I hit her.

I pulled to a side street, got out and drug her out of the road. Of course, she was not feeling any pain. But, dammit I was. My jeep was gonna need a new bumper. I hit her with the front left bumper area. It was smashed in pretty good along with the fog light assembly. Of course I then followed the usual routine, notifying highway patrol and insurance company.

After talking to highway patrol and insurance personnel, I have gained a lot of respect for how well my rubi survived the accident. It seems most vehicle collisions with deer are causing thousands of dollars in damage to the vehicles. Mine wound up only $733.00 dollars. They attribute this to that fact of how sturdy the front bumper is and the FACT I had a two inch skyjacker BB lift with 295/70/17 nitto terra grappler tires. The extra height allowed me basically run over the deer versus direct impact into the bumper, grill, and hood area. Needless to say the insurance company was pretty pleased with the relatively low cost to repair. The Bumper cover was like 285, back plate behind cover was 150 or so. Now get this, one fog light assembly was 173. Anyway, add in labor & tax and 733 isn't that bad. Luckily my insurance company files this under comprehensive so at least my rates will not go up and my deductible was only 100.

Now, I know this thread is worthless without pics ( where have I heard that) but you are gonna have to wait. My current camera is on the blink, so I am going to try to get the ins. company to email me the pics they took. You have got to see the deer tooth that is lodge in my bumper. Anyway, I will do my best. If there is anyone on this forum in or near Winston-Salem NC that has a working camera and can take pics, let me know. If not, it may be monday before I can pics up.....Thanks, Kent

 

Poor Bambi Glad you and Rubi are ok.

 

Glad you didn't get hurt... I see my fair share of car/deer accidents up here in Minnesota. You are not alone! So what aftermarket front bumper are you going to get with the insurance money?

Bjorn

 

the real question that needs to be answered here is did you field dress the deer while waiting for Highway Patrol and Insurance people. no reason to let a prefectly good deer go to waste.

 

LOL, Exactly.

At least you're alive and it wasnt a moose. Lift kits save lives against deer. My buddy hit one full out doing 120 kmh once and it ripped the drive shaft out but that was it. Had they not had about a 8 inch lift and boggers, they probably would be dead.

 

Pics have been added. Regarding dressing the deer out, I tried to pawn it off to a few friends but none wanted it. Some locals did take it though.

As far as replacement bumper is concerned, I am just gonna go oem. It stood up pretty well and with the money I had just put in regarding the lift, tires and CAI, I had better chill out for a while.

 

RIP to the deer.

Glad you're OK.

 

Glad you're OK...and I have that fear every day I go to work since I have to travel thru two towns where the deer and turkey population is so high you can see them in the fields along the road..... and once I had a flock of turkeys decide to cross the road as I was ready to pick up speed and came close of being hit and hitting a few of these birds....

 

Hit a deer in NH and two questions will be asked by whoever stops first to help:

1. Are you OK?
2. What are you gonna do with the deer?

 

lol, was in a wedding party in Brooks Maine and after the ceremony I was asked to mind the grill when this guy shows up with these steaks , carved out of...............deer just hit on the road...tasty.....