Shepherd man killed after hitting deer and then being hit himself Another car later hit patrol car

[multigraincracker]

I didn't count the final toll of wrecked cars that just kept on coming.
https://www.themorningsun.com/2022/10/17/shepherd-man-killed-after-hitting-deer-and-then-being-hit-himself/

Main said the deceased man had gotten out of his car while still in the travel portion of the highway. Investigators think his lights weren’t working as a result of the initial deer crash, which happened just before daybreak in dark and misty conditions.

“A vehicle driven by the 77-year-old female was unable to see the vehicle stopped in the roadway until it was too late,” Main said. “The female attempted to swerve and miss the vehicle. When she did, she struck the man who was standing near the vehicle.”

“The original vehicle that struck the deer then was pushed into the fast lane of the expressway where the 33-year-old driver of the pickup struck the empty car,” Main said.
In addition, while responders investigated the original crash, the highway was re-routed at the south Mt Pleasant exit.

”During the alternate route of traffic, a vehicle collided with a parked sheriff’s patrol car that was directing traffic,” Main said.

No one was injured in that crash.

Finally, while that crash was being handled another crash occurred about half-mile south of the off ramp, and second crash. This crash occurred when someone failed slow down because of the traffic back up and caused a three-car accident at that location.

[SWBTATTReg]

1. People have got to realize just how serious hitting a deer can be. Back at our place located

just behind a rural, isolated state park in MO, almost every one of our tenants in our mobile home park had hit a deer. Fortunately, all of the accidents were minor.

But the accidents could have been all serious, being that the 2-lane country road is an isolated road, not lit up, in the middle of woods and thus, if someone hit a deer (or multiple deer), you could lose control of the vehicle and smash into a tree.

Be careful out there! And wear your seatbelt, so if you do run off the road, you won't be thrown out of the car!

Drive safe! Save yourselves and the deer!

[Chainfire]

7. Hitting a deer is not near as dangerous as stopping in the traffic lane on a foggy morning

with no lights on, then getting out and wandering around the road. That was not an accident that was negligence brought on by stupidity. People can turn an incident into a fatality when they stop thinking.

[SWBTATTReg]

12. This point is already well made in the original article.

[Chainfire]

14. Well excuse me.

[Croney]

2. I tried to figure out what state this is, but the paywall kicked in.

[ornotna]

3. Michigan I believe n/t

[Croney]

4. Thanks.

[multigraincracker]

6. Sorry I left that out.

It was Michigan.

10 hours earlier I got pulled over a few miles south of that on 127. I had crossed the yellow line and the deputy wanted to make sure I wasn't drunk, so I got pulled over. Checked my record and insurance and let me go. No drinks here.
Any way he said he was in a hurry because he had 3 car deer accidents he was on his way to.

[underpants]

5. So 1 death and 6 cars hit

Is that right?

[Chellee]

17. I think it's 8.

1rst car hits deer
2nd car hits man
3rd car hits 1rst car
4rth car hits 5th (patrol) car
6th car hits 7th and 8th car

[albacore]

8. Not changing the subject of the OP...

But fewer deer hunters = more deer on highways.
We have to figure out some birth control for them.
The alternative is "culling", and shooting Bambi isn't
acceptable to a lot of people.

[2naSalit]

9. Wolves.

[Kaleva]

10. Coyotes and Bobcats each kill more deer then wolves. In MI.

https://www.mlive.com/outdoors/2012/04/experts_surprised_by_which_pre.html#:~:text=Cars%20and%20hunters%20kill%20roughly,according%20to%20the%20DNR%27s%20website.

[multigraincracker]

11. Coyotes don't go after grown deer and

don't eat that many fawns. They chase them and make them so nervous they don't have as many offspring. Perhaps one fawn instead of 2 or 3.
All of our wildlife have peaks and valleys in populations. Mange might wipe out the coyotes and then the mice and rabbits over produce. Weather can be a huge factor for northern deer too.

[Kaleva]

16. Coyotes do attack and kill full grown deer

They often hunt in packs

Scroll down to coyote behaviour in the link below

https://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/content/articles/coyote-kills-buck-on-camera#:~:text=When%20attacking%20adult%20deer%2C%20a,deer%20while%20it%27s%20still%20alive.

You can hear them here at night when they have formed a pack and are on the hunt

[multigraincracker]

18. Late December on they pack up

and hunt larger game while in packs. Most likely pick off the very old or sick and injured adult deer. Cars and trucks are the main killers of health adults, along with hunters.

[Kaleva]

22. Winter can kill up to 1/3 the deer population

https://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/content/blogs/dan-schmidt-deer-blog-whitetail-wisdom/winter-might-wipe-out-40-of-regions-deer-herd

[albacore]

13. I agree... but wolves are smart.

Deer can run fast, but little kids in snowsuits can't.
Some parents might notice a few missing.

[2naSalit]

15. They don't eat children...

Last edited Tue Oct 18, 2022, 11:27 PM - Edit history (1)

If they did, we'd be running out of them around here where wolves have been around for over a couple decades now.

That's a trope that needs to find the dustbin of irrelevance.

[albacore]

19. A little attempted humor...

Coyotes don't attack people much, and neither do wolves... one human killed by a wolf in the last 20 years.

[2naSalit]

20. Actually...

I think the rate is higher for coyotes, mostly because there are more of them and widely distributed.

[albacore]

23. Coy-wolves-dogs are a more serious threat.

Those hybrids have a lack of fear of humans that doesn't appear in either coyotes or wolves. Add that the coy-wolves are bigger than coyotes. Bigger size = bigger prey size.
I've heard that scientists call the wild canine population of the eastern US "canus soupus" because the DNA is all mixed up among the canines.

[2naSalit]

24. Yup.

It seems that they are more aggressive. I heard that early on when they were first being discussed. The ways that species respond to the pressure we put upon them are creative, hopefully successful. I found it disturbing when I was informed, in a class a few years ago, that the Canada Lynx in the northern Rockies are taking to cross breeding with bobcats due to lack of their own species to breed with. Lynx are specific in their survival needs in that their primary prey is one species, the snowshoe hare. Without them in their regular diet they perish which is rather unusual for a mammalian species.

When the animals are gone...

[KY_EnviroGuy]

21. Deer gets up, shakes himself, looks back at the human carnage and chuckles.

He'll have one hell of a tale to tell back at the Hood and Headlight Deer Bar.......


RIP to the poor guy that was killed......