Oscar Wilde said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However, I think Chris McGeown may not agree, so check out his most recent post where he mentions his car accident involving a moose. When I read that post, I remembered my crazy deer story. So I’m for real not plagiarizing. I’m showing that linking to a blog is the sincerest form of flattery.
One day when my kids were young I was on my way to the local mall. Thank God they were at school or with their dad, because this funny story would not have been funny if they were there.
Photo from Consumer Guide Auto
The route to the mall was all back roads. Curvy roads through woods. I had a small, red Hyundai Excel and was driving happily along. Luckily, because of the curves, I was going fairly slowly.
Then, at the edge of the woods to the right, I saw a deer starting to run across the road. I was the only car on the road so I slowed way down and pulled to the left, more to the left, even more to the left until I was off the road on the left hand side.
BOOM. He hit me. But we had both slowed down so much that he didn’t hit me hard. Hard enough to basically destroy my car, but not to make the deer change his mind. With horror, I saw him regroup, and run into my car. Again.
Photo from havahart
While regrouping, he moved slightly, which helped him smash the part of the car that he hadn’t smashed before. He then ran into the woods.
Slooooowly, I got out of the car. The engine was still running. My car door opened and I walked to the right side of my car and couldn’t believe the damage. If my kids were in the car they would have been hurt. The front was smushed in and the back was smashed in. The passenger door looked okay, but the back door on the passenger side was not salvageable.
Deer: Whaaaaaaa??????
Barb: Calm down, Barb. It will be okay.
I decided to drive to a mechanic I knew who wasn’t too far away. Then I could call the insurance company, get a ride and have my emotional breakdown.
As I was driving to the mechanic, and going about 10 mph, the light came on showing that the passenger door wasn’t closed all the way. I reached over to grab the handle, thinking that I would pull it tighter and the light would go off.
Wait for it………the door came off. Completely off the hinges. While I was driving. While I was holding the handle. Could this day get worse? I continued to drive to the mechanic, holding onto the door for dear life. At this point, I was on a busier road without much room to pull over, so I just kept going.
I’m short. I like to say that I’m 5’2″ but that’s if I stand as straight as I can and tippy-toe a little bit. And my height is in my legs. My mom was 5’7″ and we had the same length legs (I’m not as disproportionate as that description makes me out to be, but it’s accurate).
Can you imagine? I must have seemed like the headless driver to anyone else on the road. Driving a totaled car, leaning all the way over the passenger side, holding the door as tightly as I could.
The day I hit the same deer twice.
saneteachers 
What a story! One deer, two hits. That should grant you a complete moratorium on car vs. nature events in the future!
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I’ve had other deer mishaps since then. At some point I will have used up accident quota with deer…..hopefully!
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Did they ever find that deer and put it behind bars for a hit and run?
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Hahaha oh how I wish I had thought of that!
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Makes me wonder if the deer was upset with your car or just had bad eyesight. Now, you’re sure you’ve never done anything to anger forest creatures … sure?
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Hmmm….I don’t think so…
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Like a Barb in the headlights. Oh, sorry. I just had to.
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Haha good one!
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Funny story. At least it isn’t likely to happen again.
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Maybe we shouldn’t tell Barb, but there’s an Italian saying “never two without three” ….
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Oh thanks a lot…very funny. Lol. Having deer run in front of, and into, your car is a common occurrence here. I had a memorable one about 15 years after that. My car was in the mechanics getting a new transmission. I was using my father’s car as he and my step-mother were on vacation in Vietnam. A deer jumped from a hill next to the road as I was driving to work and landed on the hood. Scared the crap out of me and I was slightly injured that time. The deer didn’t quite die, so a policeman shot it. And the phone call I had to make from the U.S. to Vietnam wasn’t pleasant!
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Good, so that’s three 🙂
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I have to count back to deer hits since I was first driving. I cannot stress how common it is here. I doubt that I know anyone who hasn’t hit a deer. If I count back, I hope the number will be divisible by 3.
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🙂
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I have hit deer since then (they are everywhere here), but never the same one same one twice again!
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I have a deer story top, though i’s not actually mine. MOH was a paramedic ambulance driver and he and his mate were coming back when they hit a deer. Loading it in the back of the ambulance, they brought it home, shared it evenly, and he was living on venison for months (and so were we every time we visited).
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Great image of the deer inside the ambulance! During deer hunting season here, sharing venison is common. We don’t hunt, but I do like venison.
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When he started telling us, we had a vision of re-sus and IVs.
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Haha
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I’ve heard that it’s more likely a deer will hit you than you hitting a deer. I live out in the country so I very carefully watch the sides of the upcoming road but I wouldn’t have thought that a deer would crash into a stopped vehicle.
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The first hit I wasn’t at a complete stop. I was hoping he’d be smart enough to veer away. But after the first hit I was completely stopped. Maybe the deer was shook up, too? It was crazy.
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Terrific story filled with humor and life lessons. Life is about lessons and sad, funny or confounding, it is the lessons we learn that underlie every experience we have, and when we embrace them, we will reflect with humor and humility of resulting growth. Remaining humble and grateful for the ‘deer’ in all of our lives, we can connect knowing that we are more alike than different. Thank you, Barb.
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Well said!
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oh nooooo! Poor deer…and your totalled car! Though I found myself giggling picturing you and the door… :p
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It’s one of those “it’s funny now” stories that was a nightmare at the time.
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First of all, that is one of the best post titles I have ever seen. Secondly, I’m quite sure it wasn’t the least bit funny at the time, but the way you tell this story, it is now! I’m glad you were okay, although I’m sorry your poor car wasn’t. I would have had an emotional melt down too!
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I just laughed out loud reading your first sentence. Although the title should more accurately be “The Day The Same Deer Hit Me Twice.” Horrifying at the time, although I could also see the dark absurdity, but funny now.
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I live in an area of a few people and many deer …. The deer make the rules in this county …. I have deer in my yard almost every day.
Several years ago, my high school aged daughter was driving to function at a different high school …. A deer hit the driver’s side of the pickup she was driving … the deer’s head hit the windshield … she kept driving and phoned us when she got out of the canyon …. A while later I got a call from the police …. They asked if my truck had been stolen …. They had noticed a wrecked truck in the high school parking lot …
I explained that she had hit a deer on the way …. After she got home I saw the truck … the driver’s side was smashed and the mirror was gone …. The windshield was shattered on the drivers side…. It was almost impossible to see through the windshield …. I don’t know how she managed ….. she didn’t even stop … the school she drove to was about 60 miles from where she hit the deer ….. I was amazed at her spunk …. I guess it was a good life experience …. She continues with the same courage to this day.
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That’s unbelievable. Was she injured? And she must have a lot of spunk, as you said. I definitely would not have had that same spirit. And she must have really wanted to go to that function!
At the time, I lived in an area that was rural-ish (farms galore but housing developments in between), yet only a little less than 2 hours from NY City. Many people commute to the City from there. Yet where we lived was on a mountain with few houses and next to a preserve. Bear, minx (crazy , right?) and lots of deer in our yard, and coyotes howling from the woods. So not as remote as it sounds you are, but if someone says I hit a deer it isn’t astounding news at all. So dangerous. I’m so glad that your daughter seems to have not been injured, especially with all of that glass.
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no injuries …. just good experience.
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Strange to people in this part of the world…But truth, as they say, is much stranger than fiction1
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Very true!
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Ha! Glad you and the deer made it (although I hear roadkill venison is making a comeback)… even if your door didn’t.
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Thank you. And I should be glad that he didn’t turn around and go after me again, lol. He was definitely wounded, but did go into the woods. 😦
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