So I hit a deer in my 4Runner about two hours ago on my way home. I was about a quarter mile before my lane and hit a buck going about 60mph. I was driving and he jumped out in front of me. All I knew was that my right front corner hit him. Didn't know the damage. Jerked the truck to the right hard and almost put me through the ditch and in the woods. Luckily I saved it and got back on the road. I pulled in my lane and assessed the damage.

Body was fine, my new front tube bumper looked brand new, but I had about an 18 inch long strip of fur stuck in the bead of my front passenger side tire. I called my dad and told him to come down to the end of the lane. I used his headlights to notice that my right front wheel had some new negative camber. Right after I hit the deer it felt kinda like the tire blew out or like it wasn't rolling right. So I think I may have bent the wheel. And on my way up the lane I noticed my steering wheel is no longer in line with the tires. And I have a good bit of toe-out. So I think my steering linkage is probably bent.

The deer didn't fare too well. My dad and I rode down to the site and saw about a 40 foot long spill of blood covering about 3/4 of both lanes. Guts 50 feet down the road. And the rear half of the deer was in the ditch about 50 feet past where I hit it. I didn't see the front half. So I ripped the deer in half. I drove THROUGH it. And when I washed the 4runner off I noticed blood on my gas tank skid too. So I think I may have dragged it a little ways.

 

sounds like that deer picked a fight and lost lol any pics of the truck ?

 

Wow, you certainly faired better than the deer in this situation. It's stories like this that kinda make me glad we don't have deer on PEI. Biggest wild animals we have are coyotes.

 

sorry to hear about the 4runner man i wrecked mine last monday when it was wet but i will need a bumper grille a side lamp and 2 fenders

almost totaled it out bad thing about driving these old toyotas with tons of miles

 

Ah man! That sucks! Its possible the wheel got messed up when you swerved, but either way, that sucks were you able to keep the meat????
I've been behind an 18-wheeler that hit a cow moose and dragged it for 12 miles......

 

No pics yet. It was dark and realllly cold. I got home and hosed off the blood real quick and parked it. Ill take some pics tomorrow, but there's really nothing to see other than me needing an alignment and maybe a new wheel/steering linkage. Ha, and the fur stuck in the tire.

 

I think it's illegal to keep the meat in Virginia. But it doesn't matter, any meat that was worth keeping pretty much exploded on impact.

 

Too bad We have a system with a list of people that when theres a road kill moose, the person on top gets called and they can come pick up whatever meat is salvageable.

 

So the deer lived or didn't live???

I'm quite surprised it messed up the alignment, I wouldn't have expected that. Pedestrians never do that.

 

thats funny must have been a big buck did you end up finding the head and horns

 

I went out and looked at it again a minute ago. I don't think it's the alignment. The right front has negative camber, but the only way to adjust camber is by the lower control arm mounting bolts, which obviously would not be affected. I have a feeling my wheel bearings shattered on the impact or something like that. And then that would make the wheel loose, and feel weird when rolling, sit still with negative camber, and toe whichever way.

OR I could be really screwed and the spindle could be bent or broken. And my new homemade bumper IS racked back about 3/4" on the impact side. I can probably fix that with a short strap, a tree, and reverse though. And possibly heat. But I'm pretty happy with the bumper. It saved me a grille, parking light, turn signal, probably hood and fender, and is repairable.

 

I didn't see them from the road. But it was dark and I was inside my dad's truck. I'm gonna scan the area tomorrow after school and see what I can find.

 

Sounds like you need the Mad Max bumper... rated for moose, and fullsizes.

 

dont think you would have a problem with hitting a deer or anything else for that matter

 

And then some heavy duty torsion bars. And some weight in the back. Or I could just mount those james bond rocket launchers I've always wanted under my bumper to "scare" the deer away.

 

I took that if you dont mind, i threw it in my sig

 

Or maybe if I could get under the deer like this guy I wouldn't suffer any damage..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF0fRUqUsUs

 

you think that deer landed in the trees?or on the ground

 

damn that sucks, atleast your okay!

shoulda got pics! haha.

 

I'm glad your new bumper did its job. Things may have been worse.