The Road Kill Thread

Simple really....what have you killed with your car?

I, personally have killed at least 2 chipminks and a squirrel. And,sadly, a cat about 20 years ago. I am a cat lover and that one was very tough for me. I actually pulled over to the side of the road and balled like a little girl....

I've had pigeons dive from a bridge and hit my windshield, funny thing was, they didn't even look depressed or suicidal.:shk:
But that thump thump, and then the cloud of feathers was a bit disturbing.

I witnessed a truck hit a deer once, and due to snapped legs I had to take a toque bar and kill the animal on the side of the road. It's never easy to bash the skull of something as beautiful as a dear, but I didn't have a gun in my truck.

Bonus was that I had venison for a few months.


I guess I'm fortunate that I've never hit a person's pet. I think that would bother me a lot more.

Kangaroo's 3 times, they do some damage too.
Lots of snakes, that made me sad, i like snakes.
A dingo.
A fox, i'll probably get flamed but i aimed for him.
Heaps of Lizards, unfortunately they like the hot bitumen.
Havent run over any cats but i've shot a few feral ones.

Once years ago when coming around a blind curve, I barreled over an entire family of skunks. The truck I had was lowered in the front end so it was a total slaughter.

At least they stunk me up pretty good though, it took a few days for the smell to leave my ride.

reply to post by fweshcawfee


I have to add skunk to my list of roadside carnage.
Even after the truck had been washed I could still smell it for two weeks. Especially in the morning when I first got in.

I had to spray bleach in my wheel well several times to get rid of it.

First post on BTS and oddly enough, it's the roadkill thread that caught my eye. Not too strange I spose, I'm from NE Minnesota and we've got a lot of wildlife and dense woods.

I've only hit a handful of animals myself and they were all deer. I bumped one in the butt once when I managed to brake just in the nick of time. He ran off into the woods really fast and looked fine. I've also had three deer run into me at night when they spooked from the ditch and ran headlong into my car. One banged his chin into the windshield pretty hard but must have run off since he wasn't around when I stopped and looked. Two more deer did the same thing while I was a passenger in two different girlfriend's cars. Both times the deer took off the side mirror. Those deer where also nowhere to be found. I hope they all lived long happy lives.

I've only confirmed one actual kill. It was the first deer I hit and I was just 16. It ran right into the passenger side wheel well and snapped around, totally smashing the side of the car. it was a decent sized buck and it freaked the crap out of me because it just came up from nowhere. That one ended up laying on the highway fatally injured but still trying to get up. I was very thankful that seconds after I hit it, a big burly guy in a big pickup and a flannel shirt pulled to the side of the road and put the deer down with a knife. I was actually in awe with the ease of how he did it so quick and efficient. I've never been much of a hunter myself, and I'm not sure how I would have killed it had that guy not come along.

I'm a deer magnet I guess.

The biggest animal I know someone took out in that area is from a few years ago when my dad killed a good sized moose with a chevy corsica (killed the car too). That's the first time I ate moose and I must say, it's actually pretty good.

Be careful out there, animals are everywhere and we've put up roads over theirs. Always remember too that even if you are an animal lover, never swerve for something soft and fuzzy if it might make you hit something hard and heavy.

Like a moose...

Jesse

Originally posted by thebeard

Be careful out there, animals are everywhere and we've put up roads over theirs. Always remember too that even if you are an animal lover, never swerve for something soft and fuzzy if it might make you hit something hard and heavy.

Welcome to BTS thebeard, you've given everyone some very good advise.

Never lose control of your vehicle to try to avoid and animal, unless it's an elephant. Your life is not worth avoiding injury to an animal, and hey, you might just get a good meal out of it.

I think I must have had a bird or two commit suicide by flying into my car as well. I do remember one now that I had to remove from my front bumper many years back.

Thanks for the welcome, I'm just glad I finally have something to contribute. I'm usually lurking over at ATS but I don't often feel the push to contribute over there. I kinda like BTS, I never really popped over here before but I like that there is an entire forum devoted to lighter threads for when things get too serious and/or depressing over at that other side of the board.

Anyone else here getting burnt out on politics lately?

In regards to getting a good meal, eating fresh roadkill is pretty common around these parts, especially bigger game animals that are out of season. There is actually a DNR waiting list for people to sign up for certain animals so that when the DNR or sheriff get a call that someone hit an animal and they don't want it they just call a person from the list to take care of it. They get the meat and the DNR doesn't have to drag it into the woods to rot. Course it can also be one of the most expensive meals of your life when the car gets totaled.

Another thing I love to re-tell is a story my ex-wife told me once about opening the refrigerator when she was a little girl and seeing a dead porcupine sitting on the shelf. Her dad was a roadkill master. She freaked out a bit and didn't try any, but her dad said porcupine's pretty good eating once you get past the quills.

I'm surprised road kill isn't a more popular subject?

Has anyone ever been to the "Road Kill Cafe?"....strange franchise that is!!

[edit on 5-9-2007 by Excitable_Boy]

like 3 deer, a possum, and who knows how many birds...

filthy birds.

I'm glad nobody's said a person yet!

Remember that one lady that hit some dude and drove home with him plastered on her windshield?

Peace

[edit on 5-9-2007 by Dr Love]

Originally posted by Dr Love
I'm glad nobody's said a person yet!

Remember that one lady that hit some dude and drove home with him plastered on his windshield?

Peace

in dallas? and wasn't she on ecstasy? left him in her garage for a night yes?

women drivers! :p

Some days I feel like road kill. Matter of fact, this is one of those days.

Originally posted by Dr Love
I'm glad nobody's said a person yet!

I think that would hurt me a lot if I hit a person.
I drove truck for many years so I've witnessed far too much carnage on the roads at accident scenes. I won't go into details, but dead children are the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with.

I'm a very analytical person at the scene that just does what needs to be done at the time. It only hits me a few hours later, and I'll admit to turning into a crying, shaking, puking, puddle of shock after the fact.

I don't know how those ambulance guys handle that on a daily basis.
Kudos to the men and women that can spend their days helping the rest of us when we need it the most.

I hit two raccoons mating going 85mph. The aftermath was sick. I pull up to a truck stop about 200yds past the accident. Like several water balloons loaded with coon parts underneath my car. I could smell death and I haven't driven fast since.

Just this morning I was driving on an old country road and a dear jumped ahead of me. It was running straight ahead of my little nissan pkup! I almost touched its behind with my bumper. Thank God I was going slow and avoided something ugly.....

Originally posted by ConstantlyWondering
I hit two raccoons mating going 85mph.

Wow. That's some seriously fast mating.

LOL, stop it man! I smile to much and people will think I am up to something!

Some days I feel like road kill. Matter of fact, this is one of those days.

Yeahright...man that picture was awful. AWFUL FUNNY! AHAHAHAHA....

That squirrel would look nice framed. One could probably get a lot for that in a modern art gallery!!

Originally posted by Excitable_Boy
That squirrel would look nice framed.

Actually, it's the rare yellow-striped opossum. Its stripes allow it to lay motionless in the middle of the road completely camouflaged.

For some reason, their numbers are dwindling...